IslamicFinance.de

The Central Bank of Nigeria recently issued a national licence to Jaiz Bank. The bank commenced the first phase of its rollout with branches in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Ibadan and Ilorin and shortly will be present in all the states of the Federation. Jaiz Bank has recently concluded a Rights Issue, which raised its capital to N15 bn and the issue was oversubscribed by about 3%. According to Deputy Managing Director Mahe Abubakar the target is to raise the capital base of N25 bn before the end of the year. This will position the bank to compete efficiently in this highly competitive sub-sector of the economy. There are some people that misunderstand the concept of non-interest banking, but Jaiz Bank is open to all Nigerians, irrespective of their religions.

Dar Assafaa se prépare à devenir ASSAFAA BANK, une banque participative qui exercera conformément aux dispositions de la nouvelle loi bancaire. Dans ce cadre, Dar Assafaa recrute des Directeurs d’Agences sur les villes de Tétouan, Rabat, Laâyoune, Dakhla, Tanger et Casablanca. Dar Assafaa est la première institution financière marocaine mettant à la disposition du public des formules de financement basées exclusivement sur les produits alternatifs.

Le Sénégal a lancé cette semaine son deuxième emprunt obligataire sous la forme de sukuk. L’opération consiste en la levée de 150 milliards de F CFA (228,6 millions d’euros), à travers l’émission de 15 millions de parts d’une valeur nominale de 10 000 F CFA, sur le marché financier de l’Union économique et monétaire ouest-africaine (UEMOA). La période de souscription de cette levée de fonds s’étend sur un mois (du 20 au 19 juillet). Elle offre une marge annuelle de profit de 6 % avec une maturité de 10 ans.

On Thursday, the Mo Ibrahim foundation announced that its prestigious Mo Ibrahim Prize for Outstanding African Leadership and Governance will have no winner for 2015. This makes it the fifth year this prize has gone unclaimed since its inception in 2006.
In a statement issued by the Chairman of the foundation, Mo Ibrahim, he agreed with this verdict. “When we launched the prize ten years ago, we deliberately set a very high bar.” The Sudanese-British mobile communications entrepreneur and billionaire founded the foundation with a clear objective: to encourage better governance in Africa based on the belief that governance lays at the heart of tangible and shared improvements in the equality of life of African citizens. However, this recent announcement means that a number of revered heads of states such as Emilio Guebuza (Mozambique) and Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, both widely credited with the sharp reduction of poverty in their respective states, and presiding over periods of notable economic success, have been overlooked for this year’s prize.
The Award has now been unclaimed more times than won

From Canada, CI Financial, Manulife Financial, Royal Bank of Canada and Sun Life Financial are also included in the Hall of Shame. Jointly, these Canadian financial institutions invested US$565 million in cluster munitions producers between June 2012 and April 2016.

The report by Dutch peace organisation PAX was released today in Ottawa, together with the Cluster Munition Coalition and Mines Action Canada, to put pressure on Canada and other governments to put an end to these investments.

“It is an absolute outrage that financial institutions are investing billions into companies that produce weapons which are banned under international law”, says Suzanne Oosterwijk, author of the PAX report. “Canada has also banned these weapons. It is time for financial institutions to stop disregarding the international norm with these explosive investments into producers of illegal weapons that maim and kill civilians.”

Le 4e Forum international sur la finance islamique s’est tenu les 2 et 3 juin à Dakar sous le thème: La finance islamique au service du Plan Sénégal émergent (PSE). Ministre Abdoul Aziz Tall a dit que les finances islamiques constituent une solution idéale pour accompagner le processus de réalisation des projets structurants du PSE. Le ministre cite entre autres secteurs prioritaires, l’agriculture, les infrastructures, l’accès des petites et moyennes entreprises (PME), les services sociaux de base.
Selon Mohammed Moustapha Bintubé de la Jaiz Bank le Sénégal constitue un terreau fertile pour l’émergence d’une finance islamique forte.

Hassan Usman has been appointed as the new Managing Director of Jaiz Bank. The decision of the Board of Directors was reached after a rigorous selection exercise. Hassan Usman takes over from Mahe Abubakar who has acted as MD since December 2015. Mr. Usman had previously acted as Managing Director in 2013. The Bank recently obtained a National Operating License from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). This will enable it to spread across all the 36 states of the Federation.

In #Nigeria the emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, has lauded Jaiz Bank for declaring a profit of over N700 million in the four years of its operation. The bank's managing director Mahe Abubakar Mahmoud disclosed that the Bank had a total balance sheet size of N65 billion by May 31, 2016. He explained that customers’ deposit stood at N50 billion, while the shareholders fund stood at N15 billion, making the bank worth N65 billion. Abubakar said the bank was expanding its branches across the nation, with four additional branches in Kano and the neighbouring states.

Kenya has a higher percentage of Christians compared to Muslims, but this country is seeing a surge in Islamic financing. According to Rahma Hassan Hersi, Managing Partner at Awal Consulting, the lack of regulations is deterring potential growth. There is a need to address this issue in tandem with the central bank. There is also very limited expertise. The penetration of Islamic finance in Kenya is estimated at 2% with a limited number of banks and insurance companies playing in that space.

In Uganda the outgoing minister of Gender and Social Development has advised commercial banks to urgently develop products for Islamic Banking. Muruli Mukasa said the parliament passed the law and the all the communities in Uganda have accepted this model of banking. The Financial Institutions Bill 2015 paved way for the introduction of three new products: Islamic Banking, Bancassurance and Agency Banking. But Bank of Uganda still has to issue regulations that will guide commercial banks on how to manage the new form of banking.

Islamic banking in #Uganda will broaden government financing options and will ease its borrowing from the private sector, through the Sukuk bonds. According to the managing director of ABL Dunamis, Abubaker Mayanja, Sukuk funding will be available for government infrastructure projects; as long as they meet sharia requirements and the funds are invested directly into the project. He said the bonds will be issued by all commercial banks, regardless of whether they are Muslim founded or not.

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Nigeria hopes to use a proposed Sukuk issuance programme to help fund big infrastructure needs. The country plans to borrow as much as $10 bn from debt markets to help fund a budget deficit worsened by the slump in oil prices that has slashed revenues and weakened the naira. Secretary of finance Alhaji Mahmoud Isa-Dutse said the federal government is working on a sovereign sukuk with details expected within the year. In 2013, Nigeria's Osun State issued 10 bn naira ($62 mn) of sukuk, but no other sukuk transactions have followed.

In Uganda the first Islamic Banking and Finance (IBF) conference was held last week. Prof. Ashraf Bin Hashim said in Malaysia, most of the Islamic banks are subsidiaries to conventional banks; therefore, they are not looked at as competitors. They are developing themselves together. IBF will widen the pool of investors and Islamic donor streams to Uganda. Instead of having only conventional investors, there will be several potential Islamic investors in the country.

Nigeria hopes to use a proposed Sukuk issuance programme to help fund big infrastructure needs. The country plans to borrow as much as $10 bn from debt markets to help fund a budget deficit worsened by the slump in oil prices that has slashed revenues and weakened the naira. Secretary of finance Alhaji Mahmoud Isa-Dutse said the federal government is working on a sovereign sukuk with details expected within the year. In 2013, Nigeria's Osun State issued 10 bn naira ($62 mn) of sukuk, but no other sukuk transactions have followed.

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group and the World Bank Group have jointly produced a global report on Islamic finance. The full report, titled 'Islamic Finance: A Catalyst for Shared Prosperity?', will be launched during the World Bank/IMF Annual Meeting later this year. Some of the key recommendations include having adequate policy interventions and financial infrastructure to enable Islamic finance serve as a catalyst for poverty alleviation and inclusive prosperity.

The Ugandan government reviewed the Financial Institutions Act 2004, that allowed the introduction of both Islamic and Agency banking. However, Islamic finance agitators still believe that without the revision of the Central Bank Act, the Hire Purchase Act, The Stamp Duty Act and the Accounting Principles Act, it will be difficult for Islamic finance to deepen in Uganda. Sulaiman Lujja from the Islamic University in Uganda says Central Banks have to develop, adopt and adapt various policies and prudential guidelines.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has granted Jaiz Bank national license to operate Islamic non-interest banking in all the states of the federation. Chairman of Jaiz Bank Alhaji Umaru Abdul Mutallab said the bank intends to roll out in all the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in two or three months times. Alhaji Sa’ad Abubarkar III, the Sultan of all Muslims in Nigeria, congratulated and warned that Jaiz bank must conform with all rules and regulations of Islam.

The federal government has urged Nigerians to embrace Islamic insurance as it can guarantee economic security in times of economic uncertainties. At the official launch of the book Understanding Takaful, the minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, described takaful insurance as a safety net for the community. The author of the book, Malam Zubairu Sulaiman Darazo, identified the interest rates inherent in conventional financial institutions as responsible for the low level of insurance penetration in Northern Nigeria.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) released guidelines on the regulation and supervision of non-interest microfinance banks (MFBs) in the country. In the document the banking sector regulator placed the NIMFBs into three categories namely Unit, State and National. A Unit NIMFB is required to have a minimum paid-up capital of N20 mn, a State NIMFB is required N100 mn, while a National NIMFB required N2 bn.