IslamicFinance.de

Italian money manager Azimut Holding will jointly manage its Islamic bonds fund with Maybank Asset Management Group to cater to growing demand for hard currency sukuk products. The partnership will allow the fund to penetrate new markets including Malaysia and Singapore, where Maybank Asset Management already operates. Azimut launched its global sukuk fund in 2013 which has over $130 million in assets. Maybank Asset Management launched a U.S. dollar-denominated sukuk fund of its own in 2014. Sukuk funds remain tiny compared to their conventional fixed-income counterparts, but the sukuk market has widened in recent years thanks to an increasing number of issuers and investors.

Kenya plans to develop Islamic finance through a wide-ranging taxation review and the establishment of a national sharia board. The country wants to build up the industry as part of a long-term plan to turn Nairobi into an international financial centre. The initiatives are being led by the Islamic Finance Project Management Office (PMO), a body setup recently to coordinate efforts among Kenya's regulatory agencies. According to finance consultant Farrukh Raza, the PMO has submitted an initial set of policy amendments focused on taxation of sharia-compliant products. A second batch of policy amendments will be presented by the end of this year, covering banking, insurance, pensions and capital market products. Kenya's National Treasury has said it is looking at the possibility of a debut sale of sukuk, although it has yet to finalize details for such an issuance.

Warba Bank has received approval from the central bank of Kuwait to issue up to $250 million of sukuk. The bank will take a final decision on the issuance and its timing after obtaining remaining regulatory approvals. The funding would be used to boost Warba's Tier 1 capital. Warba Bank is an Islamic lender established in 2010.

Abu Dhabi government-owned Al Hilal Bank has recently appointed Craig Bell as chief financial officer. Bell previously worked in New Zealand, Britain, Costa Rica, Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia, Al Hilal said. According to his LinkedIn profile, his previous post was chief financial officer at Saudi British Bank.

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has appointed nine banks to arrange a new Islamic bond issue likely to be in excess of $1 billion. The mandated banks include Boubyan Bank, Credit Agricole, Gulf International Bank, JP Morgan, Mizuho, Natixis, NBAD, RHB and Standard Chartered for a five-year debt issue. The mandate was given at the end of last week and the notes will be sold only after the U.S. elections on Nov. 8. IDB sold its last U.S. dollar-denominated sukuk in March. That issue, of $1.5 billlion, offered 50 basis points over midswaps and was priced at par at 1.775 percent.

Qatar's Barwa Real Estate has secured a 600 million riyal ($164.8 million) financing facility from Qatar International Islamic Bank. The official statement said the money was to fund part of the company's new projects under construction. It did not specify which projects.

Fitch Ratings has assigned Kuveyt Turk's proposed US dollar-denominated sukuk certificates an expected 'BBB(EXP)' rating. The expected rating is in line with Kuveyt Turk's Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of 'BBB', which has a Negative Outlook. The issuer is KT Kira Sertifikalari Varlik Kiralama (KKSVK), which is wholly owned by Kuveyt Turk. The documentation includes a negative pledge provision that is binding on Kuveyt Turk, as well as financial reporting obligations, covenants, Kuveyt Turk event (including cross default) and change of control clause. Certain aspects of the transaction will be governed by English law while others will be governed by Turkish law.

A group of Islamic endowments, or awqaf, and the Dubai government have launched an international organization tasked with improving investments made in the sector. The Awqaf International Organization (AIO) aims to coordinate commercial efforts of sharia-compliant charitable foundations from around the globe. They have amassed huge holdings of real estate, commercial enterprises and other assets, which according to a Dubai government estimate total $1 trillion globally. Management of some awqaf assets has been criticised as inefficient. Now AIO has also been tasked with recommending unified templates for legal frameworks and overseeing applications of sharia standards in accounting, reviewing, and governance, said Husain Benyounis, secretary general of Awqaf New Zealand. The founding members of AIO include awqaf from South Africa, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the U.S., and the emirates of Dubai and Sharjah.

The Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) plans to finalize several new standards by the end of the year. Bahrain-based AAOIFI has published a draft sharia standard for gold-based products with a one month consultation period ending on Nov. 9. AAOIFI's sharia board also discussed work on a new sharia standard covering credit cards, while a final draft of a sharia standard covering liability of investment managers would be issued during its next meeting. Standards for murabaha, sukuk and ijara are also underway with a working group expected to finalize them by the end of the year. A revision of the existing standard on sukuk will cover issues including the asset-backed and asset-based nature of sukuk, capital boosting instruments, beneficial ownership and non-viability clauses.

Nigeria's central bank has set commercial banks' investment in Islamic bonds issued by state governments to 10% of the total amount on offer and fixed a maximum tenor of 10 years for the bonds. The central bank said it considered the need to issue the guidelines to enhance the quality of sukuk instruments and to grant liquidity status at its discount window as well as for banks' liquidity ratio. Nigeria is working out details for issuing a debut sovereign sukuk and also planning to sell Eurobond to raise $1 billion this year. The regulator assigned a weight of 20% for capital adequacy for banks' investment in sukuk and a weight of 50% for Islamic bonds that do not qualify as liquid assets.

#Senegal has upsized its second sale of sovereign sukuk, with #Ivory Coast and #Togo expected to close their own deals in coming days. Senegal issued a debut sukuk in 2014 and returned to the market in July with a 10-year deal paying a 6% profit rate backed by assets from Dakar's international airport. Senegal's sukuk raised a total of 200 billion CFA francs ($341.5 million) from an initial plan for 150 billion CFA francs. Ivory Coast is completing a sale of 150 billion CFA franc worth of 7-year sukuk, while Togo aims to raise 150 billion CFA francs from its debut sukuk, which has a 10-year maturity and 6.5% yield. Niger has also signed up for a sukuk programme to raise 150 billion CFA francs in two phases, although a timing has yet to be determined.

Bahrain's central bank has proposed new governance rules that would require Islamic banks to conduct external sharia audits of their operations, representing a shift away from the long-held practice of self-regulation. Islamic banks in the Gulf have traditionally used in-house boards of Islamic scholars to determine whether religious principles are being obeyed. Some scholars argue that this decentralised approach allows more flexibility and diversity in Islamic finance. Bahrain's central bank said that a public consultation period for its draft rules would close on Oct. 16. These provisions could place Bahrain among the strictest jurisdictions for sharia scholars.

Fitch Ratings has affirmed the rating of The Goldman Sachs Group's JANY Sukuk Company guaranteed trust certificate issuance programme at 'A'. The equalization of the certificate programme's rating is due to the Sukuk's structure. Upon a trust dissolution event, J. Aron will be obliged under the Murabaha Agreement to acquire, or arrange for a third-party purchaser to acquire JANY's beneficial interest in the commodities in the Wakala portfolio. Goldman will unconditionally and irrevocably guarantee the payment obligations of J. Aron under the Murabaha contract. The Sukuk program does not benefit from a cross-default provision within the guarantee documents.

Saudi Arabia's Bank Al Bilad priced an Islamic bond issue worth 2 billion riyals ($533 million) at 200 basis points above the three-month Saudi interbank offered rate. The sukuk have a tenor of 10 years, with the bank having the right to call the bond at the end of the fifth year. They were sold through a private placement. Bank Al Bilad said the raised funds would support its capital base in line with Basel III standards.

Emirates Islamic, the sharia-compliant arm of Dubai's largest bank Emirates NBD (ENBD), has laid off more than 100 people to adjust to a cooler economy. Growth in much of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has slowed this year because of low oil prices. Earlier this year, Emirates Islamic cut around 200 jobs. Most of the latest jobs to go were in the department servicing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Chief Executive Shayne Nelson said the bank continued to focus on cost control. The bank had already made cuts in April when it made around 100 people redundant from its subsidiary Emirates Money to save costs. National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah said in January it would cut up to 250 jobs, while Abu Dhabi-based First Gulf Bank and the UAE operations of HSBC have reduced their headcounts since late 2015.

Sharjah Islamic Bank will begin investor meetings on Aug. 29 for a potential benchmark U.S. dollar-denominated sukuk issue. The meetings will be held in Asia and Europe and the issue would be subject to market conditions. Bank ABC, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD Capital, HSBC, KFH Capital, Maybank, Noor Bank, QNB Capital and Standard Chartered will arrange the meetings.

Bahrain-based Islamic investment bank GFH Financial Group (GFH) has signed a memorandum of understanding to buy a majority stake in Bank Al Khair. Founded in 2004, Bank Al Khair is an Islamic bank with total assets of $580.5 million as of March 2016. The deal is subject to approval by the boards of directors and shareholders of the banks, as well as completion of due diligence and regulatory approvals.

Ahli United Bank Kuwait has obtained approval from Kuwait's central bank to issue capital-boosting sukuk worth up to $200 million. The bank did not give a time frame for the issue but said it could include foreign and domestic currency tranches. The proceeds would be used to enhance the bank's capital base in line with Basel III global banking standards. Last year Kuwait's Capital Markets Authority released rules providing a legal basis for issuance of Islamic bonds, which is helping boost sales of sukuk. Kuwait's Gulf Bank and Boubyan Bank have both completed sukuk issues this year.

Fitch Ratings has updated its criteria for rating Sukuk, which replace the existing criteria published on 18 August 2015. Fitch's analytical assumption is that the structure of the sukuk and the underlying transaction provides for full recourse to the originator and the sukuk rating is driven solely by the originator's rating. It remains uncertain whether certificate holders will be able to enforce their contractual rights in local courts. Ratings assigned to sukuk do not imply any confirmation that the sukuk are sharia-compliant.

Fitch Ratings #Indonesia has assigned National Long-Term Ratings of 'AAA(idn)' to Indosat Ooredoo's IDR 3,172 bn senior unsecured bonds and IDR 288 bn sukuk ijarah issues. The issues are launched from Indosat Ooredoo's IDR 9 trn bond programme and IDR 1 trn sukuk ijarah programme. Indosat Ooredoo will use the issue proceeds to refinance its existing rupiah debt, and to fund licence fees. The sukuk rating is at the same level as Indosat Ooredoo's National Long-Term Rating of 'AAA(idn)'. Fitch's rating for the certificates reflects the agency's belief that Indosat Ooredoo would stand behind its obligations.