Singapore is challenging established wealth centres more fiercely than anywhere else in Asia, according to UBS bank and Campden Research. Yet, in Islamic banking, it lags behind. Even though Singapore has had Islamic banking since 1995 and there are investments such as the NTUC Income Takaful Fund, banks generally offer only a few choices such as savings and checking accounts. Some banks have far less.
DBS’ Islamic Bank of Asia offers corporate banking and asset management, for example, and not consumer products. And when Standard Chartered Bank launched new Islamic financial solutions for private banking clients in June, it did so in London, Geneva, Jersey and Dubai - but not Singapore, where it is still working on regulatory approvals………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Last year Oman opened its doors to Islamic finance, a remarkable step considering it was until that point the only member of the six-member GCC bloc to disallow Shari’ah banking. It was initially brushed off by some international observers given the relative size of the market compared to Saudi Arabia or further afield in Malaysia.
But banks and other financial services companies have since been scrambling to apply for Islamic licences, with many forecasting that the sector will be a key engine for financial and economic prosperity in the future. Swiss private bank, Bank Sarasin, and Alpen Capital [Oman], an investment bank, through their joint venture Sarasin- Alpen [Oman], received approval from the Capital Market Authority of Oman to market Sukuk – Shari’ah bonds – and other Islamic capital market products and services to clients………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Axiata Group (Axiata), one of Asia’s largest telecommunication companies, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Axiata SPV2, has established a $1.5 billion multi-currency Sukuk programme, the first internationally rated multi-currency Sukuk programme in the Asia Pacific region.
Allen & Overy advised Axiata in relation to the establishment of the programme which was arranged by CIMB Bank, HSBC Amanah Malaysia and Merrill Lynch (Singapore)………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Saudi Arabia is spending more than $60 billion on a logistics hub, airport improvement and roads to reduce travel time in the Arab world’s biggest economy. The investments also yielded the largest sukuk, or Islamic bond, offered in the Middle East this year and an initial public offering on the stock exchange in June.
“There is a large infrastructure boom happening in Saudi Arabia,” Jarmo Kotilaine, chief economist at Jeddah-based National Commercial Bank, said in a phone interview on July 30. “Once they create these sukuk instruments, they cut their reliance on direct government funding and make it possible to buy into the projects. This policy benefits the government and investors.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company plans to raise around $1 billion in an Islamic bond issue on the Malaysian stock market in one of the first fundraising exercises carried out by a Middle East organisation in the South Asian markets.
It will issue 20-year Islamic bonds or sukuk worth three billion Malaysian ringgit ($954 million) shortly. Part of the proceeds are expected to be used to pay off existing debt as it matures………………………………………..Full Article: Source

RAM Ratings has reaffirmed the AAA(s) rating of Muhibbah Engineering (M) Bhd’s RM130mil Islamic bonds. “The enhanced long-term rating has a stable outlook,” said the ratings agency.
According to RAM Ratings, the AAA(s) rating is supported by the guarantee from AAA-rated Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), to honour Muhibbah’s undertaking to purchase and cancel all the Islamic bonds at the exercise price upon the declaration of an event of default………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Some of the tax incentives are provided to make Islamic finance competitive with conventional finance, and these should eventually be phased out, so that Islamic finance focuses on its competitiveness and offering customers with a valuable product, rather than developing sophisticated political power to entrench the tax incentives.
On the other hand, incentives that place Islamic and conventional finance on equal footing should be maintained. For example, eliminating double taxation where the structure of an Islamic financial product would lead to extra taxation compared to a similar conventional product that would be subject to lower taxes………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB)’s net profit for the first half of 2012 reached AED 555 million, up from AED 552 million in the same period of 2011. For the second quarter of 2012, net profit reached AED 310 million, compared to AED 245 million for the first quarter of 2012, an increase of 27 per cent.
Net revenue for the first half of 2012 increased to AED 1,826 million from AED 1,801 million in the same period of 2011, an increase of 1.4 per cent. For the three months ending 30 June 2012, DIB reported net revenue of AED 923 million, compared to AED 903 million in the first quarter in 2012, an increase of two per cent………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Dubai Islamic Bank, or DIB, on Tuesday reported a 27 per cent increase in its second-quarter net profit compared to the earnings in the first quarter of the year, topping most of analysts’ forecasts.
The Shariah-compliant bank declared a net profit of Dh310 million for the April-June quarter, compared to Dh245 million the bank earned in the January-March period………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Ezz Islamic Bank, one of the licensed Islamic banks in the Sultanates, launched at Al Bustan Place Hotel its brand identity marking the launch of a banking institution that provides Sharia compliant banking solutions for its individuals and corporate customers.
Sayyid Taimour bin As’sad bin Tariq al-Said, who patronized over the launching ceremony said that the launch of the brand identity of the Ezz Islamic Bank came in a bid to meet the growing demand for Islamic banking products and services in the Sultanate and contribute to the economic growth………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The ground is all set for a paradigm shift in the Sultanate’s banking sector with the opening of the first such bank recently. The thriving Oman economy is to witness yet another addition to the dome- al izz islamic bank which aims at offering complete Sharia-compliant banking products to the corporate and retail banking customers of Oman, thus becoming one of the country’s first dedicated Islamic banks.
Jointly promoted by Huriah Company LLC, Aabar Investments PJS and Tasameem Real Estate Company LLC for the purpose of offering comprehensive business and retail Islamic banking solutions, al izz islamic bank will strictly be in accordance with Omani law and CBO regulations governing Islamic Banking in Oman………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Aabar Investments, one of the key strategic investment vehicles of Abu Dhabi, has announced plans to invest heavily in Oman’s Al Izz Islamic Bank in its role as a corner stone investor.
The Al Izz Islamic Bank is jointly promoted by Huriah Company, Aabar Investments and Tasameem Real Estate Company for the purpose of offering comprehensive business and retail Islamic banking solutions………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Masraf al Rayan, Qatar’s largest Islamic bank and its fourth-largest bank by market value, has set up an independent brokerage subsidiary that it says will buy and sell “various Shariah-compliant financial instruments for all types of investors”.
The bank’s introduction of a Shariah-compliant brokerage comes about 18 months after Qatar’s central bank told conventional banks operating in the country that they must shut their Islamic operations by the end of 2011, which boosted interest in the country’s Islamic banks, including Masraf al Rayan………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Oman’s Bank Nizwa, the sultanate’s first Islamic bank, plans to attract some of the funds held abroad at other Gulf Islamic banks in order to grow during its first year of operations, its CEO said.
“The amount of Omani money deposited in Islamic banks in the region, such as the UAE and Bahrain, is about OMR3.5bn to OMR5bn (US$9.1bn to US$12.9bn),” Jamil Al Jaroudi told Reuters in a telephone interview this week………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Securities Commission’s (SC) prediction of a RM3.3 billion to RM7.7 billion inflow into syariah funds via the Private Retirement Scheme (PRS) will mean a richer treasury for the nation.
Asian Strategic Leadership Institute’s (Asli) Centre for Public Policy Studies chairman and economist Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam told The Malay Mail that with such a fund available domestically, there was no need for Malaysia to borrow money from abroad………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak (above) launched a new financial district in Kuala Lumpur yesterday which the government has ambitiously projected will attract more than 250 “world leading companies” to locate in the 70-acre site.
Renamed the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) after his father and Malaysia’s second premier Abdul Razak, Mr Najib revealed that the RM26 billion (S$10.3 billion) Kuala Lumpur International Financial District had secured over RM3.5 billion for the entire first phase. “We want to have a new business and financial hub that brings the East and West together, one that can grow both Islamic and conventional finance,” said Najib………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, a group of 57 member states, urged the Muslim community around the world to give political, humanitarian and financial aid to the victims of violence in northwest Myanmar.
“This is a large humanitarian crisis but unfortunately the international and Muslim communities are mostly unaware of the dimensions,” Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu told a news conference on Tuesday………………………………………..Full Article: Source