Indonesian corporate sukuk sales are off to their best ever start and the top underwriter predicts a full-year record as $92 billion of state-backed development projects buoy issuance.
Bank Muamalat Indonesia and Adira Dinamika Multi Finance were among issuers of Rp 1.5 trillion ($154 million) of securities, Financial Services Authority data show. That compares with Rp 1.9 trillion for the whole of 2012 and a record Rp 2.3 trillion in 2008. The market is still just a fraction of Malaysia’s, where companies sold 95.8 billion ringgit ($32 billion) of sukuk last year………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), the world’s biggest petrochemicals group, will issue a Sukuk late this year or next year to fund coming projects, a senior company official said on Tuesday.
SABIC has 40 billion riyals ($10.7 billion) worth of projects over the next few years and the company prefers to fund these with sukuk, although “not at any cost”, Chief Financial Officer Mutlaq al-Morished said on the sidelines of a financial conference………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Islamic bond sales in Turkey may double to $3 billion this year as companies join the government in accessing Shariah-compliant investors, according to HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA), the world’s biggest underwriter of sukuk.
Sales reached about $1 billion this year, led by banks including Turkiye Finans Katilim Bankasi AS, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The yield on March 2018 notes, which Turkey sold for the first time in September, fell six basis points this year to 2.68 percent, seven basis points below the global average, the data show………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) has sufficient cash to settle its RM2bil sukuk ijarah expiring at the end of the year and remains committed to return RM700mil, or up to 90% of normalised net profits, to its shareholders.
“We have adequate bank balances to pay the sukuk and there is no need to issue more bonds at the moment,” group chief financial officer Datuk Bazlan Osman said after the company’s AGM. As at Dec 31, 2012, TM had cash and bank balances of RM3.73bil while total borrowings stood at RM7.14bil………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Dubai may issue another sovereign bond this year and is looking at alternate means to repay its debt if asset sales don’t materialise, a top official said on Tuesday.
“The market is right, the price is right, then why not?” Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum, a close advisor and uncle to Dubai’s ruler, said when asked whether the emirate might make a second sovereign debt issue this year………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) may tap the debt market as early as this year as the world’s biggest petrochemicals maker by market value seeks financing for projects amid borrowing costs near record lows.
The state-controlled company is implementing projects valued at 40 billion riyals ($11 billion) over the next few years, Chief Financial Officer Mutlaq al-Morished said in Riyadh today. “We will tap the market sometime late this year or early next year,” he said. It’s too early to comment on the size of the bond sale, which Sabic would prefer to be Islamic, al- Morished said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

As part of an initiative backed by the Islamist government, Ziraat Bank, the country’s largest state-run lender, is working to set up a Shari’ah-compliant entity. It comes less than a year after Ankara’s debut sovereign Sukuk. In a country divided by the role of religion in public life, such an active promotion of Islamic finance would have been tough to imagine when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan first came to power a decade ago.
But times have changed. Turkey already has four Islamic banks, known locally as participation banks, of which three are foreign-owned. The first was established almost three decades ago………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) does not currently consider amending the domestic legislation to ensure the implementation of Islamic banking in Azerbaijan, CBA Chairman Elman Rustamov said.
Prohibition on charging interest for loans is the major distinction between Islamic and Western-style banking. Instead of interest, Islamic banks take a stake in businesses to which they loan money and share both the profit and loss with the client………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) Group posted a 10.7 per cent increase in net profit of AED 340.1 million for Q1 2013, after taking provisions and impairments of AED 185.5 million.
Net customer financing increased 8.9 per cent to AED 54.0 billion and total assets increased 15.9 per cent to AED 88.7 billion………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The big news in Cairo is that a long-awaited cabinet reshuffle has finally become a reality. President Mohamed Morsy swore in nine new ministers today in a move that increases the Muslim Brotherhood’s representation in the government.
The shakeup comes as Egypt is deep in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) about a $4.8 billion loan intended to help the country jumpstart its stagnant economy………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Asiya Investments, the Asia specialist investment firm, announced today the launch of its Asia Islamic Trade Finance Fund, which will invest in select, Shariah-compliant financing of short-term physical trade flows in Asia and the Middle East.
The Fund aims to capture a unique set of opportunities that exist in today’s market. Key amongst these is the expansion of both intra-Asia as well as cross-border trade flows between Asia and the Middle East………………………………………..Full Article: Source

UNB’s Private Banking Division announced that the performance of both ‘Al Itihad and Al Samaha Islamic’ Funds was steady and consistent with the relevant benchmarks during the last year. Their performance since inception was commendable compared to other funds in the same category.
Al Itihad Fund achieved an impressive +18.2% net returns for 2012 and +33.8% in 2013 up to 25th April. The Fund was launched with an objective to achieve long-term capital growth by investing in publicly traded companies. The fund’s prime focus is on UAE markets and to a lesser extent on other GCC markets………………………………………..Full Article: Source

A Shariah-compliant underwriting agency has been launched in the London market with the financial backing of Capita and the Bank of London & Middle East, and capacity provided by XL.
Lloyd’s-based Cobalt Underwriting aims to provide Shariah-compliant insurance and reinsurance products globally. Its initial underwriting focus will be on property cover, with a maximum capacity of up to $300m (£193.2m). The products will be offered on a worldwide basis with the exception of the US and Canada………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan has passed three orders against a takaful company for not complying with the provisions of the Insurance Ordinance, 2000, and the Companies Ordinance, 1984, in which one of the orders relates to the interpretation of the exemption given under Proviso to Section 187(h) of the Companies Ordinance, 1984.
Moreover, the insurance division of SECP has also passed an order against a Life Insurance Company under Section 130(2) of Insurance Ordinance, 2000, as a result of adjudication of an appeal against the order of the federal insurance ombudsman………………………………………..Full Article: Source