Posted on 23 August 2012 by Laxman | Email|Print
The upward trend of socially responsible investment mirrors a growing interest in Islamic finance. Ironically, the global financial crisis has triggered conservative investing through non-conventional means: non-Muslims are increasingly choosing to invest through Islamic institutions’ portfolios. The irony is particularly striking in the US, since Islamic financing often times carries the misnomer of “terrorist-financing”.
However, for those looking to pursue more ethical investments, and with the rise of socially responsible investment culture, Islamic financial institutions create a new investing culture—specifically through Islamically-managed hedge-funds………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 23 August 2012 by Laxman | Email|Print
Islamic finance in Germany has, to the greatest possible extent, remained unsuccessful. A working paper from the Stresemann Foundation now shows that internal barriers especially are determinative.
In the first place, Muslim immigrants are low-income and demonstrate little investment potential, because of having less formal education and because Muslim women often have no gainful employment. For another thing, the system of sharia scholars leads to problems due to nebulous legal practices………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 23 August 2012 by Laxman | Email|Print
Fitch Ratings has assigned the Development Bank of Kazakhstan’s (DBK) Islamic Medium Term Note Programme, which has a total value of up to 1.5bn Malaysian Ringgits (RM) (about USD479m), a final rating of ‘BBB-’. The agency has also assigned a ‘BBB-’ rating to the debut five-year RM240m issue of sukuk (Islamic bonds) under the programme.
The final ratings follow the receipt of documents conforming to information previously received by Fitch and completion of the first series of sukuk issuance under the programme………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 23 August 2012 by Laxman | Email|Print
Credit rating agency Fitch has affirmed Qatar Islamic Bank’s (QIB) long-term issuer default rating (IDR) at ‘A’ with a stable outlook and viability rating (VR) at ‘bbb’. The IDRs, support rating and support rating floor reflect Fitch’s view that there would be an extremely high probability of support from the Qatari authorities, if needed.
QIB is the third largest bank in Qatar by assets and the largest Islamic bank accounting for 8.5% of total banking assets and 36% of total Islamic banking assets at the end of first half of 2012………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 23 August 2012 by Laxman | Email|Print
Maybank’s profits rose by 21.2 percent to 2.7 billion Malaysian ringgit or US$862 million in the first half from the same period last year. Revenue grew by 18 percent to 8.2 billion ringgit this year compared to the same period last year. Return on equity is at 16.1 percent and is, thus, above the 15.6 percent target.
The bank cited a 22.3 percent growth in fee-based income and 15.2 percent rise in fund-based income as drivers in the revenue increase………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 23 August 2012 by Laxman | Email|Print
Expectations for the year to come are high across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, the latest Middle East and North Africa Consumer Confidence Index Survey, conducted by Bayt.com, the Middle East’s number one job site, and YouGov, a research and consulting organization, revealed.
In a copy of the survey send to the Saudi Gazette Tuesday, it noted that in Saudi Arabia, respondents forecast a better financial climate and economy, with improved business conditions and more jobs available………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 23 August 2012 by Laxman | Email|Print
Malaysia continues to lead in Islamic finance as Singapore strives to make inroads into the sector. HSBC Amanah (M) Bhd chief executive officer and Global Markets Amanah managing director Rafe Haneef was quoted by the daily as saying Malaysia had a large volume of Islamic investors looking for syariah-compliant investments like sukuk compared with the Singapore market.
“Along with Islamic investors, Malaysia has a large number of Muslim-owned companies, most of which are looking for syariah-compliant financing and sukuk issuance. Again, there is not a high demand for such financing in the Singapore corporate environment,” Rafe said………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 23 August 2012 by Laxman | Email|Print
Bahrain is looking to become a gateway “to the wider GCC that is currently estimated to have a combined gross domestic product of $1 trillion”.
This was revealed by Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa, adviser to HRH the Crown Prince for political and economic affairs and board member of the Economic Development Board. He said Bahrain’s government has invited Malaysia’s business community to invest in the kingdom’s infrastructure, Islamic finance and manufacturing sectors………………………………………..Full Article: Source
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