IslamicFinance.de

According to leaders in the area of real estate investment, Malaysian real estate investment trusts show a positive developmen this year. The strong returns which Axis REIT Managers Bhd provided over the past year include Al-Hadharah Boustead REIT, Al-Aqar Healthcare REIT, Pavilion REIT, CapitaMalls Malaysia Trust, Axis REIT, Starhill REIT and Tower REIT. A further positive development is expected.

As part of its Sukuk programme, Axiata Group has priced its maiden two year Chinese yuan renminbi (CNY) denominated Sukuk. The whole multi-currency Sukuk programme is planned to be worth about $1.5bn. On Tueday Axiata priced the first part of the Sukuk. It is expexted that the issue will be listed Bursa Malaysia Securities and on the Singapore Exchange. Among the banks which worked on the issue are CIMB Investment Bank, HSBC and Merrill Lynch Singapore.

After the initial announcement that the Turkish Treasury has mandated Citigroup, HSBC and Liquidity Management House (LMH) to inspect existing opportunities for a Lease Certificate issuance, it turns out that the mandate aim to advise and structure Turkey's proposed debut sovereign Sukuk Al-Ijara. In this context, a number of investor meetings in significant financial centers in the Middle East and Asia are organized and will take place until Thursday.

In an announcement by National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) its plans to seek an Islamic banking licence in Malaysia were revealed. This licence is to meet the demand for Shari'ah-compliant financing. After starting non-Islamic commercial banking operations, the company endeavours further expansion. According to CEO of National Bank of Abu Dhabi Malaysia Bhd, Leong See Meng, good opportunities exist for operations abroad.

According to a statement by the Undersecretariat of the Treasury in Turkey, Citigroup, HSBC and Liquidity House have been mandated to investigate opportunities concerning the issuance of a Lease Certificate in the international capital markets. For this purpose numerous road shows for the Sukuk are planned and will be held in financial centres across the Middle East and Asia. The show will take place in the period 10-13 September. The Sukuk is supposed to be dollar-denominated and issued in the week of 17 September.

The senior notes under HSBC Amanah Malaysia's proposed Multi-Currency Sukuk Programme of up to MYR 3 billion have received a long-term rating of AAA by RAM Ratings. At the same time, respective long- and short-term financial institution ratings of the bank have been reaffirmed at AAA and P1. The outlook for both long-term ratings in terms of stability looks positive.

Regulators changed the rules on non Islamic loans for the purchase of motor vehicles like cars and motorcycles in favour of Islamic loans. As a result, consumer-finance companies in Indonesia increasingly consider Shariah-compliant lending. PT Adira Dinamika Multi Finance, which recently started Shariah-compliant business, expects for it to make up 20% of its overall operations. Other Shariah lenders clain that Islamic loans will grow as fast as 30% a year in the near future.

After almost a decade of preparation works, Turkey makes the next step in its Islamic bond plan. Citigroup, HSBC and Liquidity House of Kuwait are mandated to examine opportunities for sukuk issuance. The expectations are that the government will be able to gain a profit of up to $1bn through the sukuk. Also, the sukuk is likely to bridge the funding gap in the country's budget deficit target of 1.5 per cent of gross domestic product for 2012.

Nine months ago Al Baraka Banking Group cancelled the debut sales of sukuk due to very high yields. Now that the situation has turned and Al Baraka Turk Katilim Bankasi again considers its previous intentions. It plans to offer $250 million (Dh917 million) of seven-year dollar-denominated sukuks this year.

Amana Takaful showed a significant growth of 32% for the first half of 2012. According to the figures of the period the total Gross Written Premium(GWP) is as high as Rs 770.8 million. Compared to this, the same period last year had a GWP of Rs.584.7 million. The company's development is in accordance with the 11% growth in overall industry.

The Association of Islamic Scholars (ASAS) in Kuala Lumpur plans to start a shariah board accreditation process. The move fill follow a points-based system, where the points are earned by Islamic scholars who participate in training cources offered by regulatory bodies. Shariah scholars will be required to sign a voluntary code of ethics and take a corresponding test. The scholars, however believe that this move is bound to fail. It is possible that Islamic finance advisors will not accept the notion of being accredited since the majority of them offer theit services without it.

A report by Standard and Poor says that Islamic financing could support Indonesia to fulfill its infrastructure plans. Islamic financing would be able to bridge gaps in funding major infrastructure development projects. The same strategy was used by Malaysia. The situation in Indonesia is explained by the country's large needs to develop the infrastructure, the willingness of the government to attract private capital to fund these investments, and the increasing demand for investable assets of a growing domestic Islamic finance market.

Zurich Financial Group Ltd shows strong interest in involving in the takaful business in Malaysia. Strategically, a takaful arm contributes to the bench strength and access to the increasingly appealing market. Unfortunately, it is very unlikely for Bank Negara Malaysia to issue new takaful licence since they issued new licences to four new players in 2009. The hopes lie in 2014 when the adoption of the Risk Based Capital framework by the takaful industry is expected.

Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd is paying 20 per cent less to finance railway expansion than China, as sliding sukuk costs mean. In an interview yesterday the company’s finance director Mohd. Zahir Zahur Hussain said Prasarana RM1 billion each of 2022 and 2027 Syariah-compliant notes to yield 3.77 per cent and 4 per cent, respectively. The government’s debt clearing house website shows China’s Ministry of Railways issued 10-year non-Islamic bonds at a coupon rate of 4.68 per cent on Aug 21 and 15-year securities at 5 per cent.

Sharia banks in the country will soon be subject to Bank Indonesia’s new policy regulating minimum down payments for housing and automotive loans. However, a deputy governor for the central bank says that they may have different limits than those for commercial banks. This month, BI said that sharia banks would soon be included in its policy to restrict loans to value in automotive and housing lending. These had entered into effect for Indonesian commercial banks in June.

According to a statement by Fitch Ratings, Indonesia's consumer finance will probably see an improvement in the underwriting quality and regulatory consistency. The precondition is that Bank Indonesia harmonises prudential rules for sharia-compliant products with the ones for mainstream consumer loan products. Applying tougher loan to value (LTV) regulations to sharia products would make the competition with non-sharia products even. Moreover, asset quality diverging within the consumer finance sector would be prevented.

Istanbul Real Estate Investment Trust Is REIT signed a Murabaha facility worth $50 million in a syndicate with a number of GCC banks. The facility has a two-years tenor and a profit rate of LIBOR +250 bps. Playing different roles, banks included in the syndicate are Qatar Islamic Bank, Barwa Bank, First Gulf Bank, and Mashreq Bank. Sole Bookrunner and Structuring Advisor to Is REIT was QInvest .

It was reported that Indian authorities intend to introduce some form of interest-free banking. Thus, the country’s unbanked Muslim populations shall be brought into mainstream banking. This initiative is likely to result in a huge rise in Islamic Banking and in a significant gain for Indian banking as well. While a channel for substantial fund flow from areas such as the Gulf region will be opening up, a huge number of new customers will join the Indian banking sector.

Malaysia maintains its leading position in Islamic finance having a large volume of Islamic investors looking for syariah-compliant investments like sukuk compared to Singapore. The huge number of Muslim-owned companies in Malaysia is one of the most significant reasons for the high demand for syariah-compliant financing and sukuk issuance. 60 percent of global sukuk deals are concluded in Malaysia.

Celcom Axiata Bhd has reached a price of RM5bil in nominal value for its sukuk issuance. Via bookbuilding process, RM3bil of it received a final book of RM10bil. There is a strong demand for the RM3bil sukuk from asset management companies, financial institutions, insurance companies and corporate organisations. The remaining sum of RM2bil is privately allocated. According to Celcom, the RM5bil sukuk was the largest rated sukuk murabahah issuance based on a tawarruq arrangement in the Malaysian debt capital market to date.