IslamicFinance.de

Al Baraka Banking Group will launch Itqan Capital in Saudi Arabia, through its fully-owned subsidiary Al Baraka Islamic Bank.
Mr. Khaled Al Zayani, chairman of Al Baraka Islamic Bank, stated that the firm's future center of attraction will be on four areas: asset management, principal investment, investment banking, and custodial services - all supported by centralized advisory, research and business development capabilities.

Malaysia’s corporate Sukuk market has abandoned the blocks in 2012, shows the data collated by Zawya’s Sukuk monitor. The data added that $5.6bn of corporate Sukuk were issued in 2011, a shade behind the $6.4bn of corporate Sukuk issued in 2010 but surpassing the $2.5bn issued in 2009.
The vibrancy of the corporate Sukuk market in Malaysia has been split into an active and well-subscribed sovereign and quasi-sovereign market. Coupled with the efforts of the government of Malaysia and the governor of the Central Bank, Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, has seen Malaysia become the prime global Sukuk market.

Kenya has blocked the licensing of new Takaful companies until a suitable law to manage them is completed. This gives Kenya’s existing Takaful firms the opportunity to grow unrestrained by new competition. But the regulator’s strategy risks losing its position as the leading IF hub in East Africa to neighbors Tanzania and Uganda, who have put no such restrictions on new local and foreign firms entering their markets.
At present Kenya’s insurance law does not admit Takaful as a standalone product, although the law empowers the IRA to launch ad hoc regulations authorizing individual operators on a case-by-case basis to sell Takaful products. The insurance law also does not permit companies to invest in offshore assets, locking out Kenyan Takaful entities from established capital markets in the Middle East and Asia.

Dubai's Tamweel has launched a $300 million five-year sukuk.
The transaction is guaranteed by majority shareholder Dubai Islamic Bank and comes after a series of roadshows which took place before year-end. No pricing guidance was presented in the document.

MAYBANK Investment Bank Bhd (Maybank IB) wants to use the acquisition of Singapore’s banking franchise, Kim Eng Holdings, as a springboard to become a regional financial powerhouse.
The company now has operations in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, India, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia as well as in London and New York.
Maybank IB is focusing at this moment on establishing and expanding its line of business – investment banking and advisory, retail equities, institutional equities, derivatives and asset management – in its home markets, which are Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia.

An agreement between Emirates Environmental Group (EEG) and Al Hilal Bank for a year-round tree-planting programme in the UAE was signed.
The aim of the partnership is to establish a sense of environmental awareness and responsibility among children. Existing and new customers of Al Hilal Bank will be encouraged to open a Seghaar savings account for their children to be worthy of planting a tree bearing their name.

It seems that Abdulla Al Hamli, Dubai Islamic Bank's chief executive officer, resigned from the board of Gulf Finance House. Apparently he has decided to focus on his duties at Dubai Islamic.

Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) has presented a project financing agreement with Al Million Services Trading and Contracting Co. W.L.L. in order to fund the purchase and operation of 500 new taxi vehicles. The financing will be put in action as per the Islamic finance methods of Murabaha, Wikala, and Istisnaa.
Abdul Kader Mydeen, Managing Director of Al Million Services Trading and Contracting Co. W.L.L., stated that the agreement completed with QIB will help the purchase and operation of the taxi cars asked by the company in order to meet the goals of MOWASALAT.

Following the failure of the company to supply details on how it plans to repay $1 billion of sukuk maturing in October, Dana Gas Islamic bonds surged to a record.
Dana Gas shares fell 2.2 per cent, the most in more than a week.
It seems that the company's board considered updates on its stake in Mol Nyrt as well as on financing projects in Egypt and the UAE.

The 1st Ernst & Young World Islamic Banking Competitiveness Report 2011 presented at the 18th Annual World Islamic Banking Conference stated that Islamic banking assets with commercial banks globally will reach US$1.1 trillion in 2012, a significant jump of 33% from their 2010 level of US$826 billion. In the MENA region, Islamic banking assets increased to US$416 billion in 2010, representing a five year CAGR of 20% compared to less than 9% for conventional banks. As new geographies open up to Islamic banking, the MENA Islamic banking industry is expected to more than double to US$990 billion by 2015.

Allianz SE is searching to further develop its takaful, or Islam-compliant insurance, in the Asia-Pacific region, using its experience in Indonesia where it sees substantial market demand for comprehensive and affordable plans.
Kamesh Goyal, regional chief executive of Allianz Insurance Management in the Asia-Pacific, stated the fact that they are watching Malaysia very closely and would be ready to include takaful in their portfolio when the opportunity comes.

Africa is mooving its economic attention away from the west to the Middle East and Asia as a primary source of capital raising. This shift in alignment partially explains the expected launch of a number of Sukuk across the continent in 2012.
Countries that have announced sovereign Sukuk to raise capital for their budgets are: South Africa, Senegal, Nigeria and Kenya. This move is especially welcomed by sovereign wealth and Islamic finance institutions - especially in the GCC.

Bank Sarasin-Alpen won the Best Islamic Wealth Manager award at the Islamic Business and Finance Awards 2011 that took place at the Emirates Towers Hotel, Dubai on 13th December, 2011 and was managed by CPI Financial. The award was handed to Rohit Walia, Executive Vice Chairman & CEO of Bank Sarasin-Alpen Group and Mahboob Murshed, Managing Director.
Bank Sarasin-Alpen offers a complete range of first class private banking and investment advisory solutions to private and institutional clients in GCC and South Asia.

Bahrain’s BMI Bank has signed a strategic agreement with regional insurer Medgulf Allianz Takaful.
This agreement will allow the bank to present customers a suite of life and non-life Takaful products through its branch network.

Saudi Arabia has the largest population, GDP and oil reserves in the GCC region and is strategically and militarily important on both a regional and global scale. Despite all this, unlike its neighbors the UAE or Bahrain, Saudi Arabia is not a culturally or economically-welcoming place for international business and as such much of Saudi Arabia’s non-oil related business is an internal market.
The country has given birth to some monumental Sukuk over the last few years, like the 20-year $2.1bn Saudi Basic Industries Corporation issue of 2007.
Most of the Sukuk issued have been for internal consumption.

Africa has begun to move its economic attention away from the west to the Middle East and Asia as a primary source of capital raising. This shift in alignment partially explains the forthcoming launch of a number of Sukuk across the continent in 2012.
South Africa, Senegal, Nigeria and Kenya have all divulged sovereign Sukuk to raise capital for their budgets, a marked move away from aid and loans from the economies of Europe and the US and a move broadly welcomed by sovereign wealth and Islamic finance institutions – especially in the GCC.
Senegal, for exmaple will issue a $200m Sukuk, initially planned for this year but now most likely for the begin of 2012. Finance minister Abdoulaye Diop stated that proceeds from the Sukuk will be used for budgetary support.

Foreign issuance of sukuk in Malaysia is anticipated to increase by 25%-30% next year from 10%-15% currently owing to the global economic calamities and eurozone sovereign debt crisis.
Amanie Advisors Sdn Bhd director Baiza Bain noted that the sukuk issue would be US dollar and ringgit denominated issues mainly from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Europe.
Asian Islamic Investment Management Sdn Bhd CEO and executive director Akmal Hassan has a positive outlook regarding the fact that the Government's pump priming activities would ignore impact from the tough external environment and this would augur well for the local economy and Islamic investment.

Abstract academic paper:

Using a large international sample of 35 developed and emerging markets, we analyze
whether Islamic indices exhibit a different performance to conventional benchmarks. While there is no compelling evidence of performance differences in robust Sharpe ratio tests and after controlling for market risk, we find a significantly positive four-factor alpha for the aggregate developed markets region. This outperformance stems, however, mainly from the U.S. and is largely attributable to the exclusion of financial stocks in Sharia-screened portfolios. As the extensive downturn of financials is related to the recent financial crisis, we do not argue that this outperformance will continue over time. The style analysis reveals that

Islamic indices invest mainly in growth stocks and positive momentum stocks. This, for a passive portfolio intriguing result can, however, be explained by the strong sector allocation towards energy firms and their strong momentum characteristic during the sample period.

The Best Islamic Wealth Manager award was given to Bank Sarasin-Alpen at the Islamic Business and Finance Awards 2011 organized by CPI Financial, publisher of Islamic Business and Finance magazine. The award was accepted by Rohit Walia, Executive Vice Chairman & CEO of Bank Sarasin-Alpen Group and Mahboob Murshed, Managing Director at a ceremony held at the Emirates Towers Hotel, Dubai on 13th December, 2011.
Bank Sarasin-Alpen offers a complete range of first class private banking and investment advisory solutions to private and institutional clients in GCC and South Asia.

Malaysia is awaited to continue its strong 60% contribution to global sukuk issuance next year, supported by projects under the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).
HSBC Amanah stated that this year a significant growth in sukuk was noticed, principally driven by issuance out of the country.
HSBC remained optimistic about the future over the medium term but anticipated some challenges in 2012.