IslamicFinance.de

#Qatar's QInvest has invested in OneOcean Port Vell in Barcelona, Spain. Originally built for the 1992 Olympic Games, the marina recently completed its transformation to a luxury facility, creating the ultimate destination for yachts up to 190m. QInvest will work with the city and port authorities in Barcelona to increase the profile of the marina by investing additional resources in the port infrastructure. OneOcean Port Vell is QInvest's second investment in Spain this year, having earlier invested into a Spanish real estate strategy focused on land developments in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Marbella. The objective is to acquire well-located land parcels across Spain and develop residential apartments for first home owners. QInvest’s revenues from all business lines were QR209mn, resulting in an operating profit of QR113mn and net profit of QR34.6mn in the first half of this year. The bank’s global assets stood at QR4.7bn at the end of June 30, 2017.

The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) in collaboration with IE Business School offers a training program for the development of executives across the Islamic finance industry. The Master in Islamic Finance program has a blended format, combining on-site periods in Spain and Saudi Arabia with dynamic, interactive online modules to minimize the time away from work. The length of the training is 13 months and intake starts in October 2017. Throughout the program, participants will obtain practical knowledge of high-level financial tools, develop practical Islamic Finance technical skills and acquire leadership skills. Upon program completion participants receive a University Private Degree from IE Business School and IE Universidad. IE Business School is a school within IE Universidad, which is a University officially accredited by the Spanish education authorities.

In Spain the Muslim population exceeds two million being higher than that of Qatar or Bahrain and similar to the population of Kuwait. However, there are no Shari'ah compliant services or assets under management. Europe advances in this type of financing. The United Kingdom was the first non-Muslim country that held in 2014 an emission of sovereign Sukuk bonds amounting to 200 million pounds. In 2015 Kuwait Finance House (KFH) opened a subsidiary in Germany, Habib Bank Zurich will operate in the UK at the end of 2017. There is a clear tendency that Islamic banks are expanding their activities in Western countries and continue introducing their products in these markets. In Spain there is an excellent opportunity to implement Islamic finance as currently there is no market operator offering Shari'ah compliant products or services.

The Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) is organising a Seminar on Islamic Finance with the theme, "The Real Economy and the Financial Sector" on 24 May 2016 in Madrid, Spain, supported by the Banco de Espana and in collaboration with the IE Business School, Spain. This Seminar is part of the IFSB European Forum series, held in prominent financial centres in Europe. The one-day 'Seminar on Islamic Finance' is designed to encourage broad interaction among the delegates to explore the potential re-alignment of economic policy frameworks in a manner that strengthens the linkages between the real economy and the financial sector.

“Ethical finance” is a term used to describe finance that is put to good social and environmental use. Interest in it has risen since the 2008 global financial crisis, with Islamic finance and socially responsible investment funds becoming its two fastest areas of growth. The World Bank Treasury has brought the two together by helping the International Finance Facility for Immunization issue two Sukuks in less than a year.
IFFIm is an international organization that finances child immunization and strengthens health systems related to it in some of the poorest countries of the world through Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Backed by nine sovereign governments—the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Norway, Australia, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, and South Africa—the organization raises money in the international capital markets.

The General Council for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions and the Association of the Mediterranean Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASCAME) and the Chamber of Commerce of Barcelona are co-organising the 3rd Mediterranean Islamic Finance Forum, themed “Building Bridges” on the 27th of November 2015, at Casa Llotja de Mar in Barcelona, Spain. This 3rd Edition will play a key role in building bridges for capital flows between Europe, the Middle East and beyond. It will bring together business leaders, policy makers and regulators to discuss challenges and opportunities for the Mediterranean region to tap into Islamic finance as a key source for Infrastructure projects and Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) financing.

Islamic finance is coming to Spain, where it estimates it will find a potential market of two million clients reported Paola Del Vecchio on Ansamed.

According to financial newspaper Negocios, the Halal Institute - the centre of Islamic quality certification in Cordoba operating under the Spanish Islamic Commission - is shortly to sign an agreement with the Sa Nostra building society in the Balearic Islands for the creation of an Islamic current account.

According to market research carried out by the Halal Institute, potential clients in Spain have good earnings, a high level of loyalty to their bank and a low rate of payment default. Thanks to the agreement soon to be sealed by the Halal Insitute and Sa Nostra, Muslim residents of the Spanish archipelago will also be able to open special current accounts to collect the funds needed to be buried in the first Islamic cemetery in the Balearics, without the bank taking any commission or adding any interest to the holder's deposits.

Al-Khabeer has been invited to participate as the only private company from the Arab World in the first-ever Business Forum on Islamic Finance, organized by the IE Business School in Spain in collaboration with the King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah. A total of 50 senior-level corporate executives, ambassadors and journalists are expected to take part in the forum, which will include working papers, round-table discussions and Q&As.

The forum will be an excellent venue to identify new growth opportunities and discuss business prospects with potential partners from Spain and Latin America.