IslamicFinance.de

As salamu Alaikum,
Next saturday, May 13, 2023, at 15.00 I present as guest of Muslim Student Association in Zurich (@msazurich) on the 1st chapter of my book and then go into the banking crisis and money creation. The talk is in English.

Physical
???? Samstag, 13. Mai 2023
? 15:00 - 17:00
???? Building KAB, floor G, room 01
????? Kantonsschulstrasse 3, 8001 Zürich

Physical attendance - registration linked at @msazurich and in my link tree in Insta profile. (just confirm lengthy privacy in German).
Talk online accessible without registration: Click on Linktr.ee/islamgeldwohlstand - presentation on bigbluebutton/senfcall similar to zoom - no installation required or instagram @islamgeldwohlstand

My German book "Islam, Geld und Wohlstand - Ein Handbuch über Finanzen und Vorsorge" can be obtained:
Instagram:
DE: @islambooks24
CH: @IslamShop.ch
or any other bookstore or online dealer in German speaking countries - if you are publisher interested for your country, please contact me.

Dear All,

as salamu alaikum,

as part of my book project I developed a simple tool for Islamic stock screening. What does it do?

- data pull from Google Finance and MarketWatch
- Calculating cash and debt compliance criteria versus 220days average market cap
- Zakat calculation per share for the zakatable asset approach, if held for investment

***Telegram Group for discussion on Islamic stock screening:
https://t.me/islamicstockscreening

***Live Google Sheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VJYojBUrftJkAZRTcdbmN4TAsvaC1eas...

***Resources:
https://github.com/IslamicWealthManagement/Googlesheet

The tool is under a GLP-3.0 License and be used and amended privately with no charge. Users are encouraged to verify and improve the tool for mutual sharing. No warranties given. Feedback directly or via Telegram group highly welcomed. Is your market avalaible, or do you desire a screening for your market?

Other Screening tools are:

Idealratings: https://www.idealratings.com/
Halal Investors: https://halalinvestors.com/
Islamicly: https://www.islamicly.com/
Zoya Finance: https://zoya.finance/

Sustainable Development Key Performance Indicators (SD-KPIs) are three particularly material environmental, social and governance (ESG) indicators for the expected business development of 68 different sectors.

The copyrighted SD-KPI Standard 2016-2021 was published by SD-M® on behalf of the the Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU) and with support of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). A Japanese, Chinese and Arabic translation is also available:

https://www.sd-kpi.com/files/SD-KPI_Standard_2016-2021_Arabic.pdf

According to the BaFin Guidance Notice on Dealing with Sustainability Risks, ESG risks should be strategically considered, e.g. by means of SD-KPI Standard 2016-2021. The Guidelines (German) to the Sustainability Code of the German Council for Sustainable Development recommend the SD-KPI Standards for materiality analysis.

The Big Six® are the six most important challenges for sustainable development in 21st century:

climate change
freshwater scarcity and pollution
deforestation and desertification
absolute poverty
loss of biodiversity
population growth and migration

Malaysia’s pledge to minimise its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 is facing challenges in terms of a mismatch in demand and supply of fundings. Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) assistant governor Fraziali Ismail said that considerable funding gaps remain in sustainable projects, despite the roll out of green financing schemes. Fraziali emphasised that there is a need to find a way to bridge the language and information gap between scientists, government and financiers. He also emphasised the role of the financial sector, particularly that of the capital market, in driving Malaysia’s sustainable development through the sukuk market.

The Indonesian government announced that it would merge the syariah units of three state-owned lenders to create the country’s seventh-largest bank. Pending approval by regulators, the syariah units of Bank Rakyat Indonesia, Bank Mandiri and Bank Negara Indonesia will join forces by February to form a lender with roughly 215 trillion rupiah (S$19.8 billion) in assets. The move is part of an ongoing effort among Indonesian officials to capture a bigger slice of the market of religiously observant Muslims.

Indonesia's planned merger of three state-owned Islamic banks will create an entity with scale comparable with the biggest local lenders. The proposed merger between Bank BRIsyariah, Bank Syariah Mandiri and Bank BNI Syariah will create an entity with between 220 trillion rupiah and 225 trillion rupiah in assets. Bank BRIsyariah will be the final entity after the merger, expected to be completed by February 2021. It will be Indonesia's seventh or eighth biggest bank by assets. Analysts expect more M&A activity within the Indonesian banking space, mainly for smaller banks to remain competitive. Currently, the nation's biggest banks are Bank Central Asia, Bank Mandiri, Bank Rakyat Indonesia and Bank Negara Indonesia.

Indonesia's three state-owned banks will merge their sharia banking units to create one of the country's biggest lenders. Bank Rakyat Indonesia, Bank Mandiri and Bank Negara Indonesia have signed a conditional merger agreement for their Islamic banking units. The new bank will have combined assets of 207 trillion rupiah ($14 billion), making it the eighth-largest lender by assets in the country. The merger is slated to complete next year and is still subject to approval from regulators and shareholders. Indonesia is keen to position the country as the hub of the region's Islamic economy. The country's five-year master plan aims to increase the market share of Islamic financing in the country to 20% by 2024.

The world’s fourth largest cocoa grinder Guan Chong (GCB) is undertaking a sukuk exercise for its future expansion plans. It is launching a sukuk wakalah programme of up to RM800mil in nominal value. According to managing diector Brandon Tay Hoe Lian, proceeds from the first tranche of issuance of RM300mil will go towards funding the ongoing construction of a new cocoa grinding facility in Ivory Coast, which is set to commence operations in the second half of 2021. The programme will also support the company's expansion in Europe, following the acquisitions of industrial chocolate provider Schokinag in Germany and the land and building in United Kingdom.

The role of Fintech platforms and services in supporting public services in Indonesia has become more prominent and relevant due to the global COVID-19 outbreak. Fintech service providers are now offering more digital payments options which allow Indonesians to pay for everyday expenses. Fintech investment platforms have also been launched. Financial tech startups have also announced that they’d like to help the nation’s government with disbursing Coronavirus related relief aid packages. Despite the efforts to establish a regulatory sandbox, there’s still a growing threat of illegal Fintech businesses. The Fintech sector in Indonesia remains focused on enabling greater financial inclusion by providing reliable payments and lending services to those who may be underserved by the traditional banking sector. However, these services must be well-regulated to ensure consumer protection.

The government of Bangladesh is going to introduce Sukuk in the country, said Prof. Shibli Rubayat Ul Islalm, chairman of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission. He believes that sukuk, once introduced, will widely contribute to various development-oriented activities of Bangladesh. Prof. Shibli made the remarks while speaking at the closing ceremony of a 'Workshop on Issuance and Management of Sukuk in Bangladesh'. The four-day workshop was jointly organised by the Central Shariah Board for Islamic Banks of Bangladesh (CSBIB) and the International Shariah Research Academy for Islamic Finance (ISRA), Malaysia.

Malaysia has over one million SMEs (small and medium enterprises) making up 98% of total businesses. The majority are micro SMEs, of which 21% are owned by women. One industry in which Malaysian SMEs could become a world pioneer is Islamic fintech. Islamic finance is now entrenched in Malaysia, accounting for 32% of financing to customers. Yet, according to the IMF, Islamic fintech is still in its infancy. In Malaysia, the growth of Islamic fintech can impact development in rural areas among Malays, offering this community a unique financial-inclusion opportunity.

Asosiasi Fintech Pendanaan Bersama Indonesia (AFPI), which is an association of 156 Fintech lenders, is reportedly planning to work cooperatively with the Indonesian government to distribute funds that are meant to offset the economic problems and challenges created due to COVID-19. As of September 2020, the Indonesian government has issued 25% of the planned IDR 695 trillion (appr. $46.8 billion) it has set aside for COVID-related financial relief for local businesses. Most of the AFPI members offer peer-to-peer (P2P) lending services. As of June 2020, there were 161 licensed or registered P2P lenders operating in Indonesia. The nation’s P2P lending platforms have managed to help around 20.6 million borrowers by connecting them with 539,460 lenders.

As a respected elder figure among the Muslim grassroots, Indonesian Vice President Ma’ruf Amin was initially expected to play a significant role in enacting policies that could benefit the country’s majority-Muslim population. But analysts have suggested that Ma’ruf could still do more to promote the sharia economy and finance. The government launched a masterplan for the sharia economy last year, which provides a five-year development roadmap. The plan hopes to transform Indonesia into a net producer of halal goods and services, instead of merely being a big market for them. According to analysts, Ma’ruf should encourage the state to focus more on developing the sharia economy, particularly in providing stimulus programs among sharia-based businesses and strengthening sharia institutions.

Sustainable investing is increasing in popularity as more investors and companies prioritise the need to act responsibly in order to create a positive lasting impact on the community and the environment. Shariah-compliant investing shares many similarities and goals with sustainable investing. Governments, institutions and the younger generation are more concerned about environmental issues such as climate change. As such, they demand more independent governance structures and want corporations to fulfil social responsibilities. Maybank Asset Management recently launched the Maybank Global Sustainable Equity-i Fund, its first actively managed shariah-compliant ESG fund that invests in both shariah-compliant and sustainable companies in the global markets. A minimum of 80% of the fund will be in shariah-compliant equities and shariah-compliant related securities. The rest of the fund will be invested in Islamic liquid assets.

The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) signed a US$100 million Murabaha-structured line of trade finance with Mizuho Bank Malaysia, a subsidiary of Mizuho Bank Japan. This financing will help ITFC extend its support to the member countries under its COVID-19 Response Plan. The financing is ITFC’s first partnership with a Japanese bank, signalling an expansion of its partners around the world. The virtual signing ceremony took place between Eng. Hani Salem Sonbol, CEO ITFC and Mr. Shojiro Mizoguchi, the Managing Director & CEO, Mizuho Bank (Malaysia) and witnessed by Mr. Hidekatsu Take, the Managing Executive Officer of Mizuho Bank.

Asia Pacific Investment Bank (APIB) will be launching an Islamic digital finance fund in Malaysia to invest in shariah-compliant financial technology (fintech) start-ups. The fund will be launched in collaboration with OUD Asset Management, a boutique fund management company. APIB director Datuk Foo Yong Hooi said the bank also collaborates with Ripple to explore ways to facilitate cross-border transactions more efficiently. According to Foo, the collaboration with OUD is very important now as the financial industry is adopting digital transformation at a pace faster than ever before, and this fund would be able to support the digital economy transformation of Malaysia.

The Islamic fintech space is growing in Malaysia, with recent entrants and an expanding consumer base. Government support and related initiatives are helping to drive the sector’s development. There are currently some 26 Islamic fintechs operating out of the country. While Malaysians have the possibility to bank in a Shariah-compliant manner, Islamic fintech has not yet reflected the same range of services that conventional fintech has offered, particularly in North America, Europe and China. Such gaps in the market have yet to be tapped, but there is a ready market for such services. A new digital bank could drive sectoral development, with Bank Negara Malaysia granting five licenses, with one potentially an Islamic provider.

Shariah-compliant investments are resilient and even tend to perform better than their conventional peers in troubled times. This was proven during the first half of the year, when the average returns of global and Malaysian equity shariah funds were higher than those of their conventional counterparts. Ismitz Matthew De Alwis, executive director and CEO of Kenanga Investors, notes that shariah funds in general have outperformed due to their lack of exposure to the banking sector and a higher weighting in defensive sectors such as healthcare and telecommunications. Despite signs of improving economic data, De Alwis expects the equity market to remain volatile. As the market grapples with the risk of surging Covid-19 infections, governments could be forced to reimpose restrictions on business activities.