IslamicFinance.de

The first National Islamic Microfinance conference was held on 29th of January 2011 in the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry . The conference was attended by Iftikahr Malik, Vice Presiden Sarrc Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Tahir Malik, Chairman Trafco Group of Companies , Mr. Zulfiqar Khokhar Additional Direcroe Islamic Banking & Finance Department State Bank of Pakistan, Mufty Iftikhar Baig, Sharia Advisoe of Albaraka bank Mufty Mahmood, Sharia Advisor Farz Foundation , Tariq Shafi, Regional Chairman FPCCI.and Ms Humera Awais Shahid, member Provincial Assembly.

PT Bank Syariah Mandiri is adding branches in Java and Sumatra to offer so-called microfinance loans because more than 90 percent of Indonesia’s 50 million small businessmen have no access to regular bank financing.
PT Bank Muamalat Indonesia increased cooperatives set up to offer such loans by 500 to 2,500 last year. PT Bank Syariah BRI aims to triple its business next year.

The government forecasts a rapid growth in assets managed by Indonesian sharia-based microfinancing institutions, or baitul maal wat tamwil (BMTs), on the back of rising public trust.
Speaking at the BMT Summit last week, Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Syariefuddin Hasan said popular awareness of the benefits of sharia-based microfinancing had grown rapidly after the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s.
According to the ministry, there are presently 3,307 BMTs in Indonesia with assets of Rp 3.6 trillion (US$403.2 million). BMT serve 2.5 million of the nation’s 39 million small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and control about 6 percent of total SME credit.

Shariah-complaint microfinance cooperatives are making inroads in rural Kerala much to the relief of the poor and needy and the most interesting feature of it is that the bad debt is almost nil, according to a paper presented at the International Conference on Islamic Finance: Products, Institutions and Regulators that concluded here recently.
According to Mohammed Palath, a researcher in economics at the Kannur University in northern Kerala who made a presentation on the role of these collectives called nidhis have proved the best tool for poverty alleviation and financial inclusion.
Kerala has the highest number of interest-free funds which has now crossed 500 in number. These institutions lend money charging no interest, ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 25000, and without collateral securities. The borrowers pledge gold or personal securities undertaken by others.

Steuerliche Würdigung im nationalen und internationalen Kontext

Der Markt Islamic Finance wächst rasant und umfasst bereits heute ein erhebliches Anlagevolumen. Demgegenüber besteht ein großer Kapitalbedarf in der europäischen, speziell auch in der deutschen Realwirtschaft ebenso wie ein Bedarf an Investoren.

Bei der Umsetzung von Islamic-Finance-Vertragsmodellen kann die Besteuerung im Einzelfall eine ausschlaggebende Rolle spielen. Daher erläutert die Autorin in diesem Buch für ausgewählte schariakonforme Finanzierungs- und Anlageformen zunächst die Scharia-Rahmenbedingungen der jeweiligen Vertragsmodelle aus deutscher rechtlicher, ertragsteuerlicher und verkehrsteuerlicher Sicht. Die steuerlichen Fragestellungen werden anhand von Beispielen im grenzüberschreitenden Corporate Bereich im Schnittpunkt von deutschem internationalem Steuerrecht und ausländischem Steuerrecht der weiteren beteiligen Staaten verdeutlicht.

Inhalt

* Einleitung
* Grundzüge von Islamic-Finance-Vertragsmodellen
- eigenkapitalbasierte („Musharaka“ und „Mudaraba“),
- fremdkapitalbasierte („Murabaha“ und „Tawarruq“) sowie

ResearchGATE is the largest social network for academic research globally. Dedicated social profiles of researchers allow to enter academic careers, published articles in journals and books, announce fields of research for international exchange just to name a few of the features.

IslamicFinance.de took another effort to create a dedicated group and invite researchers globally to use this platform and foster research in Islamic finance. The last academic initiative taken was to sponsor and start a full fledged platform for the Islamic Finance WIKI, the online encyclopedia.

Researchers are invited to participate in these initiatives.

Please visit:
http://www.researchgate.net/group/Islamic_Finance/

Press Release

Today sees the launch of a new Journal on Islamic finance from dedicated Islamic finance media entity Yasaar Media.

The Journal, called So Far – the Journal of Strategic Thinking in Islamic Finance, is written and edited by members of an Islamic finance Think Tank and is modelled on traditional academic journals. The difference with So Far is that the members of the Think Tank are predominantly practitioners rather than academics.
Member of the Think Tank are drawn from the ranks of committed Islamic finance professionals around the world and range from the Gulf and the Far East to the USA and Europe.

Each issue of So Far is dedicated to a single topic of core importance to the Islamic finance industry – and the launch issue looks at the thorny issue of the problems facing the Sukuk market. Unlike many other journals So Far is distributed free in PDF format and is available from a variety of sources including Yasaar Media thus guaranteeing maximum readership and exposure.

For Immediate Release

March 8, 2010–CGAP, Deutsche Bank, Grameen-Jameel and Islamic Development Bank have joined forces to challenge the Islamic microfinance industry to develop new ideas for business models in the Islamic Microfinance Challenge 2010: Innovating Sustainable, Scalable, and Market-Driven Models. Islamic microfinance has gained some traction over the past few years, with a swift rise in the number of institutions offering microfinance products in compliance with Islamic principles. But the fundamental challenge for the Islamic microfinance industry remains meeting client demand with affordable, authentic, profitable, and market-driven products.

IslamicFinance.de has created a fanpage on Facebook - for all the users wishing to follow the news abstracts on the Facebook platform. Please join and enjoy!

CGAP, Deutsche Bank, Islamic Development Bank, and Grameen-Jameel announced the Islamic Microfinance Challenge 2010: Innovating Sustainable, Scalable, and Market-Driven Models. The contest is a joint initiative to promote the innovative design of Shariah-compliant products for Islamic microfinance clients.

The organizers are seeking original Islamic microfinance business proposals which are profitable, sustainable, scalable, and Shariah-compliant. Finalists of this competition will be awarded with grant funds as well as need-based technical support to launch a pilot project of their proposed business idea.

It offers a unique opportunity to showcase innovative business ideas, gain industry-wide recognition, and benefit from the funds and technical expertise of leading institutions in the microfinance and Islamic finance sectors.

The microfinance sector in Afghanistan is going through a period of reform which is largely due to the consequence of an early emphasis on rapidly achieving operational sustainability.

AREU researched on the impact of microcredit on informal credit systems and rural livelihoods illustrated by the viability of challenges faced by MFIs. These challenges were linked to having invested little effort in determining the viability of clients by understanding the social and economic contexts in which they were to invest their loans or in offering loan products meeting client needs.

MISFA's reforms have initially targeted MFIs' internal structures, capacity, and control systems. However, they also recognise the need to consider greater diversity of loan products and methodologies to meet client needs. To support diversification in the future, after internal reforms are in place, MISFA has committed to an action research agenda to investigate demand for savings products, agriculture and livestock loans, and Islamic finance products.

Full report at: http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/retrieveattachments?openagent&shorti...)

IslamicFinance.de is calling Islamic financial institutions to become member of the UNEP Finance Inititiave to learn and contribute to international best practice in ethical and faith based finance:

"UNEP FI is a global partnership between UNEP and the financial sector. Over 180 institutions, including banks, insurers and fund managers, work with UNEP to understand the impacts of environmental and social considerations on financial performance."

membership information package:
http://www.unepfi.org/fileadmin/forms/MembershipInformationPack.pdf

The Financial Times produced a special looking into the Future of Islamic Finance.

The download is free of charge.

Yasaar media published a new report called Islamic Finance in North America 2009 for free download, which is co-published by Codexa Capital, UM Financial Group, King & Spalding, and Doha Islamic.

According to the report Islamic finance in North America has developed along two quite separate paths:

• The first path focuses on retail Islamic finance and centres mostly on home financing products and credit cards.

• The second path involves a number of high profile GCC-based Islamic investment banks and their deployment of hundreds of millions of dollars in private equity and real estate developments in North America.

Read the full report for free at the link below.

Microcapital sumarized the World Bank report written by Tatiana Nenova, Cecile Thioro Niang and Anjum Ahmad , released May 2009, 187 pages, available at: http://go.worldbank.org/0KKMYAT130 :

This World Bank report measures and describes the current state of formal and informal financial services in Pakistan for underserved populations and enterprises. Currently 14 percent of Pakistanis use savings, credit, insurance, payments and remittance services from the formal financial system. This is compared to India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka where 48 percent, 32 percent and 59 percent respectively have access to formal financial services. In addition about 36 percent of Pakistanis use moneylenders, committees, family and friends. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), which regulates the banking sector, has grown over the past few years yet it has not met demand. Further details about the market and players in Pakistan are found in Chapter 1.

MICROCAPITAL STORY: African Development Bank Group, Agence Française de Développement Group, European Investment Bank, Development Bank of Southern Africa, KfW Bankengruppe, Islamic Development Bank Group, and World Bank Group Launch USD 15bn Joint Action Plan for Africa Including Support for Microfinance Programs.

The Islamic Development Bank Group, through the Islamic Corporation for the Development of Private Sector, will contribute up to USD 250 million over the next five years, including USD 50 million for the development of Islamic banking industry and USD 50 million for SME development.

Maje T. Sanusi reported in the Triumph Newspaper on 24 Marcht about the Micro-Finance Investors Forum organized by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and held in Kano. The Principal of Oasis Associates, Malam Ahmad Dogara has called for Islamic Micro financing in the Nigeria’s banking system.

The InNyx Centre for Microfinance Development (ICMD) is a UK non-profit making organisation and our main activity is the promotion and development of microfinance banks in Sub-Saharan Africa. The ICMD has recently completed a scoping study for the establishment of a Greenfield microfinance "Sharia compliant" banking institution and is looking for strategic investors currently.