IslamicFinance.de

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.

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 Dubai International Financial Centre has launched the Qualified Investor Fund (QIF) targeting wealthy investors. It requires a registration process of 48 hours. QIFs offer a short time to market solution for asset managers. The DIFC houses over 400 regulated entities and over a 1,000 companies with over 80 firms managing assets and over 2,000 funds marketed from the DIFC.

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.

Funds dedicated to sukuk are a rare breed, with only 20 currently marketed in the Gulf. The average size of a sukuk fund in the region is just $43 million, but collectively they serve as a measure of secondary market activity and a barometer for the larger and more lucrative business of private investment mandates. As the market sees sukuk funds continue to perform well, in line with, and on occasion outperforming their conventional peers, a significant rise over the next five years in segregated account mandates is expected to take place. The largest six sukuk funds oriented to Gulf investors hold almost half of all the assets of such funds.

The insurance regulator of the United Arab Emirates has said that the number of takaful insurers in the region has increased to 10. The combined premium volume totaled about 2.8 billion U.A.E. dirhams ($762.3 million). The regulator said that it will hold meetings to discuss strategies for the development of Islamic insurance industry in the U.A.E. market.

Jeddah-based Islamic investment firm Sedco Capital has launched the first fund managed by its own in-house team, looking to bulk up its asset management capabilities. The Gulf equities fund, domiciled in Luxembourg, has an intial $30 million in assets and is Sedco's 14th fund overall. It is part of Sedco's strategy to source two-thirds of its assets under management from outside Saudi Arabia in four to five years. Previously, Sedco relied on external advisors for its funds. Sedco Capital said it had also signed the United Nations' Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI), becoming the first Gulf-based Islamic asset manager to do so.

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.

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.

Qatar Charity CEO Mr. Yousef bin Ahmad Al-Kuwari and Silatech CEO Dr. Tarik M. Yousef signed an agreement committing the two organizations to work jointly to support young Arab entrepreneurs through Silatech’s Narwi micro-giving portal. The agreement follows the 2013 signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to cooperate in technology, fund-raising and technical assistance. “Narwi” (narwi.com) will allow visitors to the site to directly contribute toward financing the young Arab entrepreneur of their choice in countries including Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Yemen and Somalia. Funds on Narwi are given as revolving donations, so that when the entrepreneur repays the original loan, the donation moves on to support others as well.

Emirates Islamic recently held interactive sessions at five schools in Dubai aimed at teaching children the importance of savings. The initiative, in partnership with Dubai Educational Zone (DEZ), is part of Emirates Islamic’s strategy to instil a savings culture in the community, and in particular create awareness amongst youth on the importance of savings. The bank plans to visit several other schools across the seven emirates to spread awareness in the coming months. Last year, Emirates Islamic created a special ‘Child Savings Account,’ to promote a savings habit for youngsters. The account is free for children and includes a hassala, the traditional Emirati savings pot, and a complimentary pre-paid card with Dhs100 credit.

For the second year in a row, Bahrain has been named the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries leading Islamic finance market and second out of 92 countries worldwide, according to the ICD-Thomson Reuters Islamic Finance Development Indicator (IFDI). Bahrain was also ranked as having the best governance in Islamic finance in the world, with the report praising the well-established regulatory framework covering all sectors, and high levels of disclosure. The IFDI is a measure of five components (including quantitative development, governance, corporate social responsibility, knowledge and awareness).

Prospects for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar are unsettling bond investors already rattled by political turmoil between the country and its neighbors, with its sukuk on course for its worst month in more than a year. FIFA Executive Committee member Theo Zwanziger told Germany’s Bild this week that Qatar probably won’t host the world’s biggest soccer event in 2022 because of the summer heat. While Qatar dismissed his comments, it’s creating more market turbulence for the country, which has been at odds with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates over its support for the Muslim Brotherhood in the region. The bond due January 2018 will drop further if its neighbors continue to isolate Qatar and this FIFA situation isn’t resolved.

The National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) has launched the NBAD Shariah MENA Dividend Leader Fund, which invests in dividend-paying companies traded on MENA equities markets. The Fund is inspired by and modeled after NBAD MENA Dividend Leader Fund (MDL) which was recently voted Newcomer Fund of the Year 2013 by Zawya. The NBAD Shariah MENA Dividend Leader Fund will invest in bourses of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia. The Fund is actively managed by the Equity desk of NBAD 's Asset Management Group. NBAD Shariah MENA Dividend Leader Fund is UCITS IV compliant - regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Northern Trust Group acts as the Fund's administrator and custodian.

Dubai, Kuala Lumpur and even London aspire to be hubs for Islamic finance, but Bahrain still has a strong and respected role in this sector. The International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation has put in place sound standards for a global liquidity management platform. There have been significant developments, like the successful restructuring of a number of Islamic wholesale and retail banks, including Venture Capital Bank, GFH, Bank Alkhair and Bahrain Islamic Bank, which were badly affected by the global financial crisis of 2008. In the coming years, more momentum in the area of real estate funds is expected to take place.

Backed by a good track record and triple A ratings IsDB issued a 1.5 billion sukuk as part of its ambitious program to raise 10 billion. The issuance was met with success despite the general market uncertainty. The value of sukuk offered is still small despite the fact the Islamic finance industry is believed to have grown to 2 trillion. Governments and institutions in the west and Islamic states are driving this lucrative business. However, existing regulations suffer from being incomprehensive and untested in most cases and that again could be traced to the lack of a central body with authority to enforce such regulation. Accordingly it is left to each individual country to come up with whatever it sees fit to adopt and apply.

Qatar has expressed its willingness to set up an Islamic bank in Tajikistan, which would be the first Shariah-based financial institution in the Central Asian country. The establishment of a full-fledged Islamic bank under Qatari-Tajikistan partnership was discussed when Ezdan Holding chairman Sheikh Dr Khalid bin Thani bin Abdullah al-Thani called on Tajikistan President Emomalii Rahmon in the country's capital Dushanbe last week. Sheikh Dr Khalid said the Qatari business community was viewing the Tajikistan market with great interest and willing to invest in the country, besides sharing its knowledge and expertise with local businessmen in different sectors, particularly Islamic banking. He termed as "extremely positive", the Tajikistan government's decision to enact necessary legislation required for Islamic banking.