Since the financial crisis hit world economies, risk aversion has been a key theme for investors. Over the past year, regional bonds and sukuk have witnessed much popularity where demand has consistently outpaced supply, specifically with issues that are backed by solid balance sheets.
As global troubles continue to disturb investors, GCC debt continues to attract strong inflows. This is no surprise, as the GCC sits on trillions of dollars in surplus. According to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds accounts for 35% of the world’s SWFs. Gulf countries such as Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are only raising funds for the sake of promoting domestic debt markets………………………………………..Full Article: Source

When a natural gas producing company in the United Arab Emirates missed repaying a $920 million Islamic bond last week, it became the first UAE company to fail to redeem a bond on time. But the region’s debt market barely blinked.
Yields on some firms’ outstanding Islamic bonds, known as sukuk, dropped to fresh record lows as investors continued pouring money into them. Other companies laid plans for new issues of sukuk………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Dana Gas PJSC, which missed payments on nearly $1 billion of Islamic bonds last week, reached a restructuring deal with sukukholders including BlackRock Inc. (BLK), averting a potential seizure of its Egyptian energy assets.
The United Arab Emirates-based fuel producer has an in- principle agreement with creditors and will convert the Islamic bonds into an ordinary and a convertible sukuk with “revised economic terms,” the Sharjah-based company said today in a statement to the Abu Dhabi stock market. Holders of the Islamic bond or sukuk will also receive a partial cash payment………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Spreads on Dubai government bonds remain attractive and potentially offer significant returns for debt investors, Standard Chartered said in a research report on Wednesday. Based on comparisons with different peers, the U.K.-based lender said Dubai sovereign paper could offer between 70 – 145 basis points of upside from current levels.
“However, we acknowledge that, given the very strong run the sovereign has had this year, the pace of gains is likely to moderate,” the bank said. Bonds issued by unrated Dubai, still recovering from a crippling debt crisis in 2009, have rallied strongly this year, driven by an economic recovery as well as returning investor confidence after a string of credit-positive news………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) plans to open two new Islamic banks in Mali and Benin next year as part of efforts to expand the industry’s consumer base in Africa, its chief executive said.
“The issue for Islamic banking in Africa is not on the demand side which is potentially massive, but rather it is a supply side issue,” Khaled Al-Aboodi said in a speech in Djibouti this week………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Moody’s Investors Service Wednesday placed all ratings of top Islamic lender Kuwait Finance House on review for downgrade over its high loan levels, asset quality and underperforming investments.
“The bank’s asset quality continues to face pressure, with problem loan levels remaining … well above those of both local and global peers,” Moody’s said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Bahrain EDB has hailed the decision by BSI Bank, one of the oldest banks in Switzerland, to base its regional headquarters in Bahrain as a boost to the Kingdom’s financial sector.
BSI Bank, which has assets under management in excess of 85 billion, is the latest in a string of leading international financial services firms who have decided to locate in the Kingdom. In the last year, Notz Stucki, Canara Bank and PineBridge Investments have all opened regional offices in Bahrain which is now host to more than 400 financial institutions………………………………………..Full Article: Source

PT Bank Syariah Mandiri, the largest Islamic bank in Indonesia, has successfully installed TEMENOS T24 (T24) core banking solution to support the growth of its business. With the deployment of T24 Model Bank for Islamic banking, Bank Syariah Mandiri has been able to implement flexible core banking software, designed to mitigate operating costs and reduce operational risk.
Indonesia is the biggest Muslim country with 202 million people. According to McKinsey, the economy of Indonesia has an enormous potential: Indonesia is now the 16th largest economy in the world and will become the 7th biggest by 2030. In comparison to the Middle East, Islamic Banking in Indonesia is driven more by retail, micro, and a society based on banking choices………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and Uzbek government have recently signed a financial agreement on the allocation of credit to the sum of $100 million for a modernisation project of two hydropower plants in the Tashkent region.
The agreement was signed during the Tashkent meeting of the Arab Coordination Group (ACG), which was attended by members of the Uzbek government and representatives of the financial and business sectors. The ACG includes the Islamic Development Bank, the Saudi Fund for Development and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, the OPEC Fund for International Development and the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Islamic finance industry’s growth has continued to defy global economic malaise in 2012.
And, with more government interest, increasingly complex products and a large untapped customer base, future forecasts are no longer concerned with the industry’s ability to continue growing but instead are focusing on the more complex issue of how it will evolve………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Islamic finance offers a major opportunity for diversifying the investor base and raising investor interest in Africa, said Jaseem Ahmed, Secretary-General of the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB).
Ahmed said that there are important prior actions that need to be taken in terms of strengthening risk management capabilities and the legal and regulatory framework for financial sector supervision. “This will be essential to ensure that the growth of the real economy, which is the ultimate goal of policy, is sustainable,” he said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Great Eastern Takaful Sdn Bhd (GETSB), which saw a revenue growth of 50% as of Oct 31 2012 from a year earlier, is confident of achieving a 60% to 70% growth in revenue for the full year, said its appointed representative and CFO Zafri Ab Halim.
GETSB, which currently has a 4% share of the local takaful market, will focus on driving both its single contribution business and regular contribution businesses. Single contribution refers to plans where a policyholder invests one single lump-sum payment, while a regular contribution plan lets the policyholder make his or her contributions either monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or yearly………………………………………..Full Article: Source