IslamicFinance.de

Standard Chartered is bullish about the fortunes of its Islamic banking business in Bangladesh, Saadiq. The global lender introduced Islamic banking in Bangladesh 15 years ago and has been a trendsetter since. It was the first to introduce Islamic credit card in Bangladesh in 2007 and arrange Sukuk transaction in 2019. The bank has introduced a product, Saadiq Hajj Savers, to provide its customers a one-stop solution for Hajj and Umrah. This account will enable customers to deposit a fixed amount every month and earn profit on their monthly average balance at an attractive rate. Saadiq has another savings product in the works: the Saadiq Graduate account targeting fresh university leavers.

According to Rehan M Shaikh, CEO of Standard Chartered Saadiq, Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) wants to bring more Islamic liquidity into the market as the demand is increasing in Bangladesh as well as in the global markets. Islamic banking has expanded three times from 2007 to 2017 in Bangladesh, with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 11.6%. The Takaful sector has grown five times with a CAGR of 19.34% during this period. SCB has arranged a $32 million Diminishing Musharakah Facility for Noman Terry Towel Mills and Ismail Spinning Mills. This is the first Islamic syndication arranged by SCB Bangladesh. The facility will finance the company’s capital expenditures and support its export growth.

Standard Chartered Saadiq plans to expand its Sharah-compliant products beyond its core markets such as Pakistan, UAE, Malaysia, Indonesia and Bangladesh. Currently Standard Chartered Saadiq is the only international bank that covers all segments of Islamic banking ranging from retail, corporate and capital markets. Standard Chartered has operations across 16 African and 23 Asian countries. Analysts say the recent slowdown in growth of Islamic finance reflects more challenging economic conditions across a number of core Islamic markets. Despite the current challenges, the sector still has potential for further growth, especially in countries such as Oman, Turkey and Indonesia where the penetration of Islamic financing assets remain relatively low (between 5 and 10%) and there are recent initiatives supporting the growth of the industry.

According to Standard Chartered Saadiq, much of the growth in Islamic finance is expected to come from capital markets business relating to sukuk. Ahsan Ali, Global Head of Islamic Origination, said that sukuk was a mainstream component of capital markets in core Islamic finance markets such as Malaysia and the UAE. There is a healthy pipeline of issuance across the world and more issuers are expected to come to the market over the next year. Although a significant share of capital market issuance have been dominated by conventional bond issuance and loan syndications, Ali expects GCC issuers to issue sukuks along with conventional bonds. In the future a pickup in issuance from Bank Negara Malaysia, coupled with the deficit financing needs of the GCC members is expected to boost issuance.

Standard Chartered's Islamic division is seeking banking licences in three African countries in order to offer its services to the population. According to the bank's head of Islamic banking, Mohammad Ali Allawalla, Standard Chartered Saadiq could enter at least one of three markets, Nigeria, Botswana and Zambia, as early as 2017. The bank is also in discussions about gaining an Islamic banking licence in Brunei in South East Asia. Standard Chartered Saadiq's core markets are Pakistan, Malaysia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia and Bangladesh and in 2014 it entered the Kenyan market, its first move into Africa.

Standard Chartered Saadiq has announced to enhance its offering for clients looking for Shariah-compliant banking products and services. The enhanced Saadiq product suite includes Home Finance with fixed pricing for up to three years so the clients can benefit from prevailing low market rates and the Saadiq World Miles Credit Card. In order to address the needs of its business banking clients, Saadiq has also launched a new product: Saadiq Business Term Finance, a Shariah compliant solution for clients to manage their business expenditures by availing financing against their existing property.

Standard Chartered has appointed Rehan Shaikh as chief executive of its global Islamic banking business, it said in a statement on Wednesday.
Shaikh moves to Standard Chartered Saadiq from Dubai Islamic Bank, where he was senior vice president and business head, private sector and transaction banking. He previously worked for StanChart in Pakistan from 1998 to 2007, the statement said.
He takes over from Sohail Akbar, who was interim chief executive of the Islamic banking operation after the departure of Afaq Khan earlier this year.
StanChart remains committed to the business despite a period of hiatus across other parts of the bank as global chief executive Bill Winters moves to restore profitability. It announced plans this month to reduce costs by $2.9 billion by 2018 and cut 15,000 jobs.
"Islamic finance is an integral part of the business at Standard Chartered and we continue to see growing demand from clients in many of our markets," said Sunil Kaushal, the bank's regional chief executive for Africa and the Middle East.

Afaq Khan, CEO of Standard Chartered Saadiq, has decided to leave the Bank and plans to take a career break, according to a statement by the bank. Afaq Khan joined Standard Chartered in 2003 and is a well-known and well-respected figure in the Islamic finance industry. Khan is the second senior figure to leave Standard Chartered Saadiq in the last six months. At the end of October last year, Wasim Saifi resigned as Global Head of Islamic Banking for Consumer Banking. Saifi had rejoined Standard Chartered in the role in January 2011. The bank said a successor to Afaq Khan will be announced in due course.

Standard Chartered Saadiq has launched an Islamic financial education programme this month. This programme aims to educate the UAE Community in the ways of responsibly handling their financial future in a Halal way. This programme comprises of a basic and an advanced module which focus on the prohibition of transactions which involve riba, fair distribution of profit and loss as well as prohibition of transactions which involves uncertainty or speculation. This is an extension of the Financial Education for Youth programme which Standard Chartered Bank has been running since 2013.

Standard Chartered Saadiq expects 2014 to be good for the Malaysian sukuk industry, driven by the strength of the economy. Chief Executive Officer and Global Head, Consumer Banking, Standard Chartered Saadiq, Wasim Saifi, said the bank is already in discussions with several customers in looking at setting up specific sukuk issuances. Despite expectations of a further hike in Malaysia’s key interest rate, he said it would not hold back issuances, as borrowers are unlikely to defer raising money even if the cost of doing so goes up. Malaysia’s Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) was raised by 25 basis points to 3.25 per cent on July 10, the first increase for the past three years.

Standard Chartered Saadiq, the Islamic banking division of Standard Chartered Bank, opened its first dedicated Islamic Banking Centre in the UAE at the Al Khalidiya Branch in Abu Dhabi. The launch of Saadiq Islamic Banking Centre comes in response to the increasing demand for Islamic banking service, the bank said. Standard Chartered has the largest retail distribution network among international banks operating in the UAE with 11 branches, five Electronic Banking Units and more than 90 ATMs and Cash Deposit Machines spread across the country. Standard Chartered Saadiq is the only international bank offering Sharia-compliant retail banking services in the UAE.

Standard Chartered Saadiq (Saadiq) and Credit Guarantee Corp Malaysia (CGC) have collaborated to launch Malaysia’s first Islamic portfolio guarantee (PG) scheme to provide financing to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country. The term-financing facility, which offers financing from RM100,000 to RM800,000 over a flexible financing tenure of between 12 and 84 months, is expected to benefit about 400 SMEs within the next one year. Up to RM200mil will be offered under the Islamic PG agreement between Saadiq and CGC. Under the agreement, CGC would guarantee 70% of the approved total principal amount undertaken by SMEs and assist to verify the credibility of applicants in consultation with Saadiq. The scheme is expected to have a shorter turnaround time in terms of approval and disbursement to enable SMEs to gain quicker access to financing.

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.

Differences seen in interpretation of syariah compliance among various Islamic finance markets are disappearing as there has been inter-market convergence of respective interpretations on a global scale moving forward. According to the chief executive officer of Standard Chartered Saadiq Bhd (Saadiq) Wasim Saifi, convergence between Middle East interpretation of syariah compliance and the interpretation seen in Islamic finance institutions in Malaysia is happening. Many transactions are being structured using Islamic structures which have strong Middle Eastern acceptability. Furthermore, convergence is also happening regarding the syariah-compliant filters announced by the Securities Commission for equities.

Standard Chartered Saadiq Bhd (Saadiq), a wholly-owned Islamic bank subsidiary of Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia, launched its first branch in the state Sarawak. Saadiq chief executive officer (CEO) Wasim Saifi opened the branch located in Kuching, which was witnessed by Standard Chartered Malaysia consumer banking country head Sonia Wedrychowicz and government officials as well as the bank’s customers, partners and staff. Saadiq stated that the new branch opened seven days a week, extending its operations to weekends in order to improve customer access to the bank’s facilities and services.

The next area Islamic finance sets as a goal to develop is wealth management. So far, Muslim high net worth individuals have very limited possibilities in terms of availability of suitable products and services. According to consumer banking global head of Standard Chartered Saadiq, Wasim Saifi, the Gulf region in particular has accumulated a lot of wealth in the conventional space. Provided that customers are offered a Sharia-compliant option that can provide them with a diversity of risk and manage it properly, their wealth would be able to move into the Islamic space.

Standard Chartered Saadiq is offering Takaful products to Prudential BSN: three new Takaful investment-linked plans at eight of its branches. In addition, these Takaful products will soon be available at the 32 conventional Standard Chartered branches in the country. Customers can count flexibility to secure protection and investment plans which correspond to their lifestyle and financial needs.

According to Standard Chartered Saadiq, Islamic banking assets in the UAE are forseen to grow to 20 % of the total banking sector in 2012 from an estimated 18 % this year.
The bank anticipates Islamic assets to comprise 38 per cent of total consumer banking assets in the UAE in 2012, compared to about 35 per cent in 2010.
Globally, the Islamic banking industry is estimated to be worth $1 trillion.
Standard Chartered Saadiq plans to begin Islamic banking operations in Nigeria and Oman next year, as it seems to grow its Shariah-compliant business in the Middle East, Africa and southeast Asia.

Standard Chartered Bank sees opportunities in Islamic derivative products but is steering clear of hedge funds, another grey area of Shariah-compliant finance, the head of its Saadiq unit said.

Badr Al-Islami, the Islamic Banking Division of Mashreq, and Standard Chartered Saadiq along with Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank PJSC, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD, First Gulf Bank, Ajman Bank and Arab African International Bank have successfully arranged a USD 347 million Dual Currency Syndicated Islamic Finance Facility for Al Ghurair Center LLC. Mashreq and Standard Chartered Bank were the Bookrunners on this deal. The Facility has a door to door tenor of ten years. Proceeds of the Facility will be used to finance the expansion of Al Ghurair City, a well known mixed used (retail, commercial and residential) complex located in Dubai.