RHB Research has estimated Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Bhd’s earnings for the first quarter ended March 31, 2013, to be higher at about RM30 million from RM26.3 million recorded in the same quarter last year.
The research house said Takaful Malaysia’s bancatakaful and agents would continue being the main drivers of the growth, on the back of its rejuvenated “We Should Talk” campaign as well as its enhanced sales force. “Takaful Malaysia is expected to release its first quarter results as early as May 17………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The volume of sukuk (Islamic bonds) issued by end of the first quarter of 2013 reached $34.2 billion, increasing on a quarterly based rate at 21.5 percent, after an abundant year that witnessed a 54 percent increase in issuance, Kuwait Finance House (KFH)-Research said Sunday.
Sovereign issuances continue to dominate sukuk issuance, followed by issuances of corporates, then sub-sovereign authorities. The sukuk issuance is expected to reach $275 billion by the end of the year, it said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Islamic Microfinance is rapidly gaining acceptance in Muslim and Non- Muslim countries due to its remarkable performance in poverty eradication; because of which, this industry is making quick progress. According to our careful estimate Islamic Microfinance market’s worth has reached $1 billion.
These views were expressed by Muhammad Zubair Mughal, the Chief Executive Officer of AlHuda Centre of Islamic Banking and Economics (CIBE). He said that currently more than 300 Islamic Microfinance institutions are offering their services to 1.6 million clients in almost 32 countries. ……………………………………Full Article: Source

A research partnership has been formed to create case studies for business school programs, spelling out the commercial implications of Islamic finance. Deloitte’s Islamic Finance Knowledge Centre (IFKC), a think tank based in Bahrain, is partnering with INCEIF, the Global University of Islamic Finance in Malaysia, and the University of Reading’s Henley Business School in England, says IFKC Director Hatim El Tahir.
Islamic finance refers to banking activity that follows the principles of Islamic religious law, or sharia, which prohibits practices that are common in the rest of the world, including charging interest for loans………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Islamic banking assets with commercial banks in the GCC reached $445 billion at the end of last year, up from $390bn in 2011, according to recent estimates by Ernst & Young’s Global Islamic Banking Centre. Reports indicate that in 2012, the Islamic banking industry in the GCC registered a 14 per cent year-on-year growth, which represents a slight deceleration in the average growth rate over the past five years of 19pc.
Reports also indicate that profitability now looks to be stabilising in major Islamic banking markets though Islamic banks have experienced a mixed recovery across markets………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Deloitte Middle East Islamic Finance Knowledge Centre (IFKC) based in Bahrain has launched a collaborative research initiative with INCEIF — The Global University of Islamic Finance, Malaysia and the Henley Business School, University of Reading, UK.
This initiative will pave the way for research as well as thought leadership pieces in the Islamic finance sector that will enhance the knowledge and skills of market participants and promote leading business practices through thought leadership programmes. INCEIF and Henley Business School are already strategic academic collaboration partners and are now expanding their partnership to the industry in association with Deloitte’s IFKC………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Islamic assets have been on the rise, driven by greater issuance of sukuk, or Islamic bonds. Last year saw a new record for Islamic debt issuance globally, 77% of which emanated from Malaysia. But while the global bond market stands at $100 trillion, the sukuk market is still tiny by comparison, at just $100 billion. It is this room for growth that industry participants are eager to capitalise on.
According to AsianInvestor findings, the top 50 by AUM have combined assets of $72.9 billion, split fairly evenly between equities and fixed income/money market/sukuk, with the remaining 10% or less in Islamic private equity and other alternatives………………………………………..Full Article: Source

There is little to hinder another strong performance by the sukuk market in the next few years, Standard & Poor’s said. Investors Are Snapping Up Sukuk, Despite Questions About Creditworthiness.” “Global issuance expanded for the fourth year in a row in 2012, growing 64% to about $138 billion, and we expect another strong few years,” said Standard & Poor’s credit analyst Paul-Henri Pruvost.
Despite increased growth, the market for sukuk, the Islamic equivalent of bonds, is still a small segment of the global fixed-income world. Sukuk comply with Sharia law, meaning they do not technically pay interest; rather, they are structured to provide sukuk holders a profit margin. While still considered an alternative investment, S&P believes the sukuk market has the potential to grow and join the mainstream………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Kuwait Finance House Research (KFH Research) stated in a report that the total Sukuk issuance for the past January and February reached $22 billion through 160 issuance processes; Malaysia ringgit purchased the largest share.
While the sovereign Sukuk remained the prevailed ones; like the last year. Sukuk issuance momentum continues in 2013 with a total issuance of $22 billion to date. Despite this being lower than the $28.3 billion issued over the same period of 2012, the monthly average for the year is slightly higher than seen throughout 2012 and provides an initial annualised forecast of $132 billion for the year………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Misconception 1: Islamic finance is a front for financing terrorism. Facts: Islamic finance is a genuine, legitimate business, offering Sharia-compliant financial products as an alternative to existing financial products.
Islamic financial institutions are regulated and supervised in several jurisdictions and bound by strict laws, including anti-terrorism and anti-money laundering laws………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Islamic banks say their small scale and a lack of risk-management products makes it harder for them to compete, after Ernst & Young LLP warned lower profitability threatens to slow expansion of the $1.8 trillion industry.
The average return on equity at Shariah-compliant lenders was 11.6 percent in 2011, compared with 15.3 percent at their non-Islamic counterparts, according to a December report by Ernst & Young that covered 12 countries. The use of hedging and treasury solutions is lagging behind, Haszeri Hussin, head of Islamic global markets at Hong Leong Islamic Bank Bhd. (HLBK), a unit of Malaysia’s fourth-biggest lender, said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Banks in Qatar, along with those in the UAE, will provide the impetus for debt issue this year in view of high macroeconomic and credit growth as well as low interest rates, according to global credit rating agency Standard and Poor’s (S&P). “We expect most of the impetus to come from banks in the UAE, the largest issuers in 2012, and Qatar, where issuance has been steadily increasing,” S&P said in its latest report.
Finding that banks in Qatar raised $4.5bn in bonds and sukuk last year, of which QNB issued $2bn, followed by Qatar Islamic Bank ($750mn) and International Islamic ($700mn), Commercialbank and Doha Bank $500mn each in five-year notes; it said the country continues to display very strong domestic growth that is fostering the increase in issuances………………………………………..Full Article: Source

As the financial reports for 2012 become available, it is clear that there has been a significant improvement in the balance sheets of banks in Dubai. The negative impact of the property crash of 2008-09 is diminishing and asset quality is improving.
The largest bank in Dubai, Emirates NBD, revealed results beyond expectations for 2012, which caused a one third rise in its share price in January. While there will be some profit taking, the longer-term share price outlook is now positive given the management strategy of the bank, which is to focus on retail business…………………………………….Full Article: Source

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

Islamic banking assets with commercial banks globally grew to USD 1.3 trillion in 2011 and, one potential scenario projects it to reach USD 1.8 trillion in 2013, representing average annual growth of 17 per cent, says a report.
According to Ernst & Young’s World Islamic Banking Competitiveness Report 2013, Islamic banking assets with commercial banks globally grew to USD 1.3 trillion in 2011, suggesting an average annual growth of 19 per cent over past four years (24 per cent in 2011). The top four markets account for 84 per cent of industry assets………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Ernst and Young (E&Y) said that Islamic financial institutions in Southeast Asia and the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region are boosting their investments that are carried out in line with Shari’ah, as these economies have surpassed the global economic expansion since the start of the new millennium, and developed their regulatory system to stimulate Islamic banking.
However, financial institutions and banks in the US and Europe have trimmed their exposure in banking in line with Islamic law, due to the financial crisis that forced them to return to their roots by lowering their exposure in foreign fields, including Islamic finance, and by limiting their investments in emerging markets………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The global sukuk market has had another very successful year. 2012 performance was strong, consistent and on a positive trajectory throughout the year with slight bouts of volatility in January, May and August.
Global sukuk, measured by the S&P Dow Jones Sukuk Index, has returned 8% in 2012, 14.2% over two years and 28.8% over five years. These correspond to annualized returns of 8.2%, 6.9% and 5.2% over one-, two- and five-year time frames, respectively………………………………………..Full Article: Source

$140 billion worth of sukuk were issued in 2012 globally, according to Zawya’s 4Q12 Sukuk Quarterly Bulletin, a 64% increase from 2011’s $85 billion. Last year marked the best year on sukuk record, taking the global outstanding sukuk market to an unprecedented height of $240 billion as of end 2012.
Malaysia continues to be the largest sukuk market with $154 billion or 64% of the total outstanding sukuk market, followed by UAE and Saudi Arabia with around $20 billion, or approximately 9% and 8% respectively. Qatar and Indonesia follow, on 7% and 6% respectively. The list of countries of issuers with outstanding sukuk is now longer than ever, counting 22 countries with outstanding sukuk by end 2012, according to Zawya estimates………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Prominent economist and author of Whatever Happened to Egyptians Galal Amin has expressed his doubts on the new Sukuk Islamic bonds the government is introducing. Amin and other economists gave their diagnosis of the Egyptian economy and cast their predictions for 2013 at a media roundtable held at the American university in Cairo (AUC) on Wednesday.
“It is difficult to predict the future,” started the professor emeritus at AUC, explaining that the economic crisis has political causes, among which he mentioned was the lack of security, a lack of trust and above all the nature and content of political discourse bringing Egypt “back to the medieval ages”………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Total sukuk issuance in 2012 reached $131bn, an increase of 54 percent on the previous year, according to a new report by KFH-Research. The report said that Malaysia and the ringgit continued to dominate the market of sovereign sukuk issuance while other top countries in sukuk issuance were Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Indonesia.
KFH-Research said sukuk issuances continued “at decent levels” in December closing off a “tremendous year” for the Islamic capital markets………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Middle Eastern investment banking fees reached $536.1 million during 2012, a 19 percent increase over 2011, according to a report from Thomson Reuters. It also said M&A (mergers and acquisitions) transactions with Middle Eastern targets reached $20.0 billion last year, double the activity seen in the region during 2011 ($9.8 billion), and the strongest annual total since 2008.
Islamic debt issuance reached $37.1 billion from 91 issues during 2012, an increase of 11 percent from 2011, and marking the all-time strongest year for Islamic debt activity. The top Islamic debt issuer nation during 2012 was Malaysia with 48 percent of the activity, while the strongest industry was the financials sector………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Global Islamic banking assets held by commercial banks are set to cross US$1.8t in 2013, up from the US$1.3t of assets held in 2011, according to Ernst & Young’s World Islamic Banking Competitiveness Report 2013.The forecast is significantly higher than some of the earlier industry estimates.
Globally, the Islamic banking industry continues to record robust growth, with the top 20 Islamic banks registering a growth of 16% in the last three years and Saudi Arabia emerging as the largest market for Islamic assets………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Global sukuk sales will challenge this year’s record of $46 billion in 2013 as countries such as Oman, Tunisia and Egypt tap the market for the first time, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd. and OCBC Al-Amin Bank Bhd. say.
Borrowing costs on Shariah-compliant debt have fallen 11.4 percentage points to 2.82 percent since the end of 2008 as central banks in Europe, the U.S. and Japan pumped funds into their economies to spur growth. Demand will be driven by the rise in Islamic banking assets, which may reach $1.8 trillion next year, compared with $1.3 trillion in 2011, led by Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, Ernst & Young forecast in a Dec. 10 report………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Islamic banking and finance is likely to continue its growth trajectory next year despite the outlook of a challenging year ahead and the slowdown in global economy. The robust achievement recorded throughout the year coupled with the ‘safe-haven investment’ sentiment among investors will be the main reasons for the industry to remain favourable.
In the Economic Report 2012/2013 by the Ministry of Finance, the Islamic banking business was stated to have continued to expand in the first seven months of this year with total assets increasing 20.6 per cent to RM469.5 billion, representing 24.2 per cent of the Malaysia’s banking system’s assets………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Why aren’t more Islamic financial institutions sponsoring events that connect them to the young people, next generation of clients and employees, like sporting events in Muslim countries (badminton, football or cricket) or concerts like Sami Yusuf, whose lyrics are about Islamic values?
Why don’t Islamic finance conference awards sponsors include categories like: (1) Most admired Islamic financial institution; (2) Most respected Islamic financial institution; (3) Most ESG, environment, social and governance, conscious Islamic financial institution? These awards attract the best young talent and build bridges to the non-Islamic community………………………………………..Full Article: Source

OSK Research Sdn Bhd has projected a high single-digit growth in premium income for the insurance industry next year. The growth would be supported by the growing affluence amongst the middle-income population, healthy consumer spending power and an under-penetrated market, compared to that of a developed nation.
The takaful segment is expected to continue registering a high double-digit growth of around 20 per cent through 2014. “Insurers increasingly identified takaful as a high-growth profitable segment and with a penetration rate of 13 per cent for family takaful, it indicates the latent potential for takaful versus conventional life insurance’s 55 per cent,” OSK said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Despite the growth of the Sukuk market, more creativity around asset classes in terms of soft ware and intellectual property rights is needed to encourage the introduction of Sukuk instruments as a viable option in western and emerging markets. To many Islamic finance practitioners, the growth in the size of the Sukuk market has not necessarily been accompanied by a deeper level of geographical or asset class diversification.
The over-reliance on real estate assets or, for that matter, governmental or quasi-governmental credit enhancements is as prevalent today as it was during the pre-credit crunch era. This phenomenon can be attributed to a number of factors some of which are driven by the dearth of Islamic finance human resources at top investment banks, investment companies and multinational corporations………………………………………..Full Article: Source

PwC launched its first survey for Capital Projects and Infrastructure in the Middle East, titled “Delivering the Middle East’s Mega Projects”. The survey reveals that investment in major projects remains positive despite challenging economic conditions both globally and in the Middle East.
66% of respondents reported spending over $100m on major projects in 2012 across a broad range of industry sectors, with 72% expecting to increase their spending in 2013. Released today, the report seeks to establish issues and challenges facing project owners and explore opportunity markets. The report also sheds light on project financing issues, including funding constraints, perception of private financing and the funding outlook for 2013………………………………………..Full Article: Source

According to the Forecast Study conducted by Thomson Reuters and Zawya in November 2012 study, global captive sukuk demand is expected to double from $240 billion in 2012 to reach $421 billion by 2016. Supply is also forecasted to grow but the spread between demand and supply is expected to widen even further to more than $280 billion within the next four years.
As Thomson Reuters reported, on the demand side, investors expect 50 percent of their portfolios to be allocated to Islamic finance investments, out of which between $200 million and $800 million, or an average of 35 percent to 40 percent, would be allocated to sukuk………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Demand for sukuk, or Islamic bonds, is expected to almost double in value over the next four years, driven by strong economic growth in the Middle East and Asia and their spread to new markets, according to a report by Thomson Reuters.
Sukuk are Islamic investment certificates that pay returns on money invested, instead of interest, to obey Islam’s ban on interest. They are a major funding tool for both banks and corporates in the Islamic finance industry, which has its core markets in the Middle East and southeast Asia………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Financial instruments — cash, bearer bonds, etc. — in line with Islamic law or Shariah are predicted to hit $1.8 trillion (U.S.) globally by 2013, up 38.5 percent year on year, according to American corporate auditors Ernst & Young’s World Islamic Banking Competitiveness Report 2013 released Monday. But some wonder if this growth will help radical Islamist groups.
According to the report, the top 20 Islamic banks have registered an annual growth of 16 percent over the last 3 years………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Global Islamic banking assets held by commercial banks are set to cross $1.8 trillion in 2013, up from the $1.3 trillion of assets held in 2011 according to Ernst & Young’s World Islamic Banking Competitiveness Report 2013. This forecast is significantly higher than some of the earlier industry estimates.
Globally, the Islamic banking industry continues to record robust growth, with the top 20 Islamic banks registering a growth of 16 percent in the last three years and Saudi Arabia emerging as the largest market for Islamic assets. Top 20 Islamic banks hold over 50 percent of global Islamic banking assets……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The global sukuk market is expected to grow 141.32 per cent to reach $292 billion (Dh1.07 trillion) in issuances by 2016, up from $121 billion (Dh444 billion) in 2012, according to a latest report by Thomson Reuters.
The value of global aggregate sukuk for the period January 1996 to September 2012 is $396.4 billion, attributed to 2,790 issues. “More than 60 per cent of this total value comes from sukuk issued between 2010 and 2012, when 1,486 sukuk were issued to the tune of $248.5 billion,” the report says………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Qatar has issued Islamic bonds (sukuks) worth a staggering $25bn this year, with more than 50 percent of the subscribers representing conventional institutions — a development that indicates increasing investor confidence in Shariah-compliant investment avenues worldwide, a conference on Islamic banking and finance was told here yesterday.
Sheikh Mohamed bin Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, Chairman of Barwa Bank, said while the world is still fighting economic downturn Islamic banking and financing activities have been witnessing growth………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Middle East’s biggest debt underwriter said bond sales by government-related companies in the Gulf will pick up at the start of the new year 2013 to support more than $1 trillion in planned spending.
There’s reason to be ‘optimistic’ for sales by government-related enterprises at the start of next year, said Georges Elhedery, head of global markets for the Middle East and North Africa at HSBC. Issuance this year by so-called GREs fell to about $9.9 billion from about $13 billion in 2011 and compared to $8 billion a year earlier, according to data………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Global Islamic banking assets held by commercial banks are set to cross $1.8 trillion in 2013, up from the $1.3 trillion of assets held in 2011, Ernst & Young’s World Islamic Banking Competitiveness Report 2013 revealed Monday.
Ashar Nazim, Partner, Global Islamic Banking Center of Excellence at Ernst & Young, said: “The top 20 Islamic banks hold 57 percent of the total global Islamic banking assets and are concentrated in the seven core markets for Islamic banking which include: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Malaysia and Turkey.” According to the report, in 2011, the Islamic banking industry in Saudi Arabia, with an estimated $207 billion of Islamic assets, was ranked first. Malaysia, ranked second with total assets of $106 billion in 2011 and UAE ranked third with total assets of $75 billion………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The 2012/13 edition of the World Islamic Banking Competitiveness Report 2011/12 was launched at a specially convened session at the World Islamic Banking Conference in Bahrain. Developed in collaboration with Ernst & Young, the report entitled Growing Beyond: DNA of a Successful Transformation, was presented by Ashar Nazim, Partner, Head of Islamic Banking Excellence Center, Ernst and Young and Shoaib Qureshi, Senior Manager Islamic Financial Services MENA, Ernst and Young.
The report notes that, “Islamic banking growth outlook continues to be positive, growing 50 per cent faster than overall banking sector in several core markets with the Islamic banking assets with commercial banks globally grew to $1.3 trillion in 2011, suggesting an average annual growth of 19 per cent over past four years………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Islamic banks are set to expand as they compete increasingly with conventional lenders in attracting mainstream customers, according to a report by consultancy Ernst & Young released on Monday.
The total of all commercial banks’ Islamic assets is estimated to reach $1.55 trillion this year, $1.8 trillion in 2013 and over $2 trillion mark, the report said. Gulf-based Islamic banks now have $450 billion in assets, about 30 percent of the total………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Jordan’s Islamic banking assets has grown at an annual rate of 13% and now accounts for 5% of the country’s total banking assets, though Islamic insurers have been more sluggish in their performance, according to a recent KFH-Research report on the Kingdom’s Islamic finance sector.
The report said that Islamic banks have outperformed conventional banks in the growth of deposits and financing, reflecting a strong demand for Islamic transactions. On the contrary, the report noted that takaful companies haven’t been performing as well, but things are expected to improve after recently receiving government backing for the growth of takaful in Jordan………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Jordanian government will cement the role of Islamic banking in the kingdom and establish a leading regional center for Islamic finance, especially after the rapid growth of Islamic banking in the country, due to laws that organize the work of takaful insurance and sukuk, KFH-Research said in a report recently.
The assets of the four Islamic banks operating in Jordan is $4.6 billion and forms 5 percent of total banking assets. They achieve annual growth of 13 percent and are better than traditional banks in growth of deposits and financing. This reflects high demand for transactions; especially that they offer various unique services and products………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Shari’ah-compliant funds industry may prove to be the dark horse of Islamic finance as it gains ground outside the Muslim world. The Islamic funds industry may still be dwarfed by the likes of Takaful, Islamic banking and Sukuk but, after a troubled start, it is finally coming into its own. However, it will take a long time for the industry to recover from its tough upbringing.
In 2007 173 funds were launched, then in 2008 the recession set in and the Islamic funds industry suffered alongside ailing Western markets, with the number of funds launched falling to 78. In 2009, that figure plummeted to just 29. Islamic equity funds, which make up 10 per cent of the market, returned 10 per cent in 2010, compared with the 15 per cent return on the global equity index and significantly less than the 22 per cent average of 2009………………………………………..Full Article: Source

75 per cent of the world’s UHNW (Ultra-High Net Worth) population who engage in Shari’ah-compliant finance is represented by UHNWIs in MENA, South Asia and Southeast Asia. By 2017, we expect an additional 960 UHNWIs to adopt Islamic banking, representing an average annual increase of 7.7 per cent.
With the global Islamic banking market forecast to exceed $2.6 trillion by 2017 there is immense potential in engaging UHNWIs who wish to invest in Islamic finance………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Islamic financing continued to grow in 2011 and the first half of this year to more than $ 60 billion. The forecast for this year on the Sukuk is around $ 120 billion, creating a new record.
“I would like to encourage every private as well public sector to think seriously about using the Sukuk as a source of fund,” Abdulmohsen A. Al-Fares, managing director and chief executive officer of Saudi Arabia-based Alinma Bank said. “And we are seeing many issuance over the last three years. This will continue and will see more that will help the secondary market to develop so that the government issuance of Sukuk will set as a benchmark which is very important for secondary market development. This will be strong source of funding not only in Islamic world but also globally.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Sitting in a room full of energy bankers and lawyers one evening, I listened to an esteemed Ivy League professor explain how he was able to bridge two disparate academic fields on his way to becoming one of the pioneers of Islamic finance.
Working alongside respected Islamic theologians in order to convince a wealthy Muslim investor to put his money into a particular deal, the working team repeatedly hit walls in their efforts to reconcile the concepts of risk, credit, security, and cost of capital with the documented words and actions of the Prophet Mohammed. As a last resort, the professor and the scholars tossed out their case studies and scriptures and drew up a simple analogy:……………………………………….Full Article: Source

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

Global Islamic bonds (sukuk) is seeing a steady growth path as institutions and governments worldwide issue new bonds while new incentives for regulatory and advisory bodies are said to be inspiring confidence in the market.
RHB Research Institute Sdn Bhd (RHB Research) in a research note yesterday stated that Malaysia’s corporate sukuk issuance for the third quarter of 2012 (3Q12) gained momentum with a total of RM26.8 billion issued, compared with RM13.05 billion recorded in 2Q12. The research house highlighted that ‘chunky issuances’, amongst others, came from Celcom and Tanjung Bin with RM5 billion and RM4.2 billion issued respectively………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The rise and continued growth of the Islamic finance industry has been well documented. The reports of 10, 12 and even 15 percent annual growth have captured the attention of those in conventional banking and finance. A number of Islamic banks are based in London, but the industry is mostly Malaysia and GCC-centric.
Critics of Islamic finance have stated that the label of “shariah” is not conducive to widespread development of the industry in Europe. They are known as “participation banks” in Turkey for this reason. Everybody in the industry is aware of the growth rates, the increasing issuance of Islamic bonds, called sukuk, and the continuing scandals that emerge out of the world’s financial centres such as London and New York that allow Islamic finance to market itself as a legitimate alternative system………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The report prepared by KFH-Research regarding Sukuk in September explained that the issuance of Sukuk in September reached USD 11.6 billion with a 135% increase compared to September last year, while total volume of Sukuk issuance during the first nine months if this year reached USD 103 billion, exceeding the volume of Sukuk last year.
Sovereign Sukuk formed 66% and Malaysia was first while Turkey came in second in volume of issuance; thus making the Malaysian Ringgit the first currency followed by the US dollar………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Islamic finance market is having arguably its best year ever. After a catalogue of breakthroughs, the industry has plenty to celebrate and every reason to look forward to an even better 2013. So why is it so downbeat?
There was a oddly sombre mood at the Kuala Lumpur Islamic Finance Forum last week — odd because 2011’s event had been so upbeat and because the industry is enjoying such a successful 2012………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The size of Islamic banking market in Qatar is worth $35bn. The sector accounts for an estimated 19.3 percent of the country’s total banking assets. The Institute of International Finance (IIF) estimated in its latest report that the assets of Islamic Banking industry in the GCC has reached a total of $314bn by the end of 2011, representing about 19 percent of the total assets of the Gulf banks that amounts to about two trillion dollars.The IIF estimated the assets of Islamic banks around the world $1.6trn.
Saudi Arabia, with an estimated $92bn assets, leads in terms of the size of the Islamic banking market in the region, followed by the United Arab Emirates- $80bn and Kuwait at about $ 70bn. Bahrain ‘s assets has been estimated to$ 38 bn, an Arabic daily quoted IIF report as saying………………………………………..Full Article: Source