Gulf Islamic borrowing costs are poised for their biggest monthly surge since May 2010 after $1.8bn in new sales and as Europe’s debt crisis deepened.
The average yield on Islamic bonds in the six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council jumped 59 basis points in November to a seven-week high of 4.46% on November 25, the HSBC/Nasdaq Dubai GCC US Dollar Sukuk Index shows. Sales this month brought sukuk issues for the year to $6bn, up 52% from the year-earlier period………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Emirates NBD, Dubai’s largest bank by assets, is considering tapping the Islamic bond, or sukuk, market for the first time as the bank becomes the latest Gulf financial institution to target sharia-compliant investors.
Chief Executive Rick Pudner said on Monday the lender is eyeing a five-year, dollar-denominated issue. “Like everyone, we are looking at the opportunities in the sukuk arena and we’re just reviewing our options,” Pudner said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Emirates NBD, the UAE’s largest bank by assets, is considering a five-year Islamic bond (sukuk) issue, chief executive Rick Pudner said. “We are looking at opportunities, but timing is very important. At the moment the market looks crowded with a number of issues launched in recent weeks,” Pudner said.
Pudner confirmed that the bank is actively considering the possibility of a sukuk issue. “We, like everybody else, are looking at the sukuk arena and just reviewing our options. There have been a lot of issues recently. So we are still waiting for the right opportunity and the right moment,” he said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

With recent news of a planned new Islamic bond issue, Bahrain’s economy may be set to receive a welcome boost. The issuance may also come as a boon for the Gulf state’s financial services sector, which is a central part of its Economic Vision 2030, the long-term plan to promote the country as a leading regional and international financial centre, Global Arab Network reports according to OBG.
Bahrain faced ratings downgrades after civil unrest in February, followed a month later by the delay of a planned $1bn sovereign bond issue after debt insurance costs hit 18-month highs………………………………………..Full Article: Source

British-based Sharia-compliant investment firm Solum Asset Management will launch the first “investment sukuk” in the first quarter of next year, treating Islamic bonds as investment vehicles rather than debt instruments, its chief executive said.
Unlike traditional sukuk, which are akin to conventional debt products, the £200 million ($310m) Student Accommodation Investment Sukuk will use equity to provide holders with an annual yield of four to six per cent, said Safdar Alam at the company’s launch in Bahrain………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Since dollarisation, we have been fed various statistics that imply that things have improved since the hyper-inflationary days. In particular, “growth” has been recorded in various sectors of the economy. To be fair, there, indeed, has been improvement in several areas. Supermarkets are full, companies are no longer compelled to resort to illegalities to remain operational, money is not littering the streets and some semblance of a normal economy is present.
To the mind of the ordinary citizen, though, the most telling sign of improvement or growth is simple: an improvement in their standard of living………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Compared to the enormous literature on the religion of Islam, very few books have been published about the economic performance of different Islamic nations. The book, The Long Divergence: How Islamic Law Held Back the Middle East, by Timur Kuran, an American Muslim and a leading expert on Islamic economic institutions, is a thought-provoking attempt to analyse the factors responsible for the persistent underdevelopment of Islamic countries in West Asia that include the Arabs, Iran, Turkey and the Balkans.
In the author’s words, the region, “at the start of the third millennium, is widely considered an economic laggard, and plethora of statistics support this consensus”………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Modern Islamic banking follows Islamic law according to the boards of Shariah scholars which differ between the conservative Middle East and more accepting South East Asian regions but the fundamentals remain the same: interest is banned and banks operate on a system of profit loss sharing (PLS).
Loans involve the bank purchasing a commodity at market value and then selling it to the customer at a higher price with the bank keeping the difference. Similarly, interest is not paid on deposit accounts but investors share in the profit of the bank at a level set to compete on the conventional market………………………………………..Full Article: Source

How many Malaysian Islamic bankers work in senior positions at Islamic financial institutions in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council), Pakistan and the UK? Conversely, how many non-Malaysians work in senior positions at Malaysian Islamic financial institutions?
Does the training and experience in Malaysia for Islamic finance somehow imply that it’s too Malaysia-centric (Shafi school) for GCC (Hanbali, Hanafi, Jafri schools) Islamic financial institutions? Does it somehow imply that there needs to be a “retraining” of Malaysian Islamic bankers to the GCC “way” of Islamic banking, finance and takaful?……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Wealth Lanka Management, a Sri Lankan investment house and Malaysian consultancy Al Tayseer Advisory Services are working together to develop Shari’ah-compliant instruments in Sri Lanka.
“We find Sri Lanka as an emerging market for Islamic finance with immense future growth potential,” Al Tayseer Advisory Services chief executive and partner Fahd Hashim, told reporters in Colombo. “Sri Lanka is the second fastest growing economy in Asia right now and growth is linked to public sector investment with imports of cement steel.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Bahrain Financial Harbour Holding Company backed the 18th annual World Islamic Banking Conference (WIBC), the world’s largest and most influential annual gathering of international industry leaders in the global Islamic finance industry.
The three-day event was held under the patronage of the Central Bank of Bahrain at the Gulf Convention Centre, Gulf Hotel, from November 21 to 23. Commenting on the company’s participation, managing director Dr Omar Al Mardi said: “Bahrain Financial Harbour Holding Company has played a pioneering role in the development of an iconic financial hub in the region………………………………………..Full Article: Source