Posted on 05 July 2011 by Laxman | Email|Print
Islamic bonds from the Arabian Gulf had the best quarter in nine months as debt restructurings by Dubai’s state-controlled companies and a scarcity of sukuk attracted investors.
Sukuk from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council returned 3.6 per cent in the second quarter, the most since the three months ended September, the HSBC/NASDAQ Dubai GCC US Dollar Sukuk Index shows. The 6.25 per cent Islamic notes due July 2017 from government-controlled ports operator DP World Ltd led the gains, advancing 5.9 per cent in the period, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Dubai’s sukuk rallied 3.3 per cent……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 05 July 2011 by Laxman | Email|Print
Tenaga Nasional Bhd., Malaysia’s biggest power producer, plans to raise as much as 5 billion ringgit ($1.7 billion) from a 20-year ringgit-denominated Islamic bond offering, its chief executive officer said.
“We plan to sell the bonds in August or September,” Che Khalib Mohamad Noh said in an interview. Proceeds from the offering, the company’s first debt sale since 2004, will be used to finance a coal-fired Manjung power plant in the northern state of Perak, Che Khalib said……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 05 July 2011 by Laxman | Email|Print
Saudi International Petrochemical Co, known as Sipchem, raised SR1.8bn ($480m) from the sale of Islamic bonds.
The five-year, floating-rate sukuk was priced 175 basis points over the Saudi Interbank Offered Rate, and the offer received orders of about SR4.5bn, the company said in a statement to the Saudi bourse on Monday. Sipchem’s initial plan was to raise SR1.5bn from the sale……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 05 July 2011 by Laxman | Email|Print
National Bonds Corporation, a Shariah-compliant savings scheme, said it has achieved Dh1 billion ($272.2 million) sales mark in the first five months of the year.
This is the first time in three years that National Bonds has achieved its Dh1 billion sales mark this early in the year, highlighting the increased demand for savings witnessed amongst the UAE population. The corporation recorded 29 per cent growth in sales compared to the first five months in 2010, the company said in a statement……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 05 July 2011 by Laxman | Email|Print
The Islamic financial sector has emerged as the fastest growing segment of the global financial system — 15-20 per cent per annum — over the last decade. Presently, more than 1100 institutions offering Islamic financial services (IIFS) operate across the globe, which coupled with a number of dedicated academic, legal, regulatory and supervisor institutions, provide a solid platform for their future growth. The IIFS are becoming increasingly dynamic and diversified.
The assets of the top 500 Islamic banks expanded 28.6 per cent to $822 billion at year-end 2009……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 05 July 2011 by Laxman | Email|Print
The Islamic finance industry has begun a charm offensive to convince more governments, institutions and bank customers to adopt Sharia-compliant finance.
Neil Miller, the new global head of Islamic finance at KPMG, said sovereign wealth funds and governments in the region were prime candidates for greater use of sukuk and other Islamic instruments……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 05 July 2011 by Laxman | Email|Print
Islamic Finance initiated to cater to the needs of faith-based Muslims four decades ago. Once looked at, as a patchwork of niches in the Arabian Gulf region and Malaysia, the market is evolving into a global one now. In the last thirty years, Islamic finance industry has made considerable progress at the global front.
Especially, during the last decade the Islamic Financial Sector (IFS) has registered a robust growth (between 15 to 20 per cent per annum); making it one of the fastest growing segments of the overall financial system……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 05 July 2011 by Laxman | Email|Print
Amidst fears that the proposed Islamic banking system, may create an avenue for terrorist financing in Nigeria, the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Monday revealed that a group had earlier in the 1990s, applied for licence to establish an Al Qaeda Bank in the country but was not approved.
The CBN chief who disclosed this at the opening of an international conference on Islamic Banking in Abuja, said that the group’s application was turned down for failing to meet requirements for banking licence……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 05 July 2011 by Laxman | Email|Print
The reality is that Islamic banking has already been embraced by many other countries with secular, Christian and Islamic systems. There has perhaps been a realization in those countries that the philosophy makes sense.
It is profitable for all those involved, it promotes a high ethical standard, it is highly transparent and has a significant sense of disclosure. Even the United States and United Kingdom have introduced Islamic Banking……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 05 July 2011 by Laxman | Email|Print
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has challenged critics of the proposed Islamic banking to go to court to seek the interpretation of law which empowers the CBN to establish such a bank.
Mr Sanusi was speaking in Kano over the weekend at the Kofar Mata Mosque during a lecture organised by Tijjaniya Youth Enlightenment on the rudiments of Islamic banking……………………………………….Full Article: Source
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The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Malam Lamido Sanusi, on Monday said the apex bank was not in any way promoting or establishing an Islamic bank in Nigeria. Sanusi made the clarification on Monday in Abuja, at a two-day International Conference on Non-Interest Islamic Banking, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
”The Central Bank is not promoting or establishing Islamic bank, the Central Bank is simply licensing and regulating an institution that is allowed to exist under the law……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 05 July 2011 by Laxman | Email|Print
In Nigeria, religion like ethnicity plays important roles. Changes and reforms are constantly resisted if they is viewed as having religious connotation, irrespective of their benefits to the society.
Religion in Nigeria is not only the opium of the people if looked at from the perspective of the Germany philosopher, Karl Marx, but it is also a source of fear to many, according to the treaty of Jeremy Bentham, an English philosopher……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 05 July 2011 by Laxman | Email|Print
The tenure of the present Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has been nothing short of eventful. His reform policies over the past two years, regarded as the bitter pill needed for sanity in the banking industry, have generated mixed feelings, depending on the angle from which one views them.
Hardly had the heat generated by the recently announced new policy on cash withdrawal settled before the CBN governor reeled out plans to introduce a sort of non-interest banking into the nation’s financial sector called Islamic banking……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 05 July 2011 by Laxman | Email|Print
Earlier this year, the Istanbul Stock Exchange launched an index of Sharia compliant banks and companies. Since then, the emergence of “Islamic banking” — also known as “participation banking” — has garnered considerable media attention.
It has been widely reported that these banks do not charge interest, or “riba”, because it is forbidden according to Islamic law. The actual mechanisms by which the banks operate, however, and the ways in which they differentiate themselves from the mainstream financial sector, remain poorly understood……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 05 July 2011 by Laxman | Email|Print
Turkey’s state Savings and Deposit Insurance Fund (SDIF) has seized Libyan Foreign Bank’s shares in Turkey’s Arab-Turk bank, Turkey’s banking regulator said in a statement on Monday.
Libyan Foreign Bank holds 62.37 percent of Turkish Islamic lender Arab Turk bank. The move is part of U.N. sanctions against the government of Muammar Gaddafi……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 05 July 2011 by Laxman | Email|Print
Fidelity Bank plans to introduce Shariah compliant products in Kenya to meet the needs of the Muslim community. The financial institution says it expects to unveil a wide range of banking services that comply with the principle of the Islamic Shariah law.
Islamic Finance is so far the fastest growing segment in the global financial industry with the ability to withstand international shocks such as the global financial crisis. “These range of services will be totally based on the principles of profit sharing and will conform to the principle forbidding earning or paying of interest on investments,” the bank said……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 05 July 2011 by Laxman | Email|Print
Qatar Islamic Bank has pulled out of the bidding for a majority stake in Indonesian Islamic lender PT Bank Muamalat, banking sources said, leaving Standard Chartered Plc as the sole remaining bidder.
Top shareholders of Indonesia’s second-biggest sharia lender are aiming to sell at least 51 percent of the unlisted Islamic lender in a deal that may be worth about $300 million, sources have told Reuters……………………………………….Full Article: Source
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The Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) will establish its regional office in the UAE, according to an agreement signed between HE Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, Minister of State for Financial Affairs and HE Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, President of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB).
ICIEC is a member of the IDB Group and was established in 1994 as an international institution with full juridical personality……………………………………….Full Article: Source
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War torn Somalia is set to have its first microTakaful services if a pilot study being conducted there by the Unites States international development agency USAID and global micro insurance company MicroEnsure is successful.
Kate Waiganjo (pictured), the acting country manager for MicroEnsure Kenya, confirmed in an interview that the pilot was ongoing but said she could not elaborate further until a decision on whether or not to roll out the service is made. “Yes the service will take care of the cultural interests of the Somali people, most of whom are Muslim,” she said when asked if the product will be a microTakaful. Somalia has 100% Muslim population according to the Ministry of Hajj of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 05 July 2011 by Laxman | Email|Print
In order to remain in the main stream of the economy and have equitable investment opportunity, equity stock market (The Islamic way) provides the most cost effective investment solution for the Muslims. Hence they should take advantage of the boom in the equity market of the country so that they are not left behind in the economic growth that is being witnessed throughout.
Equity market has proved that they are not only the most effective, transparent, liquid and conducive to small and big size investors as a means of investment, but it outperforms all other asset classes where return on investments is the parameter considered. In the long term equity market always goes up……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 05 July 2011 by Laxman | Email|Print
Thomson Reuters and IdealRatings have launched the first Islamic benchmarking system to offer research-based Sharia screening with globally accepted Sharia standards.
The Thomson Reuters IdealRatings Islamic Indices aims to offer transparent Islamic guidelines for investors in the UAE, Middle East and around the world……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 05 July 2011 by Laxman | Email|Print
Local Omani player Amjaad Development and London based Edbiz Consulting Limited are collaborating in the organization of a pioneering Islamic finance conference in Oman, a move signaling the growing interest within the gulf nation.
His Majesty Sultan Qaboos opened the country’s doors to Islamic finance earlier this year causing widespread enthusiasm within the Islamic finance industry for entry into this new and potentially lucrative untapped market. Amjaad Development’s Chairman, Khalid Al Yahmadi is of the view that Islamic finance is desired by the majority of Omanis and that together with government support, it can grow rapidly. (Press Release)
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