Posted on 18 February 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Reuters: Sharia-compliant investors are taking a renewed interest in commercial and residential real estate across the gulf region, trying to time any investments to catch a rebound in prices, Standard & Poor’s said on Wednesday.
“Despite the big hit that the real estate market has taken in the Middle East, there is interest coming back in to this space,” Alka Banerjee, vice president of global equity at S&P, told the Reuters Islamic Banking and Finance Summit………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 18 February 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Reuters: Private equity will be a key growth engine for the Islamic finance industry, but fund managers need to better understand Sharia concepts before a market can develop, a top banker said on Wednesday.
Like most parts of the world, the private equity market in the Middle East came to a standstill in 2009 as liquidity conditions and deal opportunities dried up………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 18 February 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Reuters: Islamic banking has to move beyond financing mainly homes and cars and into the real economy, an influential scholar said, noting potential for financing in aviation, shipping and infrastructure among other sectors.
Mohd Daud Bakar — who advises the globally recognized Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) — said industry players have been too comfortable sticking to retail financing and needed to make a big push into other sectors………………………………….Full Article: Source
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From Thenational.ae: Some Islamic lenders encouraged poor banking standards in the property boom, contributing to the severity of the downturn and increasing the number of bad loans, top Sharia scholars say.
The revelation comes at the end of a painful earnings season for banks that has seen Islamic lenders such as Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and Dubai Islamic Bank set aside billions of dirhams as provisions against a growing number of defaults………………………………….Full Article: Source
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From Khaleejtimes.com: Islamic banking has yet to explore many financial prospects and investment opportunities despite all its progress in recent years, and a significant presence in the international financial system, said Mohamed Musabbeh Al Neaimi, Chief Executive Officer of Mawarid Financeand Al Jazeera Financial Services board head.
Sharing his views, Al Naeimai said Islamic financing has huge potential to grow worldwide. However, he said, just providing the traditional banking product in the shape of Islamic system would not put us on the leading position………………………………….Full Article: Source
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From Reuters: Gulf Arab capital markets, including issuance of Islamic bonds, will remain sluggish well into the year as a result of Dubai’s debt troubles and spillover effects from Greece’s fiscal woes, bankers said.
Last year’s sukuk volumes were stable from 2008, but the market was almost entirely held up by sovereign and quasi-sovereign issues………………………………….Full Article: Source
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From Reuters: The issuing of sukuk, or Islamic bonds, has dried up as investors watch the Dubai World saga play out, but is a chance for investors and issuers to clarify the risk and structure of these securities, said one asset manager.
Sukuk do not offer the same guarantees as western bonds, and it can be risky and misleading to adapt them for western investors, said Toby Birch, founder of Guernsey-based Birch Assets Ltd, in a telephone interview………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 18 February 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Reuters: Sukuk bond issuance in the Middle East will range between 10 and 15 in 2010, with demand mainly expected to come from Saudi Arabia, said Mohd Daud Bakar, managing director of Amanie Islamic Finance Consultancy and Education LLC.
Speaking at the Reuters Islamic Finance Summit in Dubai Wednesday, Bakar said Saudi Arabia will lead the sukuk pipeline this year as it funds infrastructure projects………………………………….Full Article: Source
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From Maktoob.com: Several banks in the Gulf region are considering launching Islamic bond, or sukuk, funds, some likely in the first half of the year, a top fund manager said on Wednesday.
Unlike a mainstream bond, sukuk generate income for shareholders without paying interest………………………………….Full Article: Source
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From Reuters: France must host a sukuk issuance this year to show it is serious about Islamic finance and overcome the legal uncertainties that caused a delay to a 1 billion euro ($1.37 billion) issuance, a lawyer working on the deal said on Wednesday.
At least one French Islamic corporate bond, or sukuk, had been expected last year but was delayed by legal hurdles………………………………….Full Article: Source
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From Topnews.ae: According to the Senior Advisor at Morgan Stanley, Yavar Moini, the Sukuk bond industry can only make progress, if the Gulf Arab region possesses stronger capital markets.
“You desperately need domestic capital market development, if you look at the strength of the Islamic finance industry, it has really been driven by grassroots demand”, said Yavar Moini at the Reuters Islamic Banking and Finance Summit………………………………….Full Article: Source
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From Gulf-times.com: Qatar’s local currency bond market is set to grow as the country requires huge project finance to meet its development goals, Standard & Poor’s Middle East regional manager Jan Willem Plantagie has said.
“Getting adequate funding for projects is difficult these days because of the global economic situation. At the same time, there are investors with surplus local currency who may be interested in good projects around the region. If local currency bonds are floated, they can possibly be sold to Qatari or Gulf investors, who know the region quite well,” Plantagie said………………………………….Full Article: Source
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From Arabianbusiness.com: The Islamic insurance industry, or takaful, is struggling to find suitable long term investment opportunities, executives at the Reuters Islamic Banking and Finance Summit said.
The takaful - or sharia compliant - insurance industry has grown at double or three digit growth rates so far as the Gulf Arab region is underpenetrated with insurance products in general, and has also attracted business from conventional peers………………………………….Full Article: Source
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From Reuters: Investors betting on explosive growth in Indonesia’s Islamic finance industry may have to settle for slower gains as an unfriendly regulatory framework holds the market back.
A huge Muslim population and vast untapped banking potential have fueled expectations that Southeast Asia’s largest economy will be the next big growth market for the $1 trillion industry………………………………….Full Article: Source
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From Moneycontrol.com: Indonesia’s Islamic banks could offer investors twice the returns of conventional lenders in coming years, driven by solid demand for Islamic products in the world’s most populous Muslim nation, and despite growing competition, a banker said.
Beny Witjaksono, president director of Bank Mega Syariah Indonesia, the country’s fourth-largest Islamic lender, told the Reuters Islamic Banking and Finance Summit he expected his bank to post a return on equity (ROE) of around 40% this year………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 18 February 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Thepeninsulaqatar.com: Qatar has recently upgraded its contribution to the capital of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) to strengthen its financial resources, the Minister of Economy and Finance, H E Yousuf Hussein Kamal said here yesterday.
Kamal, who is also Qatar’s IDB Governor, said at the opening of the IDB Introduction Day activities: Qatar has always been very responsive and proactive to the latest developments and requirements needed by the IDB Group from time to time………………………………….Full Article: Source
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From Btimes.com.my: There are “six to seven” foreign financial institutions interested in buying Dubai Group LLC’s 30.5 per cent stake in the country’s oldest Islamic bank, Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd, sources say.
Investment bank Rothschild, hired by the Middle Eastern group to find potential buyers, is currently going through Bank Islam’s books………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 18 February 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Business24-7.ae: Bahrain’s Unicorn Investment Bank may raise between $250 million (Dh918.27m) and $500m in equity for acquisitions and considering distressed asset sales in the Gulf, said Frederick Stonehouse, head of strategic mergers and acquisitions at Unicorn.
He said the bank’s strategic investment fund still has below $100 million to spend………………………………….Full Article: Source
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From Gulf-times.com: The Qatari banking sector can recover strongly in 2010 and generate higher profitability, mainly due to high capital ratios and de-risked balance sheets, Shuaa Capital said as it initiated coverage of two Qatari banks.
Shuaa Capital began coverage of Commercialbank with a “buy” rating and QNB with “neutral,” and said there was unlocked value in select Qatari banking stocks despite volatile equity markets and weak investor appetite………………………………….Full Article: Source
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From Dow Jones: Commercial International Bank (CIBEY), or CIB, Egypt’s largest lender by market value, said Wednesday its net profit for 2009 increased 25.22% as its loan portfolio grew despite economic slowdown.
CIB’s 2009 net profit was 1.7 billion Egyptian pounds ($311 million), up from EGP1.371 billion in the same period last year………………………………….Full Article: Source
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From Bernama: HSBC Amanah has been named Best International Islamic Bank and Best Sukuk House by Euromoney magazine in its Islamic Finance Awards 2010.
HSBC Amanah Global Chief Executive Officer Mukhtar Hussain said that over the last 12 months, the bank had cemented its status as the premier cross-border provider of Shariah-compliant financial services………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 18 February 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Reuters: The technicalities of Islamic finance may seem arcane to outsiders but participants of the Reuters Summit on Islamic Banking and Finance have been keen to take it to a broader audience.
On Tuesday Mahesh Jayanarayan, CEO of Halal Industries, unveiled his ambitious plans for a halal park in Wales, whilst stressing the industrial site could also house Welsh cottage industries. Halal is simply an Arabic term that means “permissible” but in the West it is largely associated with the preparation of meat and poultry………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 18 February 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Abc.az: The participants of the Reuters Islamic Banking and Finance Summit came to conclusion that the launch of the first template for an over-the-counter Islamic derivative contract is “imminent” and will encourage more companies to hedge their risks.
The contract, which is expected to pave the way for quicker and cheaper Islamic risk management and more frequent cross-currency transactions, was initially due to be launched a year ago………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 18 February 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Wealthbriefing.com: The UK government’s measures to support and promote the Islamic finance industry and the issuance of corporate sukuk will turn the UK into an Islamic finance world leader, according to Dr Humayon Dar, chief executive of BMB Islamic UK, part of the BMB financial services group.
“The new regulation will make Britain not only a leader in Europe, especially with respect to sukuk, but a world leader in the field of Islamic finance,” Dr Dar said………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 18 February 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Arabianbusiness.com: The global financial crisis and Dubai’s debt restructuring raise important challenges for the UAE’s economy, but its prospects remain favourable, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday.
The crisis sent the world’s third largest oil exporter into a downturn last year, its first since 1993, while Dubai debt woes are seen weighing on the Gulf country’s recovery in 2010………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 18 February 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Indiatimes.com: Ashok Wadhwa-promoted Ambit Corporate Finance has brought in as strategic partner Qatar’s largest investment bank — Qinvest — which will pick a 25% stake in the company. Qinvest will also invest $25 million in Ambit’s equity fund, besides helping it mobilise funds under a $150-million Shariah-compliant fund.
The Qatar-based investment bank will invest Rs 250 crore into Ambit Corporate Finance — the group’s holding- cum-operating company — valuing the business at around Rs 1,000 crore. This is one of the largest deals in a boutique investment bank in recent years………………………………….Full Article: Source
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