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 Reader,

for Q1 / 2021 a second book is to be published in German after the successful standard reference for financial professionals in German.

A first interview is online (in German!!):

https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9sOXVxd28ucG9kY2FzdGVyLmRlL0l...
https://podcasts.apple.com/ch/podcast/islamicmediaclub/id1503189930?i=10...
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7BkZS8KVt3EWlkmvcyu5WM?si=2bRPowl1RdO9F...

The new book targets the consumer rather than the professional as for a couple years an Islamic bank and some investment funds are offered in Germany - hence it is time for consumer education.

Best regards,

Michael Gassner
www.islamicwealthmanagement.com

The Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) reported a net profit of Dh2.11 billion for the first half of 2020. Due a difficult quarter, DIB continues to demonstrate healthy profitability whilst ensuring prudence in growing the balance sheet.

The BIMB Holdings Bhd group is set to finally unfold. BIMB announced a series of proposals that will ultimately see it transfer its listing status to its wholly-owned subsidiary Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd. In the first step, BIMB will undertake a private placement of new shares to raise RM800 million to fully settle outstanding sukuk held by Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH). BIMB had, December 2018, done an early partial redemption of RM609.9 million, helping reduce the outstanding amount.

Islamic finance has grown significantly over the past few years into an estimated US$2.4 trillion industry. While the use of Shariah compliant financing for the acquisition of aircraft is not a new development, aircraft leasing firms and operators are increasingly looking at Islamic finance as a source of funding for the acquisition of aircraft , whether that be via Islamic banks or through the issuance of Shariah compliant bonds (Sukuk) to raise funds via the debt capital markets.

Mudajaya Group’s unit, Sinar Kamiri, has issued its RM245mil green SRI sukuk wakalah. The coupon rate is between 4.96% and 6.35% per year and the coupon will be payable semi-annually. Proceeds from the issuance of the sukuk will be utilised for the development of a large-scale solar photovoltaic energy-generating facility of 49MW in Perak. The company stated that the issuance of the sukuk is not expected to have any material effect on the net assets and earnings per share of Mudajaya for the financial year 2018. However, the gearing and interest cost for Mudajaya are expected to increase for FY18 and onwards.

Transfer pricing sounds esoteric and many wrongly associate it with abusive behaviour by multinational corporations. In reality, all multinational corporations have to deal with transfer pricing. Profits made in different countries may suffer different amounts of corporate tax and may suffer different amounts of withholding taxes before those profits can be paid. The tax authorities of each individual country understandably seek to maximise that country’s tax revenues. The serious risk that the multinational group faces is that the tax authorities impose artificial prices for tax purposes. This can cause the underlying profits to be taxed twice. Fortunately, a growing number of countries have entered into tax treaties to solve this problem.

Bahrain’s GFH Financial Group is considering a listing in Saudi Arabia. CEO Hisham al-Rayes said the Group was also keen to participate in Saudi Arabia’s privatisation programme in sectors such as education and healthcare. He added that GFH was looking at asset management and private equity sector as sectors to acquire. Al-Rayes also disclosed that GFH was in talks with an unnamed financial services company in the Gulf. GFH's acquisition of Dubai-based Shuaa Capital was postponed due to a failure to reach acquisition terms and a lack of initial regulatory approval.

Dana Gas and its partner Crescent Petroleum have begun arbitration proceedings against Hungary's MOL Group over Dana's settlement agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The KRG agreed to pay $1 billion to the consortium and to reclassify some additional $1.24 billion from debt to outstanding costs. MOL is unsatisfied with the way Dana Gas, Crescent Petroleum and the Pearl consortium handled the settlement and would have pursued a final litigation and enforcement outcome against KRG instead. Dana and Crescent Petroleum own a combined 70% stake in the Pearl consortium, while Austria's OMV, Germany's RWE, and MOL each own 10%. The KRG settlement boosted Dana's cash balance and lifted the company's stock on the Abu Dhabi stock exchange by 14%. Last week Dana bondholders requested a $300 million cash paydown, but Dana refused the proposal and the case is now being disputed in a London High Court.

The corporate sector in #Egypt acquired EGP 11.7bn of the total loans portfolio in Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank-Egypt until the end of June 2017. The bank continued its programme to fund small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The sector continued its growth also in the field of retail banking, reaching EGP 4.3bn, whereas the volume of the portfolio managed by the treasury sector in the bank is estimated at EGP 12.2bn. Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank-Egypt revealed its business results for H1 2017, where total net profits during that period reached EGP 339m with EGP 148m increase by 78% compared to H1 2016. Total revenues reached EGP 1.841bn compared to EGP 1.225bn, with a growth of 50%. The volume of growth in total assets reached 30% by the end of June 2017 compared to June 2016. In its report the bank stressed its commitment to developing the technological infrastructure and investing in human resources.

The standoff between Dana Gas PJSC and its bondholders carries on after the company that’s trying to void $700 million of its own debt was said to believe investors may even have to pay the company.
Dana Gas says a court battle with holders of the Islamic securities, or sukuk, may see it having to return less than 10 % of the amount it borrowed. In a second scenario, it believes creditors may have to pay it as much as $150 million, and that the case may last more than 10 years. The Gas company had announced plans to restructure the debt in May, this week retracted an offer to replace the bonds and is pursuing a resolution in court. It said in June the debt was no longer Sharia-compliant. Investors questioned the validity of the claim since neither sukuk regulations nor UAE laws governing the matter have changed since they were issued in 2013.

Dana Gas has received an initial payment of $50 million (Dh184 million) from the Egyptian government as partial payment of its outstanding receivables. This payment represents 18% of Dana Gas Egypt’s total overdue receivables of $283 billion (Dh1.038 billion) as of the end of first quarter 2017. Dana Gas, which pumps most of its gas at fields in Egypt and Iraq, is seeking to recover payments from both countries for overdue bills. The company was owed $1 billion from Egypt and the self-governed Kurdish region in northern Iraq. CEO Patrick Allman-Ward had previously said that the company will not make any new investments in Egypt due to delay in receiving payments. In the first quarter 2017, Dana Gas reported gross revenues of $118 million and net profit of $11 million. Overall group production was 69,900 barrels of oil equivalent per day, 16% higher compared to first quarter of 2016.

Metito is the largest privately held water treatment company in the Middle East. Metito’s African operations account for nearly about a third of its revenues and the current backlog is around $300 million. Metito approached Islamic banks in early 2014 to tap on their resources to support the Group’s growth. As of today, a major of the long-term financing that the group has received in GCC region is comprised mostly of Shari'ah-compliant financing tools. The total size of Islamic financing facilities currently in use stand at around $150 million and the share is expected to increase over the next 12 months. The Group has so far availed three types of Islamic finance financing tools, Musharakah, Ijarah and Murabahah. CFO Wafic Ghanem said Metito has not yet considered tapping into Sukuk issuance for its African business given the infancy of Sukuk market in the continent.

Corrigenda: Wafic Ghanem has been reported being Group CEO before.

US President Donald Trump has been accused of courting international trade friction and a new international debt crisis. There were already signs given the huge debt built up over a decade of record low interest rates, and that rates had begun rising. The next international debt crisis could well be in the emerging market corporate sector. Global debt has reached US$217 trillion, equal to a record 325% of global gross domestic product. Investors in Brazil, South Korea, Thailand, Chile, Czech and Malaysia especially have been big borrowers. While most of this has been in local currencies, corporates in India, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Russia as well as Hong Kong and Singapore have borrowed heavily in foreign currency. This creates a currency mismatch situation.

Summit will explore intersection of #fintech, #ESG and #Islamicfinance. #RFISummit17

January 24, 2017, Zurich, Switzerland –

Bringing together a diversity of perspectives is critical for continuing the growth occurring within responsible finance. On this premise, the Responsible Finance & Investment Summit 2017 will convene in Zurich, Switzerland from 3-4 May 2017 around the theme “Building Bridges, Expanding Impact”.

Recent estimates from industry stakeholders show continued growth in responsible finance assets in many geographies and sectors. Responsible investment in Europe grew by 42% during the past 2 years, while in the U.S., assets grew by 33%. In Islamic finance, which has a global presence with a significant presence in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, growth in the last 2 years has been 21%. Identifying actionable areas for collaboration will support continued growth towards a more sustainable financial system.

CIMB Investment Bank (CIMB IB) came out tops on RAM Rating Services' league tables for both corporate bonds and sukuk as at end-September 2016, after having arranged RM21.25 billion worth of RAM-rated corporate bonds and sukuk. The amount represents 56% of the RM37.88 billion RAM-rated corporate bonds and sukuk in the first nine months of the year. In terms of sukuk programme value, Maybank Investment Bank (Maybank IB), which has arranged RM12.54 billion or 72% of RAM-rated sukuk, takes the lead. As at end-September 2016, outstanding corporate bonds stood at RM536.5 billion, while the gross issuance of corporate bonds and sukuk amounted to RM66.4 billion, almost 50% higher than last year’s January-to-September period. RAM anticipates the corporate bond market to chart a steady course through the remainder of 2016.

Elizabeth Warren wants the FBI and Justice Department to explain why no bankers were prosecuted for the 2008 financial crisis. She wants the agencies to explain why they didn't act on the recommendations from the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission to prosecute top Wall Street executives. The commission was charged with investigating the cause of the 2008 financial meltdown. Warren said the commission recommended actions against 14 Wall Street firms including Citi, Fannie, Merrill and AIG, as well as Freddie Mac, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Credit Suisse, UBS, Societe General, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Moody's, Washington Mutual and Lehman Brothers. Some of those firms reached civil settlements with authorities, but none faced criminal charges.

Qatar Islamic Bank has announced that it will be the preferred financing partner of Jaidah Equipment under the terms of the strategic partnership QIB forged with the Qatar-based equipment dealer.
QIB general manager of Wholesale Banking, Tarek Fawzi, and Jaidah Equipment managing director, Ayman Ahmed, led the official signing before senior executives from both organisations at QIB’s corporate headquarters in Doha.
As part of the agreement, customers of Jaidah Equipment who would like to purchase new equipment are entitled to use the bank’s Fleet and Heavy Equipment Financing scheme, which was introduced last year as part of QIB’s Aamaly programme, a collection of products and services designed specifically for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Through its Aamaly programme, QIB aims to foster the growth of SMEs and help diversify the country’s economy in line with Qatar National Vision 2030.
“We are pleased to be partnering with Jaidah Equipment. This new relationship enhances the value of QIB’s Aamaly programme and makes it easier for SMEs to expand their businesses in the growing Qatar market,” Fawzi said.