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.

Muamalat Venture, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank Muamalat Malaysia had a second listing on Malaysia's Investment Account Platform. The investment book was oversubscribed by more than 1.05 times on the first day of its listing. Project Ar-Rahn 2 is an investment in a share of aggregate capital contribution of Muamalat Venture under the musharakah joint venture with Permodalan Kelantan, in selected branches of Islamic pawn broking (Ar-Rahn) business activities. The investment of RM20 million in Project Ar-Rahn 2 is for a tenure of one year and expected to generate a return of 7% per annum for investors.

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.

In #Kenya a National Bank customer has asked the High Court to shut down the lender’s Islamic banking wing while demanding Sh3.7 billion compensation over a loan repayment dispute. Tulla Reserve Supplies claims National Bank illegally changed his facility from a fixed term loan to a revolving musharaka loan, effectively raising the interest rate from 18.5% to an Islamic profit-sharing equivalent of 19.5%. Director Diba Hussein Dado holds that the alleged switch to a revolving musharaka loan left his firm owing Sh922 million to National Bank. His firm supplied grains to Kenya Prisons, Unga Limited and World Food Programme (WFP). But National Bank insists that the contracts it signed with Tulla were for revolving facilities and Mr Diba has opted to feign ignorance in the hope of building a case against National Bank.

In #SouthAfrica First National Bank (FNB) has been offering an Islamic home loan since the beginning of the year. The product is aimed at Muslims who want to finance their homes in a manner consistent with the requirements of their faith. But, like all Islamic financial products and services, it is open to everyone. FNB Islamic Banking’s home loan is not strictly a loan. It is modelled on what is known as a diminishing musharaka type of financial transaction. Amman Muhammad, the chief executive of FNB Islamic Banking, says the main advantage of the Islamic home loan is that it offers a competitive fixed-price deal in volatile economic conditions. Also offering Islamic residential property financing is the local arm of the international Al Baraka Bank.

Home financing resembling Islamic finance structures is becoming popular to solve the housing affordability crisis in Western countries. Housing cooperatives began using profit-and-risk-sharing schemes modelled after ijara or musharaka to help home buyers purchase properties. In the UK the idea based on the Islamic contract of ijara came up in 2015. The rent-to-own scheme was proposed by the Liberal Democrats party and involves an Islamic bank or another intermediary, who purchases the property for a customer. In Canada various cooperative frameworks are providing home financing loans to members of their cooperatives in a Shariah-compliant manner. In the US the Ijara Community Development provides Shariah-compliant home financing for both US clients and customers in Canada.

Dear Reader,

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of IslamicFinance.de please find at the hyperlink below the relaunch of the newsletter.

http://www.islamicfinance.de/files/20140529%20IslamicFinance%20dot%20de%...

Any new issues will be announced to our registered users of IslamicFinance.de and to the members of the related LinkedIn Group of IslamicFinance.de.

If you wish to register please go to http://www.islamicfinance.de/?q=newsletter/subscriptions or become member of the LinkedIn Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostRecent=&gid=147616&trk=my_groups-tile...

Enjoy reading! And if you do, please consider sharing the free newsletter with your friends & colleagues by forwarding or subscribing an internal email address to forward it your entire firm.

NB: I appreciate feedback to improve the content and better understand what readers are looking for. Please allow time for reply, which I may not be able to give to all enquiries after sending out the newsletter.

All the best,

Michael Saleh Gassner

Contents
Revised Shariah Screening Methodology: 1
Expands ICM’s Global Reach
SHARIAH
New Shariah Advisory Council Resolutions 3
DEVELOPMENT
Region’s First Structured Covered Sukuk 7
Royal Award for Islamic Finance Calls for Global 9
Nominations
SC and Autoriti Monetari Brunei to Strengthen 9
Efforts in Greater Cross-border Activities
SC Leads Islamic Finance Taskforce to Publish a 10
Report on Enhancing Infrastructure for ICM
REGULATORY
IFSB-IOSCO-SC Collaborate on Disclosure 11
Requirements for ICM Products
SC Revises Equity Guidelines for SPACS 12
Technical Note on the Application of SC’s 13
Guidelines In Relation to Non-Tradable and
Non-Transferable PDS and Sukuk
FEATURES
2013: Another Resilient Year for the Global 14
Islamic Finance Industry
Global Islamic Funds Industry: Achieving 18
Growth Under Challenging Times
Harmonisation of Shariah Rulings 22
in Islamic Finance
News Round-up 29
STATISTICAL UPDATES
Malaysian ICM – Facts and Figures 32
Free download below at source:

Al Baraka Bank Pakistan Ltd is the lead advisor and arranger of Rs 3 billion first Musharaka based Islamic transaction to Zaver Petroleum Corporation Limited. The signing ceremony took place in Islamabad. Present at the occasion were Saddruddin Hashwani, Chairman Hashoo Group, CEO Al Baraka Pakistan, Shafqaat Ahmed and representatives of the Zaver Group, Al Baraka and member banks of the consortium; United Bank, Askari Bank, Bank of Punjab, Dubai Islamic Bank and Burj Bank. This is Al Baraka's first step in providing value added services to major players in the oil and gas sector and more such transactions are expected in the future.

For many years we see in the media experts believing in inflation and even hyper inflation. However, in the same time we face proponents warning against deflation. So far we all noticed.

Only a about a week ago I read an article by Myret Zaki clarifying that unfortunately inflation and deflation co-exists.

Myret Zaki's thesis is that we face inflation on financial markets, and deflation in the real economy (in French):

http://www.bilan.ch/myret-zaki/redaction-bilan/inflation-et-deflation-co...

In my view there is a general major shift in the price matrix and I still try to figure the magnitude and implications thereof. It is a bit irritating as at University we learned about neutrality of money:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutrality_of_money

This means any extra supply will increase prices equally, 5 % more money, all prices going up 5 %. Pretty plausible at first hand. However, it seems it does not work in reality any more (or never did).

Dear Reader,

IslamicFinance.de is still edited by myself, Michael Saleh Gassner. In the same time the website became part of the family's publishing house, Al Kitab.

Myself I moved to Geneva for professional reasons, working as Islamic private banker. IslamicFinance.de remains to be a private passion.

Best regards,

Michael Gassner

16th October 13 - 8:00am to 17th October 2013 - 12:00pm
Hosted by the Fung Inst. & Silatech, this conference is the first chance for top thought leaders from the Middle East, Silicon Valley, the Venture Capital community & the academic community to spur innovation, create jobs & encourage entrepreneurship throughout the middle east.

The conference is being generously supported by a donation from Silatech, a Qatar based foundation focused on expanding economic opportunity and jobs in the Middle East. This leading institution is partnering with UC Berkeley to bring in some of the world's top experts in Middle Eastern Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Islamic Finance, Crowdfunding and Accelerators, to discuss the opportunities in the region to develop a thriving culture of entrepreneurship and innovation. This conference will bring together top experts from the region, scholars and venture capitalists and innovators from Silicon Valley to explore how we can work together to create economic opportunity through entrepreneurship in the Middle East.

For more information, please contact Richard Swart: rswart@berkeley.edu

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has notified that now un-encumbered Government of Pakistan Ijara Sukuk may be included in the Musharaka Pool (MP), created under the Islamic Export Refinance Scheme (IERS). This inclusion will be subject to the several conditions. All Islamic Banking Institutions (IBIs) shall report Sukuk in MP under the sector heading of GoP Ijara Sukuk. IBIs shall maintain record of Sukuk issue included and the amount of that issue will be incorporated in the MP. The banks are advised to refer to SBP’s Islamic Export Refinance Scheme and other instructions issued from time to time. Other instructions on the subject remain unchanged,

Egypt's Principal Bank for Development and Agricultural Credit (PBDAC) is launching sharia-compliant retail banking services this month to meet increasing demand in rural areas. According to Abdel Rahman Al Kafrawi, head of Islamic transactions at PBDAC, the bank will offer retail finance at 18 Islamic branches through murabaha and musharaka structures. The new Islamic services cover areas including purchases of durable goods and agricultural equipment, the setting up of clinics and medical laboratories, and the financing of education fees. PBDAC launches its new services with a portfolio of 50 million pounds ($7.5 million), that can be raised to 100 million next June based on demand.

The draft of Dubai Financial Market's 'Standard for Issuing, Acquiring, Trading Sukuk' has been published on DFM's website. Numerous Islamic finance professionals have been invited to counsel and feedback on the comprehensive standard. The consultation period will last until February 28, 2013. At the beginning of March, a hearing session will be held, eventually followed by the issuance itself later the same month. The Standard includes thorough explanations of different types of sukuk. Among them are Sukuk of ownership of tangible assets, Sukuk of usufructs, Sukuk of lease of services, Mudaraba, Musharaka and Salam Sukuk.

Editorial Note:
You can download the paper at: http://www.dfm.ae/Documents/gen/SukukStandards.pdf

Dear Reader,

Islamic finance had another great year. Many of its market segments progressed, like for example the Sukuk market gaining more maturity. Despite the ongoing debt crisis a good sign of hope and happiness.

Nevertheless we are - as an industry - still not satisfied with the achievements. Islamic finance shall grow stronger in terms of social impact and in terms of substance:

Hence, please allow me to re-iterate my call for participating in international initiatives beyond just our own industry to learn and spread knowledge and experience:

Calling Islamic financial institutions to become member of the United Nations Finance Initiative
http://www.islamicfinance.de/?q=node/811

Inshallah we see more Islamic financial institutions taking a lead in SRI, Social Impact Investing and other approaches while contributing with Islamic finance knowdledge to the conventional industry. The time is now; and there are signs that Malaysia aims for a lead:
http://www.islamicfinance.de/?q=node/4151

Dear Reader,

The German language book on Islamic finance by the Editor of IslamicFinance.de and Dr Wackerbeck from Booz Consultants is now translated to Chinese.

Please find the biographical information below:

Authors: Michael Gassner / Philipp Wackerbeck
Title: Islamic Finance – Islam-gerechte Finanzanlagen und
Finanzierungen
ISBN number: 978-7-5139-0217-5
PUBLISHER: Beijing - Democracy and Construction Press
Pre-Publication Date: 2012.7

Full biographical details: http://db.lib.bua.edu.cn/asord/asorditem.php?asord_marc_no=0001344540

Orders: http://www.amazon.cn/%E4%BC%8A%E6%96%AF%E5%85%B0%E9%87%91%E8%9E%8D-%E7%B...

Book review about the German language original: http://www.rpi-virtuell.net/workspace/24686AD5-936C-476D-9EA0-65E2968590...

Best regards,

Michael Gassner

Well, repeatedly we read and hear about the lack of profit/loss sharing (equity finance) in Islamic finance. Here my five cents about it:

1) Islamic commercial law, Fiqh Muamalat, per se has no preference of either permissible mode of finance, be it musharaka, ijara or murabaha whatsoever. All is halal. However, the call for modesty of debt in many hadith and the seriousness of being indebted upon death (withholding of death prayer) shows a call for a solid equity portion in business; let's call it a technical preference.

2) If we look up all debt financing modes (e.g.Murabaha, Ijara) there are remaining difficulties to finance wages, rents and installments on fresh debt. This is a true indicator for a required minimum amount of equity in a company.

3) Point 1) and 2) leads us to demand a sound debt/equity ratio.