Economic instability and legal obstacles have slowed the introduction of modern forms of Islamic finance in Afghanistan. But sharia-compliant loans are beginning to play a role in the farm sector through a U.S.-funded aid programme.
The Afghan government is using Islamic financial contracts to extend credit to farmers in areas where conventional banking has not fully satisfied demand for funds. The Agricultural Development Fund (ADF), set up in 2010 through a $100 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), offers both conventional credit and Islamic financing………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Inconsistent regulation across the Gulf’s takaful (Islamic insurance) industry is hurting profit margins and credit ratings, while leaving the door open to regulatory arbitrage, according to global insurance rating agency A.M. Best.
New rules in Oman and updated ones in Bahrain are expected this year, but lack of coordination among regulators is making life difficult for takaful operators, said Vasilis Katsipis, Dubai-based general manager for market development at the firm………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Bank of Khartoum, Sudan’s oldest bank, wants to boost its agricultural finance business with the help of Gulf Arab banks after winning the African country’s first-ever international rating, its head said on Thursday.
Undeterred by decades of wars, poverty and spiralling inflation, the bank has been steadily expanding its retail and corporate business in the vast country. Its main shareholders, Dubai Islamic Bank, Sharjah Islamic Bank and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, are currently more than tripling the capital to 1 billion Sudanese pounds (around $225 million based on the official rate)………………………………………..Full Article: Source

It had been reported that Oman’s new Islamic banking rules could encourage the development of a larger pool of Sharia scholars and ultimately help to raise operating standards for them around the world, according to bankers and scholars.
Last month, the sultanate’s central bank released an extensive Islamic banking rulebook which included provisions for Sharia scholars, such as fit-and-proper criteria and term limits on scholars’ appointment to Sharia boards, which decide whether products and activities obey Islamic principles………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Kashf Foundation is one of the biggest specialised non-profit microfinance institutions in the country pioneering innovative practices to empower women, men and their dependents with the means for entrepreneurship and sustainable growth opportunities. It was founded in 1996 by Roshaneh Zafar who was awarded the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz for her contributions to the development sector.
We are planning to bring in Shariah-compliant products as part of our strategy of focusing on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. While others in Pakistan have dabbled in this domain, we are looking to make it affordable and scale it up. We are looking to ramp up our focus on the education sector and reach out to 450 schools over the next 3 years that could use improvement in their administration and management………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank reported a drop in quarterly profit on Thursday but still beat forecasts as the bank made fewer provisions for bad loans. Abu Dhabi’s biggest sharia-compliant bank by market value had fourth-quarter net profit of 333 million dirhams ($90.7 million) in the final three months of 2012 compared with 338.6 million dirhams a year earlier, it said in a statement.
This was ahead of the three analysts average forecast for net profit of 224.3 million dirhams in a Reuters poll last month………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Bank Muscat, the Sultanate’s biggest bank, is anticipating a credit growth in the region of 14-15 per cent this year, thanks to high government spending, a substantial growth in number of Omanis entering the workforce and an increase in minimum salary of Omani workers.
Apart from huge spending for infrastructure development, the government has offered employment opportunities for 56,000 Omanis this year and the minimum salary will be raised from OMR200 to OMR325 from July onwards………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Indonesia’s bonds advanced, pushing the two-year yield to the lowest level since February 2012, after foreign investors boosted holdings of the securities. Rupiah forwards were little changed.
The Finance Ministry will offer three-year Islamic notes to individual investors with a coupon of 6 percent from tomorrow through Feb. 22, it said today. The government’s similar-maturity conventional debt yields 4.49 percent………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Islamic ‘Sukuk’ could be an alternative source of financing for constructing Padma Bridge. Sukuk is one type of Islamic Bond, which is asset based or asset-backed, where there is an asset (or pool of assets) underlying every transaction and the ownership of that asset or pool is transferred to investors.
A day-long international conference on Islamic finance, titled ‘Islamic Finance news Roadshow’ held Tuesday in the city discussed on the issue. The Islamic Finance news Roadshow brought together world’s industry experts and the market movers of the country’s Islamic finance industry………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Egypt’s Islamist government is making preparations for the country’s first sovereign sukuk, as foreign-currency reserves and the credit rating rapidly decline because of continued political turmoil. On January 16, the cabinet of ministers approved a new draft sukuk bill after Shariah scholars rejected a previous version.
Sukuk laws exist in many other countries, including ones without a Muslim majority, such as the UK. But in Egypt, the proposed law has been controversial. Secularist opposition figures say it represents an encroaching Islamist influence over state institutions – partly because the Muslim Brotherhood, the party from which president Mohamed Morsi hails, has stated partly religious reasons for promoting sukuk………………………………………..Full Article: Source

DanaInfra Nasional Bhd’s RM300 million exchange traded bonds and sukuk (ETBS) will have a reference price of RM100 when listed tomorrow. Business Times learnt that DanaInfra’s maiden retail sukuk will have an upper trading limit of RM110 and lower limit of RM90.
Under the new salient features of ETBS, if the reference price is RM1 or above, the trading limit will be 10 per cent (upwards or downwards), and if the reference price is below RM1, then the trading limit is 10 sen (up or down)………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Fitch Ratings has assigned Hazine Mustesarligi Varlik Kiralama Anonim Sirketi’s (Hazine) USD1.5bn of global certificates (Sukuk), due 26 March 2018, a ‘BBB-’ rating. The certificates have a profit rate of 2.803%.
Hazine, an asset leasing company incorporated solely for the purpose of participating in this transaction, is wholly owned by the Republic of Turkey, acting through the Undersecretariat of the Treasury………………………………………..Full Article: Source

RAM Ratings has received confirmation that, as of 16 January 2013, PINS Capital Sdn Bhd (”PINS Capital”) had placed sufficient funds with TMF Trustees Malaysia Berhad for the full redemption of its Islamic Commercial Papers/Medium-Term Notes Programme (”ICP/IMTN”), which is scheduled to mature on 9 May 2013.
Following the above and as requested by PINS Capital, RAM has withdrawn the AA3/Negative/P1 ratings of the ICP/IMTN. As such, we no longer have any rating obligations on the said instruments. ……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) is planning to introduce an ‘Islamic Shariah Index’ to increase investment of Islamic Shariah-based banks in the stock market, official said. DSE president and coordinator of the Stock Market Coordination Committee Rakibur Rahman said this after a meeting of the committee at the DSE board-room Thursday.
Convener of the committee and president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed chaired the meeting………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Efforts were underway to boost investment of the Islamic banks in order to stabilise the stock market, FBCCI President Kazi Akram Uddin Ahamed said on Thursday. “They (Islamic banks) have also assured us of increasing their investment in the capital market,” Akram, also the chief of the stock market coordination committee, told bdnews24.com after a committee meeting held at the DSE headquarters.
“We are trying. Trading on the market has also started to increase. We hope the market will be in a good state in a few days,” he said………………………………………..Full Article: Source