The sukuk (Islamic bond) market is expected to grow by around 30 percent this year, buoyed by sovereign sukuk that will continue to dominate, supported by emerging of new countries that issue sukuk, Kuwait Finance House (KFH) said in a recent report.
Sukuk issuance will grow this year by 20-30 percent after the momentum witnessed by the issuance process last year that was worth $131 billion, the report, compiled by the KFH-Research, showed. The share of the Middle East of issuance in 2012 increased; especially in Saudi Arabia and UAE, it said, noting that the returns on sukuk increased during the same year, compared to returns in 2011………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) has the most Islamic finance friendly tax systems, out of the eight jurisdictions in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, according to a study.
“While simpler Islamic finance transactions can be carried out in some countries without prohibitive tax costs, of the countries reviewed only Turkey and the QFC have a tax system that enables sukuk transactions to be carried out without excessive tax costs,” said the study, conducted by three leading experts Mohamed Amin, Salah Gueydi and Hafiz Choudhury, said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) has recently been entrusted by the higher education ministry to lead the Islamic Finance and Education Cluster with the express purpose of designing curriculum and talent development in Islamic finance.

International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said this initiative was another opportunity for IIUM to fulfil the crucial needs for human capital in Islamic finance………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Just after the 2008 global financial crisis hit, the Vatican suggested using the Islamic finance and banking system as a solution. So then what does Islamic finance offer? To answer this question we had better first lend an ear to the saying of the Prophet Muhammad: “You should sell gold for gold, silver for silver, wheat for wheat, barley for barley, dates for dates, and salt for salt, like for like, equal for equal, and hand-to-hand; if the classes differ, then you may sell as you wish, provided that the exchange is hand-to-hand.”
With this concise saying, the Prophet Muhammad expresses exactly 80 kinds of exchanges, which are the exchange of a commodity for another commodity or a currency for another currency on credit or on the spot and for matching or different quantities of goods. According to that Prophetic saying, out of these 80 kinds of exchanges, 46 sales bear a religiously forbidden “interest.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The Reserve Bank of India has taken a positive approach to the suggestion of an alternative banking system for Muslims, subject to certain laws being amended first, K. Rahman Khan, Minister for Minority Affairs, said here recently.
“I have written to the RBI Governor, invoking Section 25 of the Constitution, saying that it was the duty of the State to facilitate every citizen to practice and follow his/her religion,” he said, adding that Muslims being given no option but interest-based banking amounted to obstruction in practice of religion………………………………………..Full Article: Source

There has been growing interest recently among conventional banks in Egypt who own licences to provide Sharia-compliant services, to restructure their branches which offer such services.
Such banks are looking to increase their investment and transaction portfolios in a bid to boost profits amid the current dearth in investment opportunities for traditional banking. Leading the way among traditional banks offering Sharia-compliant services is Banque Misr, with a total of EGP 22bn in Sharia-compliant transactions………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Kuwait’s biggest Islamic lender, Kuwait Finance House (KFH) reported a 24 percent rise in fourth-quarter net profit on Sunday thanks to its restructuring programme but the numbers fell short of analyst estimates.
KFH said last year it was reshuffling its top management and planned to work with advisors to sell, merge or restructure unprofitable subsidiaries after a fall in profits in 2011………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Ahlibank’s Al Hilal Islamic Banking Services recently launched a network of five branches across the nation with the sixth branch coming soon in Salalah. The simultaneous launch of five branches has positioned the bank’s Islamic banking services as a leader in the field of Islamic banking with plans set to further enhance the reach of its unmatched services and products to cover a wider geographical area.
Commenting on the launch Islamic banking services in the Sultanate, Hamdan bin Ali bin Nasser al Hinai, Chairman of the board of directors of ahlibank affirmed the importance of Al Hilal Islamic Banking Services as one of the key financial solution in the banking sector in the Sultanate, which is currently witnessing a remarkable growth and expansion………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Middle Eastern fixed income, the darling of regional investors during the past year, is now putting them in a state of anxiety. The jury is out on whether demand for the region’s debt, which brought a record year for bond and sukuk sales in 2012, is in danger of running out of steam amid a pullback from recent highs.
Dubai’s latest 10-year sukuk is trading at a discount of 12 basis points to its par value, after a sale that analysts said was “aggressively” priced. Upon issuing, the emirate’s debt returned a coupon of 3.85 per cent, lower than equivalent dated debts sold by the Italian government………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Malaysia’s gross corporate bond issuance is expected to decline to between RM70bil and RM90bil this year after a bumper year with a record RM124.6bil bonds issued last year, Malaysian Rating Corp Bhd (MARC) said.
In its latest report, MARC said the issuance this year was mainly due to the implementation of projects under the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) as the major catalyst. “A large amount of the financing for the ETP is likely to come in via unrated government-guaranteed (GG) notes………………………………………..Full Article: Source

RAM Ratings Services Bhd has reaffirmed the respective AA3/P1 and A2 ratings of Binariang GSM Sdn Bhd’s senior sukuk and junior sukuk ratings. “We have maintained the negative outlook on both long-term ratings,” it said.
Binariang GSM’s senior sukuk consists of its RM19bil Islamic medium-term notes programmes and RM2bil Islamic commercial papers programme. The junior sukuk, meanwhile, refers to the group’s US$900mil (RM2.78bil) cumulative non-convertible Islamic junior sukuk………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Developer Nakheel is in talks to extend 8 billion dirhams ($2.18 billion) in loans due in 2015, the indebted company’s chairman was quoted as saying in a local newspaper on Sunday.
Ali Rashid Lootah dismissed concerns over Nakheel’s ability to repay its debts, which also include a 3.8-billion dirham sukuk, or Islamic bond, due in August 2016, Abu Dhabi-based newspaper, The National, reported………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Islamic insurance (Takaful) and Islamic Banking is flourishing all around the world. Global market size of Takaful has reached to $12 billion and Islamic Takaful institutions have exceeded to 350.
Muhammad Zubair Mughal Chief Executive Officer of AlHuda Centre of Islamic Banking and Economics (CIBE) said though Takaful industry was prospering in the recent times, however it was also facing certain challenges which included issues regarding re-Takaful, regulatory challenges, competition and lack of human capital………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Leaders within the takaful insurance industry, a Sharia-compliant for of insurance services, have predicted continued high rates of growth within the sector ranging between 15% to 20% over the next several years. This has enabled the sector to secure high profits as demand increases for financial services in Egypt’s banking industry.
Although takaful insurance companies have witnessed high rates of growth, many experts have noted that they too suffer from many of the same problems plaguing commercial insurance companies, such as an overall decrease in the amount of salaries and wages, in addition to other factors associated with the general slowdown of Egypt’s economy………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Egyptian Life Takaful Company garnered some EGP 60m in installments by the end of the first half of the 2012/2013 financial year. Hesham Abdel Shakour, the CEO of the company, revealed to Al-Borsa that his company is targeting EGP 120m installment dues by the end of the current year, noting that they achieved EGP 45m in installments after the first year of restructuring the company in 2011.
He said that the company achieved EGP 16m by 30 June 2011, which points to the stability of the installments growth rate above 250% annually, the same rate targeted by the end of the year………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Takaful Consultancy Wing, a subsidiary of AlHuda Centre of Islamic Banking and Economics (CIBE), will provide services to other organisations for the establishment of new Takaful companies, research, advisory, training, reTakaful and offer Shari’ah guidance on Takaful-related matters. It will be a distinguished institution because of its services.
The inauguraation was held by Justice (r) Khalil Ur Rehman, Shari’ah Advisory of AlBarkah Bank in a ceremony organised at the head office of AlHuda CIBE in Lahore, Pakistan. Captain Jamil Akhtar Khan, former Chief Executive Officer, Takaful Pakistan and Abdul Samad, the Shari’ah Advisory of Bank of Khyber also attended the ceremony………………………………………..Full Article: Source