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During the 10th Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) Summit key leaders discussed the industry’s developments following the global financial crisis as well as regulatory reforms, cross-sectoral approach to the regulation of Islamic finance, and prospects and challenges for new jurisdictions. The event was held on 16 and 17 May in Kuala Lumpur and hosted by Bank Negara Malaysia. It consisted of three sessions themed “Financial Regulatory Reforms: Global Overview”, “Cross-sectoral Approach to the Regulation of Islamic Finance and Market Development: Lessons Learnt” and “New Markets, New Frontiers – Prospects and Challenges”. The panel discussed issues like initiatives undertaken by the Basel Committee in recent years, supervision of all the sectors of Islamic finance as well as progress and development, prospects and challenges faced by the IIFS.

German insurer Allianz Malaysia is still keen on takaful business but is in no rush to get a licence, according to its CEO Jens Reisch. The Bursa Malaysia-listed company is involved in both general and life businesses, but unlike most other insurers, it does not have any takaful tie-ups. Reisch added that Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) is not issuing any new takaful licence. He believes, however, that the implementation of the Islamic Financial Services Islamic Act (IFSA) will consolidate the industry and require additional capital for family takaful licence. Reisch also said that they were reviewing takaful constantly and closely, and if there was a chance to get a licence or a chance to team up or acquire another takaful company, his company would explore.

Islamic Development Bank (IDB) president Dr Ahmad Mohamed Ali Al Madani suggested four key areas for the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) to focus on durich his keynote address at the 10th IFSB Summit in Kuala Lumpur. These include the creation of a conducive enabling environmen, adoption of IFSB and AAOIFI standards by all stakeholders, shortage of qualified manpower and financial inclusion through Islamic microfinance, supported by Zakat and Awqaf. In this context, IDB hopes for more collaborative opportunities with IFSB. Meanwhile, Sheikh Abdulla Saoud Al-Thani, chairman of IFSB 2013, highlighted some of the challenges that lie ahead in the Islamic financial service industry like the under-penetrated Takaful industry.

Indonesia’s proposed Shariah megabank would improve industry awareness, lower costs and help the bank compete to win plantation, mining and infrastructure business. Combining the Islamic units of the government-held lenders is the most feasible of three options being considered by the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry. The other two options being considered are setting up a new state-owned Islamic lender or converting an existing government-held bank into a Shariah-compliant operation. It is possible the government could proceed with more than one of the choices. The ministry is currently in discussions with Bank Indonesia and will present a finalized proposal to the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry by the end of May. Government approval is expected by the end of the year.

The board of BIMB Holdings Bhd is set to deliberate on Dubai Financial Group LLC's (DFG) sale of a 30% stake in Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd. BIMB's group managing director and CEO Johan Abdullah said that there is no official agreement yet, and that the board is going to discuss this by the end of the month. He added that the sale must have value proposition and earnings accretion for shareholders of the company as a whole. Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) gave BIMB Holdings until June 30, 2013 to complete its negotiations to buy DFG's 30% stake in Bank Islam Malaysia. Therefore, the parties must ensure the negotiations are completed within this deadline.

State investment company Khazanah Nasional Bhd is gearing for more innovative investment options to follow its landmark portfolios in the sukuk marketplace. It plans to publish a coffee table book to share its success stories thus far. In recent weeks, Khazanah was in the news when it selected three banks to help arrange a sale of US$1 billion (RM2.98 billion) of convertible Islamic bonds. The Shar iah- compl iant bonds, or sukuk, would be exchangeable into shares of companies controlled by Khazanah. The company has launched innovative sukuk across Asia including the first global sukuk in US dollars, in Singapore dollars and in the yuan exchange. A rough estimate shows that Khazanah has helped raise US$3.5 billion for companies based in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, among others.

The Malaysia-based International Islamic Liquidity Management Corp (IILM), backed by nine central banks and monetary agencies as well as the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank, has said it plans to issue up to $500mn of dollar-denominated sukuk in the second quarter of this year, and eventually expand the programme to as much as $3bn. However, the company faces a delicate task as it designs its maiden sukuk: it must make the issue attractive enough for investors to buy, but not so attractive that most of them buy to hold. The IILM’s mission is to create a highly liquid tool which Islamic banks will trade to manage their short-term funds. Whether it gets the balance right will affect the development of Islamic money market trading in the Gulf and Southeast Asia over the coming year.

Takaful Ikhlas Sdn Bhd is looking to boost its family takaful business, regarded as a long term saving mechanism, to drive the company's growth and profitability further. According to its president and CEO Ab Latiff Abu Bakar, the company's family takaful business should grow by another 10% to contribute 70% of its gross contributions in the next three to four years. For the financial year ended March 31, 2012 (FY12), family takaful made up just over 60% of the operators contributions at RM501 million. One opportunity for growth is the expansion into corporate or group business which remains under-penetrated but a good way to reach the masses at a faster and cheaper rate. Takaful Ikhlas will also look to introduce new products packaged with Islamic services to further grow its family takaful segment.

The 3rd Bank Indonesia International Seminar on Islamic Finance with the title “A New Phase of the Islamic Finance: Capturing the Untapped Area to Improve the Quality of Economic Development” is going to take place in Nusa Dua Beach Hotel, Bali, on 30th – 31st May 2013. Several topics regarding Islamic finance will be discussed, such as potential products and segments correlated with the economic growth and stability of financial system and the role of Islamic finance for underprivileged communities and small-micro economic groups. An in-depth discussion is needed to evaluate the mindset of Islamic financial industry development and to identify the potential untapped areas to obtain some effective recommendations with the purpose of reaching the quality of economic growth. Please see the attached file for more details as well as registration procedure.

The Finance Ministry has approved a 6-billion-baht fund for recapitalization of the Islamic Bank of Thailand, of which the ministry is the major shareholder. The project aims at reviving the bank after it has been plagued by the problem of non-performing loans (NPLs). Out of the 6-billion-baht rehabilitation fund, 3 billion will come from the ministry itself, and the rest from the Government Savings Bank and the Krung Thai Bank, which are shareholders of the Islamic Bank. The first allocation of 920 million baht under the rehabilitation scheme will be made to the Islamic Bank in June. However, the second batch of 3 billion baht has yet to be approved by the parliament and depends on the needs for money by other units.

Telecom Malaysia (TM) has enough cash to redeem its RM2 billion sukuk that will mature on December 31, according to its senior officials. TM has RM3.7 billion in cash and bank balances as at end-2012, its chief financial officer Datuk Bazlan Osman said. Therefore, the group does not see any need to issue more bonds to raise funds for now, he added. TM’s healthy reserves were lifted by a year-on-year growth in net income of 6.1 per cent from RM1.19 billion in 2011 to RM1.26 billion last year. This was largely helped by a 9.2 per cent revenue growth from RM9.15 billion in 2011 to RM9.99 billion last year, which TM claimed is the highest in the industry.

Indonesian corporate sukuk sales are expected to reach a full-year record as $92 billion of state-backed development projects buoy issuance. Bank Muamalat Indonesia and Adira Dinamika Multi Finance were among issuers of Rp 1.5 trillion ($154 million) of securities. The government is seeking to reduce fuel subsidies to set aside more funds for roads, railways and power stations to spur growth. Finance companies have accounted for 72 percent of sales this year, while state-owned construction company Hutama Karya and electricity producer Perusahaan Listrik Negara may sell Islamic bonds in 2013. The sectors with the biggest potential to actively tap into the sukuk market will be those involved in infrastructure-related projects and utilities.

As Malaysians welcome their newly elected and returned Members of Parliament as well as state assemblymen, there is hope that people develop a better understanding and acceptance regarding different aspects of Islamic finance. People might better understand the different financial institutions that are undertaking Islamic financial activities in the market. Moreover, they might stop accusing Islamic financial institutions in general of merely emulating and replicating the products and services of conventional financial institutions. Legislators play a significant role in creating the right platform for a more inclusive Islamic financial market and we have not communicated enough on their roles in making Islamic finance in Malaysia the best in the world all these years.

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) is anxious to expand but is being held back in part by the unrest dominating the Middle East, according to its CEO Abdulla Al-Hamli. The bank expects to see close to 17 percent growth in net profit this year. DIB shares are up 43 percent so far this year to 2.88 dirhams, giving it a market capitalization of about AED 10.9 billion. After the global credit crisis the bank cut real estate investment to 27 percent of its portfolio from 45 percent in 2008. DIB’s non performing loans peaked at 14.5 percent after the crisis and dropped to 12 percent by the end of 2012. DIB is considering its expansion into Asian markets like Malaysia, Indonesia and India.

Indonesia’s plan to shift 11 trillion rupiah ($1.1 billion) of pilgrim’s savings into Shariah- compliant lenders is a booster-shot that will help narrow the gap with neighboring Malaysia. Deposits set aside by those planning a Hajj visit to Mecca in Saudi Arabia will be shifted by the Ministry of Religious Affairs from non-Islamic banks within a year of announcing the policy. The funds are equivalent to 7.3 percent of the 150.8 trillion rupiah in savings at Islamic lenders, less than a sixth of Malaysia’s 310 billion ringgit ($102 billion). The entire Hajj fund totaled 55 trillion rupiah in March, with about 35 trillion rupiah invested in non-tradable sovereign sukuk and 9 trillion rupiah already placed at Islamic lenders.

With the ongoing credit squeeze from the debt crisis and uncertainty still stalking capital markets, many Western firms are eyeing up the Islamic liquidity pool as an alternative source of finance. The Irish energy group ESB had applied to local regulators in Malaysia for permission to issue a bond, with the aim of raising €1 billion. Had the issuance gone ahead, the ESB would have become the first Irish company, and one of the non-financials in Europe, to issue a Sharia-compliant bond. Nonetheless, prospective investors reportedly showed interest in investment in asset-rich companies like the ESB. Ireland already commands a share of pie when it comes to fund management, with some 20 per cent of Europe’s Sharia-compliant funds domiciled in Dublin’s Irish Finance Services Centre (IFSC).

The standards for Islamic asset management should be raised so that it can compete with conventional peers. according to Fajar Capital Group CEO Iqbal Khan. He said though the Islamic asset management industry remains marginal and fragmented and continues to lag behind conventional systems, its characteristics to compete in the market through values, ethics and authenticity will prove to be advantageous in the future. He added that global Islamic finance assets were expected to hit US$1.8 trillion in 2013, and Islamic asset management is expected to grow around US$300 million to US$500 million this year. He said Malaysia played a leading role, with a well structured approach, in the Islamic wealth management industry and hoped that Malaysia will export its success story to the rest of the Islamic world.

Indonesia's finance ministry raised 1 trillion rupiah ($102.88 million) worth of sharia bonds on Tuesday, below its target of 1.5 trillion rupiah. The ministry only sold the 30-year, project-based sukuk with the yield at 6.82781 percent. There were no winning bids for the rest of the bonds, which included 5-, 14- and 24-year project based sukuk. According to the debt office, total incoming bids were 2.43 trillion rupiah.

Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and S&P Dow Jones Indices have announced the launch of the S&P BSE 500 Shariah index, the first new index resulting from the strategic partnership formed between the two companies in February of this year. The S&P BSE 500 consists of 500 of the largest, most liquid Indian stocks trading at the BSE. The index represents nearly 93% of the total market capitalization on the BSE and covers all 20 major industries of the economy. S&P Dow Jones Indices has contracted with Ratings Intelligence Partners (RI) to provide the Shariah screens and to filter the stocks. BSE and S&P Dow Jones Indices announced on February 19, 2013, a strategic partnership to calculate, disseminate, and license the widely followed suite of BSE indices.

Bank Muamalat Indonesia reported a 42.3 percent increase in net profit to Rp389.4 billion (RM121.48 million) last year from Rp273.6 billion (RM85.35 million) in the previous year. The net profit before tax reached Rp521.8 billion (RM162.78 million) or an increase of 40.4 percent from Rp371.7 billion (RM115.96 million) in 2011. The increase in net profit of the bank was attributable to a 38.1 percent rise in assets to Rp44.9 trillion (RM14 billion) in 2012. Its non performing financing remains at 1.81 percent. In 2012 , Bank Muamalat issued sharia bonds valued at Rp800 billion (RM249,57 million).