IslamicFinance.de

The rising issuance of sukuk and Treasury bills in the past three years in Iran is seen as evidence of the success and allure of the Iranian debt market. Perhaps the most important factor contributing to the sales of bonds has been the lack of funds to private contractors and creditors. The Iranian government's budget for the public sector is allowed to issue a significant amount of debt securities. Although this helps state-run organizations sponsor infrastructure projects, it might bring about risk of default for future governments. An analysis of budget figures shows that the government is always forced to settle the past matured securities with the issuance of new ones. Government commitments are accumulated and rolled over to later years. The administration is due to pay its outstanding debt obligations, totaling $7 billion and can issue about $10 billion worth of sukuk.

The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) and Mizuho Bank have formalized the signing of a Murabahah deal. The financing is earmarked for the purpose of scaling up of ICD’s projects in its selected 55 member countries. The $150 million Murabahah agreement is the second bilateral Islamic facility that has been extended to ICD by Mizuho Bank. The agreement was signed by Khaled Al Aboodi, CEO of ICD and Shojiro Mizoguchi, CEO of Mizuho Bank. Al Aboodi expressed his strong support for the partnership. Shojiro Mizoguchi said he was very proud to continue to work with ICD and looking forward to leverage on each other’s expertise and experience.

Some of Saudi Arabia's most powerful men were arrested in October as part of a fight against corruption. The government freezed the accounts of the more than three dozen men totalling $33 billion of net worth. The series of arrests has implicated the country's richest people, including Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, Bakr Binladin, Mohammed Al Amoudi, Saleh Kamel and Nasser Al Tayyar. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is No. 50 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranking of the world's 500 richest people, with $19 billion. Two of the four Saudis on the Bloomberg index haven't been detained, hotel magnate Mohamed bin Issa Al Jaber, who has an $8.3 billion fortune, and Prince Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Kabeer, the biggest individual shareholder in food processor Almarai Co., who has $4.7 billion.

American University is offering a graduate certificate in Islamic Finance to prepare professionals for both emerging and established markets. The curriculum includes courses that focus on the role of Islamic finance in the global economy and Islamic capital markets. For Ghiyath Nakshbendi, an executive at American University, the graduate certificate is a dream come true. He regularly brings in experts to speak to classes. Speakers who visit and Skype in include CEOs, lawyers and high-profile Islamic finance professionals from Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain. Nakshbendi does not want finance professionals to be deterred by the "Islamic" in Islamic finance. Students enrolled in the certificate program come from a variety of backgrounds and religious traditions. He believes that the program will help redefine the way professionals do business.

Saudi billionaire Maan Al-Sanea is accused in the English courts of a $650m (£495m) fraud that has triggered a battle between hedge funds and the French bank BNP Paribas. He was arrested by Saudi authorities in October on charges of evading justice and owing large sums of money to creditors. Maan’s Saad Group collapsed in 2009, triggering a long battle to recover billions he had shipped offshore to the Cayman Islands. The High Court trial concerns the arrangement of a $650m sukuk, which was paid to Mr Maan personally to lease land he owned. Judgment in a separate claim brought by the hedge funds against him is due on Thursday. Subsequent arrests of prominent Saudi businessmen sparked debate over whether the moves represent consolidation of power or a genuine crackdown on corruption.

According to Mohammad Reza Hosseinzadeh, CEO of Bank Melli Iran (BMI), the European Union has made its decision to work with Iran. The banker noted that BMI has managed to establish correspondent banking relations with 135 banks of 30 countries, half of them European. What is more, Bank Melli and its branches in Hamburg and Paris have connected to TARGET 2, the Eurozone's real-time transfer system. In terms of expansion, Hosseinzadeh said negotiations are well underway with one of the biggest banks of the Persian Gulf state for BMI to establish a branch there, but refused to name the bank. BMI is also on course to open a branch in Pakistan, most likely during the next fiscal year, starting March 21, 2018.

Working closely with Accenture, Al Rajhi Bank has successfully implemented a fully dedicated payment service hub solution. The new hub adds a new payment alternative for all of the bank's payment products and services. In addition to delivering a silo-breaker architecture, the Payment Services Hub (PSH) is designed to reduce time to market for new products, while simultaneously reducing risks. Al Rajhi Bank's CEO, Waleed Al Mogbel, said the new Hub would enable the bank to deliver a leading customer service and increase operational efficiencies. The PSH opens up opportunities for the bank to develop new revenues streams for corporate and retail banking, particular around open banking and real-time payments.

Malaysia Building Society (MBSB) is a step closer to becoming a full-fledged Islamic bank after the proposed acquisition of Asian Finance Bank (AFB). If the merger takes place, the tie-up between non-bank MBSB and AFB would create the country's second largest Islamic bank.

In Toronto the trial begins for Omar Kalair, accused of pocketing millions in 'Shariah-compliant' mortgages. The businessman not only pocketed millions in fraudulent mortgages, he also purchased over $2 million in gold and silver bullion. Kalair was helped by Yusuf Panchbhaya, the chairman of a board of religious advisers who issued fatwas sanctioning the businesses mortgages as Islamic. Kalair and Panchbhaya have both pleaded not guilty to the charges which include theft over $5,000, fraud over $5,000 and laundering the proceeds of crime. While technically interest-free, Kalair charged a fee to his clients at a sum higher than what borrowers would usually pay at market rates. Kalair first disappeared, then turned himself in in March 2014. The precious metals would end up in the hands of Joseph Adam who was designated by Panchbhaya as the Shariah board's manager of finance. Panchbhaya returned the silver to the court, but almost $2 million in gold is still missing. If convicted, the pair could face a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

HSBC Bank #Malaysia hopes to see a lot more Islamic financing instruments used in the development of the Southeast Asia railway network which connects China to the region. CEO Mukhtar Hussain said HSBC had a unique value proposition in this matter, being the first bank to issue sukuk in Malaysia. The railway network involves building more than 3,000 km of rail lines from China’s Yunnan province through Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. It is one of China’s seven main transport routes under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The project adopts a public-private partnership financing approach, one that puts the financing requirements efficiently to the private sector and therefore can relieve the pressure from the nations’ budget.

Islamic banks in Bahrain have until June-end next year to fully comply with new standards mandated by Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB). According to CBB executive director for banking supervision Khalid Hamad, the new Islamic banking legislation, where independent external scrutiny is a mandatory requirement, will promote corporate governance and compliance with Basel III norms. Hamad said the CBB was also preparing comprehensive and detailed risk management legislation. According to him, Islamic investment banking needs to develop a sustainable business model as well as more mergers for a clear competitive advantage. To enhance governance and performance, Islamic banks are required to obtain a credit rating. The industry also needs to work on building the capacity of board members, senior management and officials, particularly those in risk management, through qualifications and training.

The Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP) has launched a USD 500 million 5-year sukuk off its USD 3 billion Trust Certificate Programme. APICORP undertook extensive investor meetings at the beginning of October in Asia, in the UAE and in London. The extensive marketing explains the successful outcome which included a book in excess of USD 3.45bn from 215 investors. The final distribution was 41% MENA and 59% in Europe, Asia and off-shore US. CEO Ahmed Ali Attiga said that with over 200 investors APICORP had firmly planted its flag in the capital markets. He added that the success of this transaction was testament to APICORP’s impressive 40 year track record and Aa3 credit rating. Abrar Hussain, Head of DCM at Credit Agricole CIB, mentioned that the extensive set of investor meetings also contributed to the oversubscription of the sukuk.

Ashraf Ahmed Mustafa El-Ghamrawy, CEO of Al Baraka Bank Egypt said that the bank’s activity was not impacted by the detention of the Saudi businessman Saleh Kamel. Kamel is the chairman and founder of the Dallah al Baraka Group (DBHC) which owns Al Baraka Bank Egypt. The anti-corruption committee set up by Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz has recently detained a number of Saudi princes, ministers and businessmen for corruption charges. According to El-Ghamrawy, what happens with Kamel in Saudi Arabia will have no effect on the bank’s performance in Egypt. He also notified the Egyptian Stock Exchange that Kamel is not a member of the board of directors. Therefore, there is no impact on the bank.

In this article Efi Pylarinou shares a few takeaways from the Impact Summit-Faith in Finance held in Zug, Switzerland. Takeway number 1 is that Finance can become Holistic. Blockchain is the enabler for investing and managing all kinds of Digital Assets. The second takeaway is that Finance can become Holistic through the alignment with Faiths. The conference showcased a diverse selection of SDGs and ventures that are in alignment with the movement. Example ventures include: Equileap, focused on gender diversity, TBLI Group, educating asset managers about impact investing, MicroVest, a wholesale microfinance solution with a Faith alignment, SweetBridge, a blockchain solution for the inefficiencies in the Supply Chain, the Seratio Faith Coin, GoBeyond, angel investing empowering women, ThinkYellow, a gender led investing platform, Symbiotics, financing social SMEs, Kompotoi, the rentable composting toilet and 1Bank4All, the global social bank.

Malaysia Building Society Bhd (MBSB) plans to acquire Asian Finance Bank (AFB) from its foreign shareholders for 645 million ringgit ($152.5 million). Malaysia Building Society agreed with AFB's shareholders to pay 396.9 million ringgit in cash and the issuance of 225.5 million new shares at 1.10 ringgit per share. The deal values AFB at 1.3 times book value, MBSB said. MBSB has sought to become a full-fledged bank in the last few years. In 2014 a three-way merger deal with CIMB Group Holdings and RHB Bank was planned, but the plan fell through in early 2015. Talks with Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd in the last quarter of 2015 also collapsed.

The growth of the global Islamic finance has provided a niche market with solutions through a well-defined Islamic ethos. Unfortunately, Islamic finance has been criticised for having diverted from its core principles of socio-economic empowerment. As a model, Islamic finance has advocated the narrative of a sharing economy through risk-sharing and fairness. However, the growth of Islamic finance has been witnessed primarily in wealthy nations without equally impacting those that are less fortunate. International organisations such as the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are now actively considering Islamic finance solutions. In terms of sukuk, the era of the 'Green' Sukuk is upon us. With regards to research, the International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF) initiated a whole unit dedicated to Social Finance.

Nasdaq Dubai has welcomed the listing of a $500 million Sukuk by APICORP, the development bank of the Arab world’s oil and gas industries. The transaction is APICORP’s second Sukuk listing on Nasdaq Dubai, as the first was in January 2016. The Sukuk was issued under a $3 billion Sukuk programme and is aimed at diversifying its funding sources. APICORP’s activities include equity investment, debt financing, financial advisory and energy research services. Sukuk listings in the Emirate currently totals at $52.97 billion. 11 Sukuk listings have taken place so far in 2017 on Nasdaq Dubai with a total value of $10.25 billion.

Dana Gas has no plans to repay the two mudaraba sukuk of $350 million in size each due Oct. 31. The company shocked the Islamic finance industry when it said it no longer considered its sukuk Shariah-compliant. The missed payment will be the second time in five years the company fails to settle bonds at maturity. In June Dana Gas offered to replace the existing sukuk with four-year bonds that pay less than half the current rate. It retracted that offer in July, adding that it will seek a court-driven solution. A UAE injunction has barred Dana Gas from taking part in the trial in London, but British judge George Leggatt will hand down a ruling on the 13th of November.

Ibdar Bank is directing its FinTech strategies to position the bank as a fully-digitised Islamic investment bank. The Bank has USD277 million in paid up capital and a geographical reach that spans the GCC and Middle East North Africa Turkey (MENAT) region. The Bank also transacts in Southeast Asia and select developed markets. Ibdar Bank has significant expertise in areas including aviation, infrastructure, maritime, oil & gas, and real estate. According to CEO Ayman Sejiny, Ibdar has set out a comprehensive plan in 2018 for its engagement with global Fintech service providers. In the first phase, the bank is set to digitise its operations internally, the second phase will focus on implementing its service offerings in response to the needs of a Global Islamic Digitised Economy (GIDE). Sejiny added that the Central Bank of Bahrain has taken decisive steps towards a FinTech supportive environment in order to facilitate the growth of the sector.

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) and Shahnawaz have entered into a strategic alliance agreement. Shahnawaz is the authorized general distributor of Mercedes-Benz in Pakistan. This initiative will help in establishing Dubai Islamic Bank Pakistan as the preferred financial services partner for Mercedes-Benz in the country. The signing ceremony was held in Karachi in the presence of M Naeem, CEO of Shahnawaz, Naseem Shaikh, General Manager of Shahnawaz and Junaid Ahmed, CEO of Dubai Islamic Bank Pakistan. Junaid Ahmed said this alliance enables the bank's high net worth clientele to achieve their dream of driving their own state-of-the-art Mercedes.