IslamicFinance.de

Islamic International Rating Agency (IIRA) has reaffirmed the ratings of Kuveyt Turk Participation Bank (KTPB) at ‘AA(tr)/A1+(tr)’ (Double A / A One Plus) on the national scale. Ratings on the international scale have also been reaffirmed, with foreign currency rating at ‘BBB-/A3’ (Triple B Minus / A Three) and the local currency rating at ‘BBB/A3’ (Triple B / A Three). Outlook on the assigned ratings is ‘Stable’. The assigned ratings take into account KTPB’s sound financial risk profile, against the backdrop of continued business expansion. Overall profitability position is also healthy; however, efficiency indicators have lagged behind larger players.

Standard Chartered has appointed Rehan Shaikh as chief executive of its global Islamic banking business, it said in a statement on Wednesday.
Shaikh moves to Standard Chartered Saadiq from Dubai Islamic Bank, where he was senior vice president and business head, private sector and transaction banking. He previously worked for StanChart in Pakistan from 1998 to 2007, the statement said.
He takes over from Sohail Akbar, who was interim chief executive of the Islamic banking operation after the departure of Afaq Khan earlier this year.
StanChart remains committed to the business despite a period of hiatus across other parts of the bank as global chief executive Bill Winters moves to restore profitability. It announced plans this month to reduce costs by $2.9 billion by 2018 and cut 15,000 jobs.
"Islamic finance is an integral part of the business at Standard Chartered and we continue to see growing demand from clients in many of our markets," said Sunil Kaushal, the bank's regional chief executive for Africa and the Middle East.

Islamic finance is based on growth of assets, not financial engineering, and this organic growth makes it different from Western debt constructs, Justice and Development (AK) Party parliamentarian and economist has said.
Ibrahim Turhan, member of Turkish parliament for AK Party from Izmir, made the remarks in an interview with Anadolu Agency on the sidelines of the Second International Islamic Finance and Economics conference in Istanbul on Thursday.
Turhan, who is also an economist and former chief executive officer of Borsa Istanbul, said: “One of the principal causes of financial crisis of 2008-2009 was the vast market that had grown up for securitized instruments.

More than 1200 distinguished guests from more than 45 countries and 300 organizations participating this December, Bahrain

Key players from the global Islamic finance industry will be participating with the 22nd annual World Islamic Banking Conference (WIBC) 2015, taking place on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of December at the Gulf Hotel, Bahrain. Focusing on 'New Realities, New Opportunities', WIBC will play host to more than 1200 leaders including Central bank governors, regulators, C-suite bankers & asset managers, policy makers, Fintech entrepreneurs and contemporary thought leaders.
WIBC 2015 will host 5 central bank Governors and deputy governors and feature speeches and discussions by the Governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain, H.E. Rasheed Al Maraj, the Executive President of the Central Bank of Oman, H.E. Hamood Sangour Al Zadjali, Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, Riaz Riazuddin and the Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, Nurlan Kussainov.

The Borsa Istanbul Private Market, a year-old platform for bringing companies and investors together, is a leading example of Islamic finance, the exchange’s CEO Tuncay Dinc has said.
Speaking at the G20 forum on Islamic finance on Wednesday, Dinc said: “The Islamic finance approach to risk- and profit-sharing makes it an important resource for investors who seek the greater security that this kind of finance affords.”
Islamic finance, which does not involve charging or paying interest, uses a model in which trade is backed by real assets and money is merely a medium of exchange rather than a commodity to be traded.
Under this system, the funds invested are used on a profit-and-loss sharing basis under models known as musharakah – a joint enterprise where risk and rewards are shared rather than interest paid on a loan – and mudarabah, where one party supplies funding and an agent manages a specific trade.

Turkish Islamic bank Albaraka Turk has received initial pricing feedback in the 10 % area for a potential U.S. dollar-denominated sukuk issue which would bolster its supplementary or Tier 2 capital, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday.
The lender has received indications of interest totalling over $250 million, including those from joint lead managers, for the ten-year non-call five sukuk, the sources said. A potential deal is expected early next week subject to market conditions, they said.
Albaraka Turk, a unit of Bahrain-based Al Baraka Banking Group, has chosen Barwa Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD, Nomura, Noor Bank, Standard Chartered and QInvest to arrange the sukuk issue.

Turkish Islamic bank Kuveyt Turk has mandated six institutions for a sukuk with a value of up to $400 million with a maturity of 10 years, it said in a statement to the Istanbul stock exchange late on Thursday.
Kuveyt Turk Participation Bank, which is 62 percent owned by Kuwait Finance House, said it had mandated KFH Capital, Dubai Islamic Bank, HSBC, Noor Bank, QInvest and Emirates NBD as joint lead managers. Sources familiar with the matter told Reuters in September that seven banks had been picked to arrange a potential deal.

Albaraka Turk Kat?l?m Bankas? (Albaraka Türk), has mandated seven banks to arrange a Basel III compliant Reg S tier two subordinated sukuk — only the second from Turkey and the first in sukuk format.
The roadshow for the bond starts on Friday, with meetings taking place in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

After Bank Mellat obtained the right to expand its operations in Turkey in March 2014, Iran's Saman Bank has also applied to the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) and the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK). The BDDK is now considering the Iranian bank's request; BDDK is expected to issue a reply around New Year's. Bank Tejarat and Pasargad Bank are also expected to reapply to be involved in the Turkish finance market after Saman Bank's application is approved. The approval of the expansion request of Bank Mellat, which had not been operationally active in Turkey due to sanctions and had downsized in 2012, also raised hopes for other banks.

Turkish Islamic bank Albaraka Turk has reportedly picked seven arrangers for a potential dollar-denominated sukuk to bolster its supplementary or Tier 2 capital. The lender is expected to raise around $250 million, and the sukuk issue is planned before the end of the year. Albaraka Turk has chosen Barwa Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD, Nomura, Noor Bank, Standard Chartered and QInvest to arrange the sukuk issue. The bank, a unit of Bahrain-based Al Baraka Banking Group , didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a statement to the Qatar Exchange, QNB revealed its involvement as a potential bidder for Finansbank, the National Bank of Greece’s Turkish banking subsidiary. Established in 1987, Finansbank operates 654 branches and has more than 12,000 employees. The bank’s total assets in H1 2015 reached TRY 82.45 billion. The bank was acquired by National Bank of Greece in 2006. QNB has also recently investigated the possibility of taking over KFH Malaysia. However, a bourse statement on 22 September said the bank had stopped preliminary talks to acquire Kuwait Finance House (Malaysia) without reaching an agreement.

Turkish Islamic bank Kuveyt Turk has picked seven banks to arrange a potential dollar-denominated sukuk to bolster its supplementary or Tier 2 capital. Kuveyt Turk Participation Bank, which is 62 percent owned by Kuwait Finance House, is planning to issue the sukuk after the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha which begins this week. Kuveyt Turk has picked KFH Capital, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD, HSBC, Noor Bank and QInvest to arrange investor roadshows ahead of the potential issue. The lender is expected to raise around $400 million.

Turkish Islamic bank Albaraka Turk has secured a $450 million dual-tranche murabaha loan, the proceeds of which will be used to expand its financing activities in the country. The bank closed a $278-million portion and a 154.5 million- euro ($174.7 million) tranche in the 367-days and 733-days tenures paying profit margins of 1.1 and 1.25 percentage points over the London interbank offered rate/Euro interbank offered rate respectively. Sixteen investors participated in providing the murabaha facility from Europe and the Middle East and North Africa region. Due to the oversubscription, Albaraka Turk decided to increase the facility size to $450 million instead of $400 million as originally planned.

In an unexpected move, Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) pulled out of Albaraka Türk's latest $450m murabaha loan because it did not think the loan was Shariah compliant, according to two bankers on the deal. Turkish participation bank Albaraka Türk has signed a $450m-equivalent one year loan, which it increased from the $400m launch size.

Chairman of Borsa Istanbul Talat Ulussever called on Tuesday for the development of trading in stock markets to be compliant with the Islamic Sharia. Transactions at the stock markets should be Islamic Sharia-compliant not only restricted on issuance of bonds, said Ulussever at the opening of the 1st conference on Islamic Finance. He said policies failed to revive the global economy since 2008, but rather increased burden of debts by more than USD 50 trillion. Ulussever said economic and financial crises were linked to huge debts. He said the Islamic financing should be fully based on Islamic foundations.

Turkish participation bank Albaraka Türk will sign its murabaha loan next week and increase the deal from the $400m launch size, according to bankers on the deal. The deal is comprised of a 367 day tranche with a margin of 110bp and a two year and three day tranche paying 125bp, according to one banker on the deal.

Istanbul will discuss halal tourism on Dec. 1-3, where more than 1,000 attendees will come together in the city for the second annual International Halal Tourism Conference. Industry and sectoral professionals are expected to formulate new strategies concerning the $150 billion sector. The concept of halal tourism, which concerns nearly 1.5 billion Muslims all over the world, is the fastest growing trend of global tourism. The conference will be crucial for professionals who are actively engaged in the sector or seeking ways to operate in this market. While countries such as Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates are prominent actors in this sector, many more countries are trying to attract Muslim tourists from all over the world.

Turkish Islamic lenders Turkiye Finans Katilim Bankasi and Albaraka Turk have applied separately to issue Islamic bonds, according to Turkey's Capital Markets Board. Turkiye Finans has applied to raise up to 1.5 billion lira ($513.2 million) through its wholly-owned unit, TF Varlik Kiralama. No tenor or details of underlying assets were given for the deal, which could be sold as a public offering or to qualified investors. Albaraka Turk, a unit of Bahrain-based Al Baraka Banking Group, has also applied to raise up to 1 billion lira through its asset-leasing company, Bereket Varlik Kiralama. The bulk of sukuk issuance in Turkey has come from the government and the country's Islamic banks, although corporate issuance is also growing.

Turkish participation bank Albaraka Türk is set to close books for its $400m-equivalent murabaha loan next week. Albaraka Turk is expected to sign the loan in mid-September, according to a banker on the deal. The $400m-equivalent deal has one year and two year tranches in euros and dollars.

In Turkey almost all businesses are micro, small or medium-sized enterprises (MSME), and only 0.1 percent of businesses are large firms. MSME lending constitutes a significant share of banks’ lending – it was 26% of the total banks’ portfolio in 2013, including 7% extended to microenterprises, despite the naturally much smaller average loan amounts. There are several barriers preventing Turkish banks from increasing their lending to microenterprises, despite an interest in reaching further down market. One such barrier is the high level of informality and semi-formality in the micro-segment of the Turkish MSME sector. Turkey has no dedicated microfinance sector of a significant scale.