IslamicFinance.de

Asia Asset Management’s 10th Annual Brunei Roundtable took place on Monday, October 13, themed “A Decade of Progress and Growth: The Roadmap Ahead”. The Borneo Bulletin reported about the event, saying Brunei’s biggest advantage is its capital. However, the ountry needs to slowly get the right infrastructure, the right air links and the right niche for people to actually want to come here. The insurance sector on the other hand is a bit easier as it is all about preparations, regulations, how much they are willing to do it and opening an investment. Brunei in itself is a very liquid market in the sense that it really doesn’t need foreign bonds.

FAAIF CEO Camille Paldi says the potential for Islamic finance, sukuk, and takaful is huge in the United States. Paldi conducts two Islamic Finance, Banking, and Sukuk workshops in New Orleans and New York, USA in association with Al Huda Center of Islamic Banking and Economics and University of New Orleans. Paldi says that the USA participants were enthusiastic about learning Islamic finance concepts despite negative imagery in the media. Paldi explains that in general, educated Americans are excited to learn about new alternative financial structures and investment opportunities.

Malaysia is adjusting its tax structure to favour issues of some types of Islamic bond. The move could attract more foreign issuers and investors to its market. The Malaysian sukuk market is already the world’s largest, accounting for two-thirds of total global issuance of about $100 billion so far this year. But the market consists largely of local-currency deals which tend to rely on government-linked institutions as ready buyers.
The effect of the tax changes may be to shift some issuance away from murabaha and encourage the use of ijara and wakala, making the Malaysian market more closely resemble the Gulf.

The investor group has acquired a significant minority stake in Gems Education’s emerging markets business, covering the Middle East, North Africa and East Asia.
Mumtalakat Holding Company, the investment arm of Bahrain, and Tactical Opportunities funds managed by Blackstone are the other partners in the investment consortium. Gems Education, a UAE-grown global brand that was founded 54 years ago, and is now the world’s largest provider of K-12 private education — operating more than 50 schools, educating over 140,000 students and employing over 13,000 people across 19 markets in the Middle East, North America, Europe, Asia and Africa.

4th Global Islamic Microfinance Forum Logo Inaugurated in New York - USA
Islamic finance is the best suited system for poverty alleviation that can be utilized both by Muslims and non-Muslims as a system to cut down poverty dilemma from all over the world, it can also be utilized as an effective tool of financial inclusion as Millions of Muslims are financially excluded due to religious reasons, according to Muhammad Zubair Mughal, Chief Executive Officer, AlHuda Centre of Islamic Banking and Economics.

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.

A Brit, a Pol and a Brazilian have come together to form a unique Alternative Business Structure and specialise in Islamic finance. Kawa, Guimaraes & Associates Solicitors, based in London’s Canary Wharf, offers services in immigration, family and employment, together with a limited amount of personal injury and medical negligence. Senior partner Mehedi Rahim, said the firm specialised in finding commercial solutions compliant with Islamic principles.

World Bank and IMF annual meetings began in Washington. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagardes opening remarks addressed inclusive growth for the MENA region. The growth is projected to average 4.2 percent in 2015, up from 3.5 percent this year. The World Bank adds though, that violent conflicts in the region in countries such as Syria, Iraq, Gaza, Yemen and Libya, as well as their effects into neighboring countries like Lebanon and Jordan, were seriously hampering regional growth. The region is said to thus have “great potential”.

Judith Rodin is the president of the Rockefeller Foundation. She is in charge of giving away one of America’s historic fortunes. But nowadays Rockefeller doesn’t mean quite what it once did. The foundation ranks only 16th in assets among U.S. charities. After a century of giving away money, only 4.1 billion US-Dollars are left of the once enormous fortune. No. 1 in the ranking for charity is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with 37.2 Billion US-Dollars. The latest pilot project is Smart Power that aims to electrify villages in India.

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.

The transaction documents for the financing of the power project were signed over three days of meetings and included a ceremony in Rabat attended by Abdelilah Benkirane, prime minister of Morocco. Part of the financing was provided via a structured Islamic tranche from the Islamic Development Bank and it was not possible to use the more traditional procurement/forward lease structure typically seen in Islamic project financings. The Islamic tranche represents the first multi tranche cross border Islamic financing into Morocco and the first international Islamic project financing structured in this manner. Clifford Chance was delighted and proud to help create a new and innovative structure in Islamic project financing.

Dubai World’s biggest creditors have agreed on a deal to renegotiate its debt repayment schedule, Shaikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum has confirmed. Shaikh Ahmed, who is also Chairman of Dubai Civil Aviation and Chief Executive of Emirates airline and Group, ruled out any flotations of Dubai’s state-owned companies, including Emirates airline and air travel service provider dnata. Dubai World, under the revised plan, will repay the $4.4 billion tranche due in May 2015 early — likely in December or January depending on the progress of negotiations — in exchange for the $10.3 billion 2018 payment being extended until 2022. The new 2022 payment will also be augmented in a number of ways aimed at persuading creditors to grant more time.

A study by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry , has revealed that Gulf entities have provided at least US$30bn of funding, at current prices, to African infrastructure over the past decade. This amounts to between 7% and 10% of total inflows, of which approximately US$15bn in loans and grants from Gulf development agencies and approximately US$15bn in direct investments. The study also revealed that Gulf funding for African infrastructure has focused on North Africa. To date, there has been relatively little Gulf investment in the continent's fast-growing economies of Angola, Ethiopia and Nigeria which have attracted funding from other parts of the world.

The $1.6 billion restructuring of Bahrain-based Arcapita Bank B.S.C. has a significance that extends far beyond simply returning value to its creditors. Arcapita was established in 1996 as the world's first Islamic investment bank. This means it had to comply with principles set out by Islamic law. The Chapter 11 restructuring of Bahrain-based Arcapita Bank, led by Gibson Dunn, saw U.S. bankruptcy courts faced for the first time with the world of Shariah law.

Baraka Khan, a 23-year-old Cambridge University student, has launched a project to build Europe’s first ecologically friendly mosque in the British city of Cambridge. The Cambridge Mosque, which will hold 1,000 worshipers, will be almost entirely reliant on green energy, with an almost-zero carbon footprint. The mosque building will be naturally lit all year round using large skylights integrated into the building’s design, and it will boast a green roof as well as an air-source heat pump for regulating temperature. The man who will design the building is award-winning architect Marks Barfield, who is also responsible for the iconic London Eye. He says he is aiming to merge traditional Islamic architectural motifs with those of the European Gothic style in order to bring the two cultures together.

In The Prince of Evolution Dugatkin tells the story of the Russian prince, evolutionary theorist, and political radical Peter Alexeyevich Kropotkin whose Darwinian theory of mutual aid was the first to argue that cooperation was an integral part of natural selection. Dugatkin’s book is a précis on Kropotkin’s life and work, an overview that highlights the common theme of mutual aid in both his scientific and political ideas. The discoveries that Kropotkin made of glacial formations during the Quaternary Period in Russia were received with international acclaim and earned him invitations to join the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, the British Association for the Advancement of Science, as well as a Cambridge University endowed chair in geology.

With the growing size of private wealth in the Gulf, maximizing the returns on this wealth is today's most pressing need and challenge. This has triggered fierce competition among wealth management firms. Private wealth management services delivered to high-net-worth investors include advice on the use of various estate planning vehicles, business-succession or stock-option planning, and occasional use of hedging derivatives for large blocks of stock. The recent report issued by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) titled "Global Wealth 2014: Riding a Wave of Growth" said private wealth in the region will reach $7.2 trillion by the end of 2018, approximately a 3.6 per cent share of total global wealth.

Kuwait Finance House (KFH) has announced that the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mazin Saad Al-Nahedh will officially commence his duties as of October 1st 2014 after having obtained the required regulatory approvals. Mazin Al-Nahedh has over 21 years of diversified banking experience and is a graduate of Business Administration (Finance) from the University of California USA. Before holding his position at KFH, Al-Nahedh served as Group General Manager - Treasury, General Manager - Corporate Banking Group, and Retail Banking General Manager at the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK). The appointment is in line with KFH's Board of Directors' directives and strategies towards improving business models, while paving the way for a younger generation of Kuwaiti professionals to hold leading positions at KFH.

The Islamic International Rating Agency (IIRA) has assigned international scale credit ratings to Gulf Finance House (GFH) at 'BB' (Double B) in the medium to long-term and at 'B' (Single B) in the short-term. On the national scale, ratings have been assessed at BB+/B (Double B Plus / Single B). The rating outlook for the Bank has been assessed as 'Positive'. IIRA has assessed the rating outlook for the institution as 'Positive' that hinges on developing a steady stream of core revenues and sustaining improvements to capital structure. The fiduciary score has been assessed in the range of '61-65'. Certain weaknesses of the bank's governance framework have been identified that require to be addressed.

As the government and consumers adapt to troubled financial conditions, there is growing support for financial products and institutions in Tunisia that correspond to principles of traditional Islamic law. Tunisia’s government has even discussed plans to issue a sukuk, to raise $700 million this year. Proponents of Islamic finance say the industry is still underdeveloped in North Africa. There is significant potential for growth in the region, however, particularly in Tunisia. In June, Thomson Reuters released a report on the Islamic finance industry in the country called ”Cautiously Optimistic Tunisia.” The reports findings highlight the prospects as well as the challenges of Islamic finance in Tunisia.