IslamicFinance.de

The global sukuk market is poised for a record-breaking year, according to Standard Chartered Saadiq's chief executive officer Wasim Saufi. Standard Chartered expects demand for Islamic bonds to help push sales to levels unseen before this year although Islamic bond sales fell by as much as 11 per cent for the first six months of the year. Wasim said several issuances are in the pipeline, including a few being evaluated for dollar sukuk to be issued by Malaysian companies. One that is in the pipeline is Khazanah Nasional’s sale of US$1 billion of convertible Islamic bonds. Ernst & Young LLP in a December 2012 report predicted that the global demand for sukuk will reach US$950 billion by 2017. According to Bloomberg-compiled data, global sukuk sales hit US$18.8 billion in the first half of the year.