IslamicFinance.de

RAM Rating Services has reaffirmed the A2/Stable/P1 financial institution ratings of Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd. The ratings agency had on Monday also reaffirmed the bank’s A3/Stable rating of its RM400mil Islamic subordinated Sukuk programme (2011/2026). The one-notch difference between the bank’s long-term financial institution rating and that of its subordinated Sukuk reflects the subordination of the debt facility to the bank’s unsecured obligations, it said. RAM Ratings said the bank’s asset-quality indicators had weakened during the period under review. Its gross impaired-financing (GIF) ratio had increased to 3.0% as at end-December 2014 (end-March 2014: 2.7%), with the largest upticks in home and personal financing.

Indonesian regulators are promoting new sharia-compliant financial tools and considering easing foreign ownership limits for domestic Islamic banks, seeking to make the sector more appealing to foreign lenders. This year the financial regulator, Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK), launched a five-year strategy that aims to triple the sector's market share to 15 percent by 2023. Attracting foreign capital is part of those plans; the OJK is considering easing foreign ownership ceilings for Islamic banks, now at 40 percent. Meanwhile, companies can raise cash in foreign currencies more easily with Islamic instruments, after the country's national sharia board approved sharia-compliant currency hedging tools in April.

Effective regulation and supervision of Islamic banks achieved through a dedicated unit of the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) is positive for the sector as it should strengthen early detection of risks and support growth, Fitch Ratings said. The central bank inaugurated its specialist department for overseeing Islamic banking last week. The department will build up resources and expertise and centralise all aspects of Islamic banking regulation and issuance. Although the industry represents just over five per cent of total banking assets in Oman, it could grow rapidly, as it has in neighbouring countries where market shares range between 20 to 30 per cent, the ratings agency said. The global ratings agency added that a limited number of Omani corporates have issued sukuk and the country's banks may follow.

A group of Indonesian Islamic banks launched on Thursday a standard contract template for sharia-compliant repurchase agreements, aiming to broaden the liquidity management tools available in the sector. The standard will serve as an alternative to interest-based repurchase agreements. Currently Islamic banks in Indonesia rely on tools provided by the central bank, such as an Islamic overnight deposit facility known as FASBIS, while the new agreement would standardise bank-to-bank transactions and help ensure they are cost-effective. An initial group of 18 Islamic banks and Islamic banking units are signatories to the master agreement, which allows use of government-issued Islamic bonds as collateral while tenors can be of no more than one year.

The Omani central bank has established an independent department to handle Islamic banking. The new department will handle all Islamic banking matters, though the existing examination and surveillance departments will continue their supervision of banks. The creation of a separate Islamic banking department appears to clear the way for two steps seen as critical to the long-term development of the industry: issuance of sovereign Islamic bonds, and the introduction of sharia-compliant money market tools. The government has said it plans to sell its first sukuk, an issue of OMR 200m ($520m), in coming months, while a central bank task force has been studying Islamic money market operations.

Without any doubt the introduction of Islamic Banking will be a challenge to Malta. There can be no doubt that the Government looked at the matter from a purely commercial point of view without paying any attention to certain core values. But the attacks by ISIS are bringing the issue of core values to the fore again. Currently Malta is seen as one of the top countries in the fight against money laundering and terrorism funding. With the introduction of Islamic Banking, the biggest preoccupation would be whether such a position would be negatively affected. Another concern is on the role of the Regulator. Despite a long Budget Speech, such an essential issue was not tackled by the Minister of Finance and MFSA is far from being prepared for such a proposal.

Dubai-headquartered offshore supply vessel company Stanford Marine Group (SMG) has secured a AED 1.2 billion ($326.7 million) Islamic syndicated structured finance facility arranged by Noor Bank. The transaction is one of the first fully Islamic-backed finance deals in the oilfield services sector. Other participating banks in the deal were: Barwa Bank, First Gulf Bank and Qatar Islamic Bank which acted as mandated lead arrangers, while Ajman Bank and United Arab Bank joined the deal as Lead Arrangers. Noor Bank PJSC also acted as Investment and Security Agent for the deal. The facility will be used to consolidate Stanford Marine Group’s existing conventional and Islamic facilities into a single tranche facility.

Publicly traded Islamic bank Bank Asya’s owners have launched 100 cases against the seizure by regulators, with lawyer Süleyman Ta?ba? emphasizing that lawsuits can also be filed on behalf of the 18,000 shareholders corresponding to the B Group shares. Ta?ba? said that the number of cases may reach 110 with the main case file reaching 500 pages, pointing out that the B Group shareholders will also have the opportunity to file cases until the legal deadline expires in the next 35 days. The lawyer also said that a criminal complaint will be filed with the prosecutors against the bureaucrats working at the regulatory agencies who took part in the seizure of the bank and its management.

In compliance with Central Bank of Bahrain's requirements, Ithmaar Bank publishes its financial results in line with international accountings standards issued by the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI). In May, Ithmaar Bank received notification from the Kuwait Stock Exchange requiring the Bank to publish its financial results in line with the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS). Ithmaar Bank responded with a letter explaining that publishing two sets of financial results using different international accounting standards will create confusion among investors. Ithmaar Bank wrote to the Kuwait Stock Exchange requesting a meeting to review possible alternatives but has not yet received a response.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recently issued a survey under "Islamic Finance: Opportunities, Challenges, and Policy Options" depicting a host of challenges of the industry, as well as offering proposals to countries with Islamic banks. One major proposal of the study is to establish a Shari'ah Supervisory Board (SSB). Bahrain has recently announced founding a central Shari'ah body to supervise the products of Islamic Finance and set rules to boost governance in the sector. CEO of the Kuwait Finance House (KFH), Mazin Al-Nahedh welcomed the idea, saying such central supervisory body is likely to overcome the differences over financing products of Islamic banking, as it will set the rules to be adopted, Al-Nahedh told KUNA.

Bahrain Islamic Bank (BisB) has appointed Hassan Jarrar as its new chief executive, with effect from July 1. Jarrar, who is currently the chief executive of Standard Chartered Bank Bahrain, will take over the reins from Mohammed Ahmed Janahi who has been Bahrain Islamic Bank’s acting CEO since September 1 last year. Janahi will become the deputy chief executive after Jarrar takes over. The new chief executive said he was confident that Bahrain Islamic Bank would assume an active role in Islamic banking field through perfecting its systems and services and the development and refining of products to enhance its role and status in the local and regional markets.

Dubai-based Islamic mortgage lender Amlak Finance has said it is in talks with Emaar Properties to launch a partnership to develop land in “distinctive locations”. Amlak's shares soared 15 percent, the maximum allowed in a day on the Dubai Financial Market, after the company announced the plans. Amlak chief commercial officer Adnan Al Awadhi told Al Khaleej newspaper that it is also in talks with the emirate’s Land Department to revive stalled projects. Last month, Amlak recorded a 77 percent plunge in first-quarter profit because of amortisation charges. Amlak reported that net profit fell to AED3.7 million ($1.01 million) from AED16 million in the same period last year.

Moody's Investors Service says the outlook on Indonesia's (Baa3 stable) banking system remains stable, reflecting an expectation that the country's banks will withstand a challenging operating environment owing to their strong buffers. Nonperforming loans will likely rise, given slowing economic growth, nonetheless, the banks are well-positioned to withstand any deterioration in asset quality and will maintain strong capital levels. Moody's conclusions were contained in its just-released "Banking System Outlook: Indonesia", which expresses Moody's view of how bank creditworthiness will evolve in this system over the next 12-18 months. The report looks at the banking system in the five categories of operating environment; asset quality and capital; funding and liquidity; profitability and efficiency; and system support.

Small Medium Enterprise Development Bank Malaysia Bhd (SME Bank) is getting closer to reaching its target of turning into a full-fledged shariah development finance institution (DFI) with its Islamic financing portfolio now standing at 86.5 per cent amounting to RM4.31 billion. The target is to achieve 90 per cent Islamic financing portfolio by December 2015. When SME Bank was set up in October 2005, the Islamic financing portfolio was only 15 per cent. Group managing director, Datuk Mohd Radzif Mohd Yunus, said convincing customers to switch to Islamic financing was not a major challenge. SME Bank, through its unit, Centre for Entrepreneur Research and Development Sdn Bhd, and Islamic Banking and Finance Institute of Malaysia, developed and conducted the Chartered Islamic Development Banker programme.

The sustained effort to enhance the regulatory and legislative framework to support Islamic financial transactions will continue to place Malaysia as the biggest player in the global Islamic banking industry, says CIMB Islamic Bank Bhd. Chief Executive Officer Badlisyah Abdul Ghani said despite the growing competition from other markets, such as Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, Malaysia's better and firm framework would be a value added. Nevertheless, Badlisyah said due to the aggresive external environment, Malaysia should always come out with compelling, commercially driven products, to clearly distinguish itself from competitors. Badlisyah was a speaker at a panel discussion on "The Future of Islamic Banking: Where Do We Go From Here?"

Capital Intelligence (CI) announced today that it has affirmed Bahrain-based Al Baraka Islamic Bank’s (AIB) Financial Strength Rating (FSR) at ‘BB’, on ‘Stable’ Outlook, supported by its strong ownership, comfortable liquidity premised on customer deposit funding, and the improvement in the capital adequacy ratio (CAR). The FSR remains constrained by sovereign risk exposure in Pakistan (through ‘AlBaraka Bank Pakistan’), where economic conditions remain difficult despite some improvement, and a relatively high non-performing financings (NPFs) ratio and low loss-reserve cover. Also constraining the FSR is the Bank’s ongoing very weak profitability at both the operating and net levels. AIB’s Long and Short-Term Foreign Currency Ratings are maintained at ‘BB+’ and ‘A3’, respectively.

La Banque marocaine du commerce extérieur (BMCE) et le groupe bahreïni Al Baraka Banking Group projettent d’ouvrir une banque islamique au Maroc dans les prochains mois. Le PDG du groupe bancaire bahreïni, Adnan Ahmed Yousif, a déclaré que la future banque sera détenue à parts égales par la Banque marocaine du commerce extérieur (BMCE) et Al Baraka. L'institution ouvrira ses portes durant le premier trimestre 2016. Il a également ajouté que la nouvelle banque couvrira un réseau de 20 branches au cours de ses cinq premières années d’activité. Rappelons que le parlement marocain a adopté en novembre 2014 la loi n° 103.12 qui autorise les institutions bancaires locales et étrangères à créer des banques participatives (islamiques) au Maroc.

The Indonesian government plans to merge the Shariah-compliant units of state-owned PT Bank Mandiri, PT Bank Negara Indonesia, PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia and PT Bank Tabungan Negara with paid-up capital of more than 15 trillion rupiah ($1.1 billion) next year, Gatot Trihargo, deputy minister for government-run enterprises, said. Financial Services Authority Chairman Muliaman Hadad said in January that the plan may materialize this year. In the Indonesian plan, the government will ask the four lenders to provide 5 trillion rupiah to 10 trillion rupiah of capital to their Shariah banking units before the planned merger, Trihargo said. The combined entity will help manage about 70 trillion rupiah and this would be used to fund infrastructure projects, he said.

Bahrain-based Al Baraka Banking Group plans to launch an Islamic bank in Morocco early next year after receiving approval from the country's central bank, and is looking to expand into East Africa, chief executive Adnan Ahmed Yousif said. The new bank will be equally owned by Al Baraka and Banque marocaine du commerce extérieur (BMCE), and will start operations in the first quarter of 2016. He said the new bank would open 20 branches in its first five years of business. The chief executive also said the group is considering expanding into East Africa because the banking system there is similar to that of the Gulf region, and was currently exploring opportunities in Kenya. Besides, the bank also plans to grow its operations in Egypt.

Eskan Bank (EB), established in 1979 and fully owned by the government, has the mandate to provide financing to the low-to-medium-income population segment, specifically to acquire (purchase/construct) a primary residence, and contribute to related property development. During its 36 years of existence, the bank has assisted approximately 35 percent of citizens by providing more than BD 700 million in mortgage financing. With its authorized share capital of BD 400 million and paid-up capital of BD 108.3 million, EB operates under a restricted conventional retail banking license issued and regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB). Its total assets at the end of 2014 stood at BD 610.7 million.