The sukuk issuances in Qatar will expand in the years ahead and there would be more demand from China and South-east Asian countries claims the Oxford Business Group’s (OBG) 2012 report. The estimated $130bn investment plans put forth by the government by 2016 have created a great demand for project finance ahead.
Issuing sukuk will likely be one way the Qatari authorities, along with government-linked and government-owned companies, to raise funds, the Oxford Business Group’s (OBG) 2012 report noted. Qatar is expecting a large number of subscribers beyond the Islamic world. “These days, they are from the West, China and Southeast Asia. Sukuks are a nice, neat, safe, high-yielding product that give diversity to any portfolio,” the OBG report ……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Although 2012 did not end in a big bang (no pun intended!), the bond and sukuk markets in Malaysia continued to grow at a breakneck speed. Conducive supply and demand dynamics, coupled with ample liquidity, helped lift the industry to new heights.
Despite the seemingly unsustainable growth rates recorded by the industry in the past year, it is still possible for the industry to prolong the high growth rate going forward. To survive and be resilient, adaptation is key to the industry. This can only happen if the transformation agenda for the industry is unrelenting………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Bourses in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand are gauging investor interest in trading ETFs, structured products and Islamic bonds via the recently established Asean Trading Link.
Having gone live last September, the “Asean Exchanges” scheme sees the main bourses of six nations – also including the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia ­– connected via a fibre network………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Potential investors, although “keen and hungry” for Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd’s (Prasarana) bonds, will await more details on the potential yield rates first. Fixed income analysts opined that the demand for the bonds comes on the backdrop of the tight supply of such bond instruments in the region.
“There seems to be a lack of such bond instruments in the market at present. The underlying demand is strong, given that such Prasarana bonds are usually government guaranteed and can be considered equivalent to the risk-free Malaysian Goverment Securities (MGS),” RAM Holdings group chief economist Dr Yeah Kim Leng said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The much-anticipated RM300 million retail Islamic bond (sukuk) offering by DanaInfra Nasional Bhd, the country’s first for retail investors, is set to be launched next Tuesday by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
The retail sukuk, first announced by Najib in his Budget 2013 presentation last September, is part of a larger RM1.5 billion issue that’s being sold by DanaInfra, of which RM1.2 billion is for institutional investors………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Dubai Financial Market (DFM) said it has launched the draft of its “Standard for issuing, acquiring, trading sukuk” on its website and has called upon Islamic Finance experts to send feedback on the first of its kind comprehensive standard.
The Standard thoroughly explains various types of sukuk such as; sukuk of ownership of tangible assets, of usufructs, of lease of services, Mudaraba, Musharaka and Salam sukuk, in addition to the general Shari’a principles that govern issuance, owning and trading sukuk and identifying the forbidden financial instruments including; bonds, stocks of companies whose primary activity is prohibited and financial derivatives………………………………………..Full Article: Source

RAM Ratings Services Bhd has reaffirmed its ratings of Lebuhraya Kajang-Seremban Sdn Bhd’s (Lekas) RM785mil senior sukuk and RM633mil junior sukuk at BB1 and B1 respectively.
However, the rating agency said the outlook on the ratings remained negative given the mismatch in Lekas’ cashflow generation and its financing obligations. The 44-km highway commenced full tolling operations on Sept 21, 2010 and has the concession rights until May 2039………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Malaysian Rating Corp Bhd (MARC) has affirmed Kwantas SPV Sdn Bhd’s outstanding RM40mil class A asset-backed sukuk ijarah with a AAAID rating and a stable outlook while its RM65mil murabahah commercial papers/medium term notes (MTN) programme has also been affirmed with a stable outlook.
MARC said in a press release that the murabahah/MTN programme’s ratings and outlook has been equalised with that of the originator, Kwantas Corp Bhd, via a corporate guarantee………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Following a slew of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in the banking sector the past two years, the creation of a mega Islamic bank in Malaysia could be in the offing next, given the vast untapped growth potential in Islamic finance.
Hwang DBS Vickers Research in its latest banking report issued yesterday said that M&A spin-offs in the Islamic banking space were plausible, as the Government wanted to develop Malaysia into an international Islamic finance hub………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Al-Mursi Al-Sayed Hegazy, an expert on public finance and Islamic economics, was sworn in on Sunday as Egyptian finance minister. Here are some facts about him: Egyptian media reports described him as being close to the Muslim Brotherhood, an assessment shared by a colleague speaking privately.
A spokesman for the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party denied reports that he was a member of the Brotherhood………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Financial Services Authority (OJK), which effectively began working this year, has been urged to establish a special committee for sharia finances to supervise and monitor sharia financial services.
The committee should be established this year. The Sharia Finance Committee is infallible, said Islam Economist Association chairman Agustianto, contacted by Tempo on Thursday, January 3. Agus said the special committee is required not only for supervision but also for the development of the sharia finance industry. The industry is estimated to have strong future potential given that more than 90 percent of Indonesians are Muslims………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Genghis Capital stockbrokers are to launch the Kenyan market’s second Shariah-compliant unit trust next month, joining FCB Capital in the battle for the Muslim investment market.
The investment arm of Chase Bank joins FCB, the investment banking department of First Community Bank, in launching a Shariah-compliant trust, with FCB’s offering set up in April last year………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Economist has given top marks to Malaysia’s progressive leadership in Islamic finance and in particular its dominance in Islamic bonds or sukuk. In a report entitled “Banking on the Ummah: Malaysia Leads Charge in Islamic Finance”, the noted financial magazine cited Malaysia as being the first country to issue the world’s first sovereign sukuk in 2002.
The report said: “Of Malaysia’s claims to fame, leadership in financial services is not an obvious one. Yet in some ways the country is the world’s most important Islamic finance centre. “Just over a fifth of the country’s banking system, by assets, is Shariah-compliant; the average for Muslim countries is more like 12 per cent, and often a lot less………………………………………..Full Article: Source

More than a fifth of the country’s banking system, by assets, is syariah-compliant. OF Malaysia’s claims to fame, leadership in financial services is not an obvious one. Yet in some ways, the country is the world’s most important Islamic-finance centre.
Just more than a fifth of the country’s banking system, by assets, is syariah-compliant; the average for Muslim countries is more like 12 per cent, and often a lot less. Malaysia dominates the global market for sukuk, or Islamic bonds………………………………………..Full Article: Source