IslamicFinance.de

The four private banks’ authorities have long been violating the bank company act, putting their family members on the board of directors. According to the bank company act, 2013, the banks’ board cannot comprise more than two members of a single family. But the four banks still continue their dominion over the board of directors with their family members at the helm. These are the National Bank, the Premier Bank, The City Bank and the First Security Islami Bank.

The resignation if Dr Ayoub follows his appointment as Assistant Secretary General with the Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia-based Islamic Financial Services Board. His new role as a regulator in the IFSB requires him to avoid any direct and official association with a regulated entity.

The GCC Islamic Finance industry is expected to maintain its rapid growth over the coming years despite mixed results across sectors in 2014.
The industry’s expansion is expected to be driven by the GCC’s robust economic prospects, continued infrastructure needs and rising issuance from governments and government-related entities.

The meeting discussions included the value proposition of Islamic finance; the level-playing field between Islamic and conventional finance; impediments to growth in profit-and-loss sharing financing; and the potential of the industry in fostering access to finance, notably for small- and medium-sized enterprises. But also more specific topics such as the appropriate regulatory and supervisory framework to preserve financial stability, how to adapt and implement Basel III requirements on capital and liquidity, strengthen risk management tools, and enhance Shar?`ah and corporate governance were discussed.

The Bahrain’s stock exchange has plans to launch a financing tool and real estate investment trusts. The range of Islamic investment products will include a novel equity-based murabaha financing tool and Islamic real estate investment trusts. It is seeking to attract regional funds from bigger markets such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates; Islamic financial products are a major part of the strategy. The exchange aims to host trading of sukuk (Islamic bonds), which at present is mostly done over the counter, said Shaikh Khalifa bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa.

Sukuk issuance and investing is expanding outside of the Islamic world. The asset holders range from sovereign wealth funds and high-net-worth-individuals in the Arab Gulf, to retail investors in other Muslim majority countries such as Turkey, Pakistan and Indonesia. According to Moody’s Investors Service, Malaysia at present dominates the sukuk market when it comes to both sovereign and corporate issuance. Other major issuers include the governments of Indonesia and Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The overall outstanding amount of sukuk will probably reach around $115 billion this year.

Fujairah has launched its first dedicated Islamic bank, NBF Islamic. It will offer a suite of retail banking products catering to key customer financial requirements and will be available across the UAE through NBF's branch network. The smaller emirates are already represented in the Islamic banking arena through Sharjah Islamic Bank and AMAL Rakbank.

Dentons has advised Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (Malaysia) on an Islamic commodity murabahah facility of US$100 million to the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector. Qasim Aslam, Partner and the Head of Islamic Finance - Middle East, commented: "This marks another example of the significant efforts leading Japanese financial institutions are making to work together in making Islamic finance available across borders. We are very proud to have assisted BTMU on this landmark transaction." The Dentons team was led by Qasim Aslam and senior associate Tien Tai based in Dubai

Burkina Faso’s Coris Bank International (CBI) has decided to open a window dedicated to Islamic financing in the West African country in early 2014. According to the bank, this will be possible due to the support of the Islamic Corporation for the Development of private Sector (ICD), an affiliate of the Islamic development Bank (BID). The CBI would be the first Burkinabe bank to introduce Islamic banking. According to the bank, this would enable it to set up in parallel institutions for the provision of financial products to its customers on the basis of the Islamic regulations. There are plans to replicate this project in other countries where CBI is operating.

There are many reasons that Islamic financial products are popular outside the Muslim world. Britain became the first non-Muslim country to issue sukuk, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority made an issuance, and the governments of Luxembourg and South Africa will follow suit later this year. Last month Goldman Sachs issued an Islamic bond, and before the end of the year, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and Société Générale, a French bank will probably do the same. All of these entities want to get a piece of the $2 trillion Islamic finance market.

Kourosh Parvizian, the governor of Sina Bank, welcomes the move of the British Treasury's to repeal of an asset freeze on the bank. It says that other European countries are expected to make the same decision, according to Iran's IRNA news agency.

A bank has denied losing a businessman's title deeds. Gulf African says the documents were lost by its contracted courier – Data Rush Courier Services Ltd - in the course of delivery. Hashim Kher, the director of Al Heelam Holdings, sued the bank over the lost title deeds. Kher informed them that he wanted another bank to take over the debt. In a letter to the National Bank he seeked Sh65 million to facilitate the takeover of the debt from the bank.

MAYBANK Islamic Bhd hopes the government will introduce tax incentives for corporations, particularly to support the development of waqf and zakat. Potential growth in the two major sectors of Islamic endowments is given and they could benefit from tax breaks. The bank also hopes the government will continue its favourable policy on foreign currency transaction in Islamic banking, such as the International Currency Business Unit (ICBU) initiative which allows local players to conduct Islamic banking in international currencies via a division set up under the Islamic Banking Act 1983.

Bank Asya clients are battling help the Turkish lender against what they say is a government-orchestrated bid to scuttle it. Turkish social networking sites are full of customer’s notices to raise funds to “Save Bank Asya from sinking!” The Islamic lender has more than a million deposit-holding customers and 282 branches. President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an targeted it as part of his attacks on the Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen. Erdo?an has long accused Gülen - now based in the United States - of seeking to overthrow him.

Islamic banking industry is hoping that the government will provide incentives to facilitate the development of the investment account (IA) in 2015. Bank Islam Bhd Managing Director Datuk Seri Zukri Samat said the industry would benefit from such incentives. Zukri also suggested that the government educate the people on Islamic finance as well as prosper the IFSA 2013.

The National Commercial Bank in Saudi Arabia, plans to raise 22.5 billion riyals ($6 billion) from the biggest initial public offering this year after Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. It will sell 500 million shares at 45 riyals a piece. The sale is restricted to Saudi investors, with 300 million shares allocated to individuals and the rest to the kingdom’s Public Pension Agency. This makes the sale to the 2nd-biggest globally in 2014.

Ashraf Ghani, Afghanistan's new president has re-opened an inquiry about the theft of almost $1bn from the Kabul Bank, which had cause much turmoil and is said to be one of the largest banking failures in the word. Thereby he fulfils his campaign promise to fighting corruption as a priority and to combatting corruption comprehensively.
The bank's founder Sher Khan Fernod and the former chief executive, Haji Khalil Ferozi, were jailed for five years for taking $810m of the $935m.

National Bank of Fujairah (NBF) has launched NBF Islamic, a service offering clients a comprehensive suite of Sharia-compliant financial solutions. All NBF Islamic products are available across the UAE and there are plans to offer Islamic banking solutions to companies and businesses across the UAE. NBF Islamic will be guided by the Sharia Supervisory Board comprising four scholars, Dr. Mohammad Ali Elgari (Chairman), Dr. Mohd Daud Bakar, Dr. Muhammad Ameen Ali Qattan and Dr. Osama Al Dereai.

The synergy between the Islamic Bank of Britain (IBB) and its parent company Masraf Al Rayan will soon be reflected in the British bank’s name. Customers were informed last week that the new name for IBB to be adopted towards the end of the year will be Al Rayan Bank. Sultan Choudhury, chief executive officer of IBB, emphasised in the letter he sent out last week informing customers about the name change that the bank remains British regulated with a British board. The bank has invested heavily in its internet banking capability which has opened up its services to a much broader customer base. Its latest data also shows a big surge in non-Muslim customers.

Jaiz Bank Plc has increased its branch network to fourteen with the opening of the Kano Kabuga branch within Bayero University. A statement from the Head, Corporate Communications of Jaiz Bank, Idris Salihu said more branches would come on board before the end of the year. Salihu also stated that the bank has raised its capital base from the initial N5 billion it started with in 2012 to over N11 billion and is currently working on increasing it by way of right issue. The Bank commenced operations with three branches in Abuja, Kaduna and Kano states in January, 2012 and soon added branches in Gombe, Maiduguri, Katsina and Gusau (Zamfara state), Bauchi. It has three branches in Abuja and four in Kano with the addition of Kabuga branch.