Posted on 12 October 2012 by Laxman | Email|Print
Qatar’s regulator has proposed extending its ban on onshore banks operating Islamic windows to include financial institutions in the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC), according to a consultation paper released this week.
Such windows allow conventional banks to offer Islamic financial services, provided that clients’ money is segregated from the rest of the bank. Last year the central bank banned Islamic windows in the onshore banking system, requiring conventional banks to close or divest their sharia-compliant businesses. Its motive was apparently to ensure a level playing field for Islamic banks………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 12 October 2012 by Laxman | Email|Print
Turkey’s first sovereign sukuk issue was a public relations triumph but it’s been a financial disappointment so far in the secondary market, showing the risks of over-allocating debt deals to a single region.
The $1.5 billion Islamic bond, maturing in 2018 and issued at a profit rate of 2.803 percent, dropped to about 98 cents on the dollar in the secondary market soon after issue in mid-September and has stayed below par since then………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 12 October 2012 by Laxman | Email|Print
Axiata’s establishment of a multi-currency sukuk programme and subsequent dim sum sukuk issue marks a new level of flexibility for underlying assets in an individual deal. The September RMB 1 billion ($158.7 million) issue was the largest RMB-denominated dim sum bond to date.
It followed Axiata’s, a Malaysian telecommunications company, establishment of a $1.5 billion multi-currency sukuk issuance programme established in August this year. It was Asia’s first internationally-rated programme of its type………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 12 October 2012 by Laxman | Email|Print
Qatar International Islamic Bank (QIIB) launched a US$700m sukuk on Thursday, arranging banks said, at the lower end of revised price guidance in a reflection of healthy demand for the deal.
The five-year Islamic bond was launched at a spread of 190 basis points over midswaps. Price guidance was earlier set at between 190-195 over midswaps, tighter than indicated, with order books reportedly at US$2.7bn on Wednesday afternoon………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 12 October 2012 by Laxman | Email|Print
Talks on foreign aid are failing to quell concern that Egypt’s economy is struggling to recover, imperiling a bond rally that returned about twice as much as Middle East non-investment-grade debt this year.
Investors in the Arab nation’s 5.75% dollar-denominated bonds due in April 2020 lost 1.9% in September, paring this year’s return to 22% on Tuesday, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That’s the biggest monthly decline of the year and compares with a 2.5% gain in the HSBC/Nasdaq Dubai Middle East Sub Investment Grade US Dollar Sukuk/Bond Index. The index has returned 9.6% in 2012………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 12 October 2012 by Laxman | Email|Print
Sabana Reit’s sukuk is the first sukuk ever to be convertible into units in a reit (real estate investment trust). It could signal Singapore’s push to become an Islamic financial centre.
Although Singapore boasts arguably the most complex reit markets in Asia, Sabana was the first to issue a shariah-compliant reit listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX). It has now issued the first convertible sukuk on the SGX………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 12 October 2012 by Laxman | Email|Print
Norton Rose, King & Spalding and Jones Day have advised on the £400m Shariah-compliant financing of the redevelopment of King’s Reach Tower on London’s South Bank. Saudi investor Mohammed Al Subeaei & Sons Investment Company (MASIC), which provided a £145m mezzanine tranche, was advised by a team from King & Spalding led by partners Mike Rainey (Islamic finance), Nigel Heilpern (real estate) and Kevin Conway (tax), following a referral from the firm’s Dubai office.
Heilpern joined King & Spalding from Fried Frank in July to launch a London real estate practice for the US firm………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 12 October 2012 by Laxman | Email|Print
Khaled Al-Aboodi, CEO of the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), a arm of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) for private sector, told about the plans for development of Islamic financing in Kazakhstan at the 3rd Kazakhstan Conference on Islamic Financing.
“First of all, we are establishing the first ijara company in Kazakhstan. ICD is opening the ijara company together with a big group of foreign and local investors. This is Islamic leasing in Kazakhstan to support development of small and medium businesses by providing them with alternative resources for the projects that comply with Sharia requirements………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 12 October 2012 by Laxman | Email|Print
The proposed Islamic finance institutions, which are set to start operations in the country, is expected to face challenges in view of lack of skilled people and awareness among general public, said a top-level official of the Capital Market Authority (CMA).
Addressing the inaugural function of a two-day workshop on Islamic banking organised by Crowe Horwath here, Abdullah bin Salem Al Salmi, executive president of CMA, said since the whole concept of Islamic banking is new to both regulators and operators in Oman, organisations may find it difficult to get skilled professionals to draft Sharia law for Islamic banks and takaful insurance companies………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 12 October 2012 by Laxman | Email|Print
It has been reported that HSBC bank will focus its Islamic financing operations in Saudi Arabia. HSBC have also decided to withdraw its Islamic banking operations in seven other countries, including the United Kingdom, and has already divested its assets in nearly 30 other countries.
HSBC’s reasons for getting out of the Islamic banking game in some countries is because of the pitiful state UK banks have been in since the global economic meltdown of 2008 and the restructuring efforts now underway to revive the industry. But HSBC, as a conventional bank, also could not really compete against the big Islamic banks………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 12 October 2012 by Laxman | Email|Print
EFG-Hermes Holding SAE will sell its 40 per cent stake next year in the investment bank it is forming with QInvest and will become a holding company, Arqaam Capital Ltd said.
EFG-Hermes would hold assets in Lebanese unit Credit Libanais SAL, as well as a private equity unit managing $980 million (Dh3.6 billion) and a “large surplus capital position, part of which will be distributed to shareholders,” analysts including Jaap Meijer said in a report. The Cairo-based bank was added to Arqaam’s core portfolio with a buy rating and a price estimate of 15.9 Egyptian pounds, a 34 per cent premium to yesterday’s closing price………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 12 October 2012 by Laxman | Email|Print
The Investor for Securities Company launched Safa Investment Services, the first global Islamic asset manager in the GCC, in Riyadh on Monday. Safa Investment Services is the world’s first independent Islamic wealth and asset management brand. It insures an independent selection of “best of class” Sharia-compliant assets.
“Professionally managed assets worldwide are now worth around 80 trillion (SR 300 trillion), of which Muslims own at least 3 trillion (SR 11.25 trillion). What is striking is that almost none of that is invested with any respect for Sharia. A lot is invested in the type of securities that accelerated the global financial crisis,” said John Sandwick, manager at Safa Investment Services, during the launch. ……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 12 October 2012 by Laxman | Email|Print
ING has reached an agreement with AIA Group on the sale of ING’s insurance operations in Malaysia, which include its life insurance business, its market-leading employee benefits business and its 60-percent stake in ING Public Takaful Ehsan Berhad.
Under the terms agreed, ING is expected to receive a total consideration of approximately EUR 1.3 billion. The agreement, which is subject to regulatory approvals, is part of the previously announced intended divestment of ING’s Asian insurance and investment management businesses. The process for the remaining businesses is on-going. Further announcements will be made if and when appropriate………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 12 October 2012 by Laxman | Email|Print
The demise of secular autocratic regimes in the Middle East and North Africa has heralded a renaissance for Islamist parties in the region, igniting a rivalry for the hearts and minds of the Sunni world between the Gulf powers of Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
These neighboring petro-monarchies have sought to influence political transformations in the Levant and North Africa on their own respective terms, both to advance geopolitical interests and to ensure that their own populations do not initiate popular uprisings………………………………………..Full Article: Source
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