IslamicFinance.de

Takaful Emarat has agreed to acquire Al Hilal Takaful from Al Hilal Bank. The all-cash transaction will create the largest Islamic insurer in the UAE. The move is viewed as part of a consolidation drive in the Gulf’s takaful sector to offset weak profitability. Mohammad Al-Hawari, managing director of Takaful Emarat, said the deal would drive growth through a wider range of takaful services and a larger customer base. The merger is subject to full regulatory approvals and is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2018. The transfer of Al Hilal Takaful’s ownership to Takaful Emarat will have no impact on current takaful policies, contracts, claims settlements or the writing of new insurance business.

Malaysia’s Islamic finance industry has grown tremendously since 2004, when Bank Negara Malaysia began issuing Islamic banking licenses to foreign Islamic banks. The strong growth is also reflected in the country's Islamic asset management industry, with Malaysia accounting for 34% of the US$78 billion global Islamic assets under management as at the end of 2016. Malaysia strongly believes that Islamic finance must continue to appeal to the broader community.

Islamic banks have been urged to adopt a strategy to make effective use of financial technology. At a seminar held recently, Ahmed Ali Siddiqui, director of Centre for Excellence in Islamic Finance at IBA, said there has to be a strategy for Islamic finance in the digital world. According to fintech expert Ashar Nazim, Pakistan is doing well in Islamic finance, but the country's finance industry has to adapt to fintech. Market Link Executive Director Ishan Kanji said that using fintech will support the agricultural sector by providing easy access of loans and facilities to farmers. He stressed on the need to tap into the informal economy, which is twice the size of formal economy in Pakistan. At the seminar Hasan Bilgrami, CEO of BankIslami, shared the success story of BankIslami being the first bank in Pakistan to use biometric technology.

Malaysian Rating Corporation (MARC) has assigned a preliminary rating of AAA with a stable outlook to CIMB Islamic Bank's proposed RM10 billion senior Sukuk Wakalah Programme. MARC said the sukuk wakalah would provide an additional platform to raise liquidity for the bank should it need to strengthen its funding base. The rating agency added that the bank would be able to utilise its existing Basel III Tier-2 Junior Sukuk Programme to support its capital position when required. CIMB Islamic’s existing sukuk issuances, rated and affirmed by MARC with a stable outlook are as follows: an RM5 billion Tier 2 Junior Sukuk programme at AA+IS and its RM2 billion Tier 2 Junior Sukuk programme at AA+IS.

Dubai's MAG Lifestyle Development will offer customers the opportunity to purchase properties using OneGram, the first Sharia-compliant crypto-currency. Talal Moafaq Al Gaddah, CEO of MAG Lifestyle Development stated that customers will benefit from the growing potential of crypto-currencies with OneGram. Each OneGram Coin (OGC) is backed by a gram of gold, which ensures that it remains a fully capitalised and stable digital currency. In compliance with Islamic Sharia law, it is also zero interest, profit-loss sharing, and non-speculative as it is pegged to gold. OneGram is also simple to buy and trade and will go live in June 2018. Mohammed Ibraheem Khan, co-founder of OneGram said this was the first real-world application for OneGram and the company was proud to be taking this step with MAG Lifestyle Development.

Several major Iranian private lenders have recently established correspondent relations with Qatar National Bank (QNB). Kourosh Parvizian, CEO of Parsian Bank, said these banks opened accounts with QNB and are prepared to offer financial services to Iranian and Qatari businesses. QNB governor Sheikh Abdullah Saoud Al-Thani said Qatari lenders will make efforts to remove trade obstacles quickly. The Iranian delegation in Doha held a meeting with officials from QNB, Al Rayan Bank and Al Khaliji Bank. They discussed using local currencies in bilateral trade and taking speedy measures to ease trade between the two countries. Bank Melli Iran is also holding talks with one of the largest banks in Qatar for establishing correspondent ties.

The English Court of Appeal has refused Dana Gas' appeal against fund manager BlackRock to participate in English court proceedings. Dana is refusing to redeem its $700 million outstanding sukuk on the grounds that they are no longer sharia-compliant and therefore unlawful in the United Arab Emirates. Courts in both Britain and the UAE are hearing the case. On November 17 the English High Court ruled in favour of the sukuk holders. Dana plans to set aside this judgement on the grounds that the company was not permitted to represent itself in court. Regardless of the result of that application, additional legal proceedings in England are expected.

Since its introduction in the 1990s, the sukuk market has grown significantly with no sign of slowing down. 2016 saw volumes rise by 15% year-on-year, bumping the average annual growth rate of the market to 18% since 2010. This puts sukuk growth during this period more than nine times the global bond market growth average. In 2017 sukuk volumes reached $49 billion so far. Sukuk has transformed from a niche product into an integral component of global capital markets. Product offerings have expanded beyond the traditional vanilla instruments to include capital securities in the bank tier 1 format, as well as industry-specific structures for the telecommunications sector. The market is expected to grow in three areas: financing opportunities on the back of China’s Belt and Road initiative, green (or socially responsible investment) sukuk and local currency sukuk.

Malaysia’s stock exchange (BMSC) has launched a framework for Islamic stock lending. The introduction of Islamic stock lending aims to provide a Shariah-compliant alternative to the securities borrowing and lending negotiated transaction framework (ISSBNT). According to Bursa Malaysia, Islamic stock lending will provide a more facilitative trading environment and improve trading liquidity. Any person approved by BMSC to be an approved supplier may enter sell its own securities. An approved user is required to have a minimum of RM 50 million (USD 12.2 million) in shareholders funds. Initially, close attention will be given to extending Islamic exchange traded funds in particular, as well as enhancing levels of liquidity.

The Irani government will issue 260 trillion rials ($6 billion) worth of sukuk in the next fiscal year, starting March 21, 2018. Proceeds will be used to fund the government's incomplete projects. Managing Director of Central Securities Depository, Gholamreza Aboutorabi, said the projected debt issuance was 30% higher compared to what was forecast for the current year.

Islamic banks have been urged to adopt a strategy to make effective use of financial technology. At a seminar held recently, Ahmed Ali Siddiqui, director of Centre for Excellence in Islamic Finance at IBA, said there has to be a strategy for Islamic finance in the digital world. According to fintech expert Ashar Nazim, Pakistan is doing well in Islamic finance, but the country's finance industry has to adapt to fintech. Market Link Executive Director Ishan Kanji said that using fintech will support the agricultural sector by providing easy access of loans and facilities to farmers. He stressed on the need to tap into the informal economy, which is twice the size of formal economy in Pakistan. At the seminar Hasan Bilgrami, CEO of BankIslami, shared the success story of BankIslami being the first bank in Pakistan to use biometric technology.

According to Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah, Islamic finance has a variety of social finance tools which can be used to increase funds and mobilise donations from a diverse range of sources. Through zakat, sadaqah and waqf, Islamic finance enshrines sustainability, responsibility and generosity. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is now looking to the tools of Islamic finance for humanitarian funding. The United Nations’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are also concerned with protecting the planet and conserving the environment. Malaysia has paved the way for green sukuk and this may become the catalyst for further responsible investments all over the world.

For countries wanting to enable Islamic finance within their borders, a key requirement is tax legislation to provide for tax neutrality. Without a waiver, Islamic finance would incur costs that would render it prohibitive. While the debt like contracts of Islamic finance, contracts such as Ijarah, Murabaha, Bai Bithamin Ajil (BBA), Salam and the like dominate Islamic finance, the risk sharing contracts like Mudarabah and Musyarakah remain unused. Yet, it is the risk sharing contracts that truly provide the value added of Islamic finance. Removing the tax impediment to risk sharing contracts can help rejuvenate both Islamic banking and capital markets. The biggest advantage to the movement away from debt to risk sharing at the micro level is the macro level benefit of reduced vulnerability.

An international workshop on "Enhancing the poor’s capability and financial inclusion from Islamic perspective" took place in Islamabad, Pakistan. On the first day, experts discussed the role of Islamic micro-finance in socio-economic development and economic empowerment of women. President of the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI), Dr Ahmed Yousif said Islamic financial institutions would have to play their role as objectives of value orientation. He called upon the Muslim world to stay united and include Islamic teachings in the economic system. Dr Atiq-uz-Zafar, director general of the International Institute of Islamic Economics of the IIUI, said that the session of the workshop would also include detailed research papers of the experts. The workshop will conclude today at Faisal Mosque campus.

Financial investors of more than 30 different faiths attended the Faith in Finance meeting in Zug, Switzerland. Qiu Zhonghui, General-Secretary of the Amity Foundation also joined the the talk on religious investment funds. At the Faith in Finance meeting, Elliott Harris, UN Assistant Secretary-General stressed that investment in the field of sustainable development will play an important role in the 2030 Agenda of the UN. The United Nations estimates that religious institutional funds make up around US$10 trillion of the world's invested funds. Participants set out their own Guidelines on what they will invest in, noting that a good proportion of the money should be invested in environmental and sustainable development. Delegates agreed to set up a platform for cooperation and investment service under the sustainable framework of the Agenda 2030.

Thomson Reuters and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) released the Islamic Finance Development Report and Indicator (IFDI) at the World Islamic Banking Conference 2017 held in Bahrain. The report studied key trends across five indicators: Quantitative Development, Knowledge, Governance, Corporate Social Responsibility and Awareness. The IFDI global average value recovered to 9.9 in 2017 from 8.8 in 2016. This reflected improved performances in each area. Malaysia, Bahrain and the UAE lead the IFDI country rankings for the fifth consecutive year, while the GCC remains the leading regional hub for the industry. The report also highlights how Islamic finance can help countries adapt to difficult economic conditions.

According to CIMB Islamic Bank CEO Rafe Haneef, Muslim countries and customers with such affinity should tap into the green sukuk market, given the estimated US$45 trillion demand for such assets. He added that green sukuk, was very much part and parcel of shariah compliance, which should be halal and sustainable. In the context of global sukuk, the total size per year is about US$45 billion to US$50 billion, so green bonds are already five times the size of sukuk. RAM Rating Services deputy CEO Promod Dass said there was US$3 trillion worth of green investment needs in Asean from 2015 to 2030. Maybank Group global banking head Datuk Muzaffar Hisham opined Malaysia was in the right direction of participating in the green sukuk sector. He added that appetite for green investment was growing, the only question remaining was how to accelerate it.

The Islamic Finance Development Report and Indicator (IFDI) 2017 was presented at the 24th World Islamic Banking conference 2017 held from December 4 to 6 in Bahrain. The report was commissioned by the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) and put together by business intelligence provider Thomson Reuters. The report uses five indicators to measure the development of the $2.2tn Islamic finance industry, which are quantitative development, knowledge, governance, corporate social responsibility and awareness. This year, Malaysia, Bahrain and the UAE kept leading the IFDI country rankings for the fifth consecutive year, while the GCC remains the leading regional hub for the industry. Oman remained unchanged on rank four, while Saudi Arabia dropped two notches to rank seven, and Jordan, Qatar and Indonesia fell one notch each to ranks nine, ten and eleven. The big newcomer is the small Southeast Asian sultanate of Brunei, which made a jump from rank 14 to rank 9.

According to Moody's Investors Service, the global sukuk market will continue to rebound from a sharp drop in volumes in 2015. Analysts estimate that total sukuk issuance will reach around $95 billion by the end of this year, after more than $85 billion in 2016, including more than $50 billion of sukuk issuance by sovereigns. Moody's Vice-President Christian de Guzman expects that sovereign sukuk issuance volumes will continue to grow in 2018 as governments look to diversify their financing mix and satisfy the liquidity needs of Islamic retail banks. Sovereigns issued more than $40 billion of sukuk in the first eight months of the year. This represents a 50% increase compared to the same period last year. In 2017, market growth was driven by Saudi Arabia with a total issuance of $17 billion. Other countries with large fiscal deficits, such as Oman and Bahrain, will also contribute to the market's expansion.

Bursa Malaysia launched the first Shariah-compliant alternative to the Securities Borrowing and Lending Negotiated Transaction (SBLNT) framework, called Islamic Securities Selling and Buying Negotiated Transaction (ISSBNT). The new ISSBNT framework is based on the SBLNT model and is expected to provide a more facilitative trading environment for securities. Bursa Malaysia CEO Datuk Seri Tajuddin Atan said market participants would now have an alternative avenue which is compliant with Shariah principles. The model was chosen because it is more widely used by the market due to its flexibility. Tajuddin noted that ISSBNT is expected to bring an uplift of around 5 to 10% growth in funds transaction in the next 12 months.