Malaysian Islamic Finance at Cross Roads Following its recent Sukuk default, the IMDB corruption scandals continues to cast a dark shadow over the Malaysian financial sector with this week the United States moving to seize more than $1bn in assets, ranging from plush properties to a private jet, from people connected to Prime Minister Najib Razak. Against this backdrop, Islamic finance activity in... »

Luxembourg: The Gateway for Islamic finance and the Middle East Luxembourg is the leading non-Muslim domicile for Sharia complaint investment funds, a popular location for listing Sukuk on the primary market and the domicile of choice for the international investment structures of a number of sovereign wealth funds according to a report released by Ernst and Young’s Luxembourg office highlighting ... »

Bank Negara Malaysia today launched MarketplaceIF, a e-market platform where those seeking Islamic finance financial solutions and services are able to meet providers. »

Sovereigns, Banks and Corporates in the Gulf will Boost Sukuk Sales in 2017 Sukuk issuances are expected to be flat at around $70 billion for 2016, but are expected to pick up in 2017 as issuers ranging from sovereigns, banks and corporates in the Gulf look to issue to meet their financing needs. $40bn of sukuk was issued in the first half of the year with the marketing slowing in the summer and t... »

Earnings of Islamic Insurers to Remain Weak Two recent reports from rating agencies highlighted the challenges facing the Takaful industry. S&P said in a report looking at the GCC region, earnings of Islamic insurers will remain relatively weak and unevenly distributed as their small size, short track records, and retail focus work against them. Most takaful players in the region are still rel... »

Aberdeen Islamic – More Client Queries The decision by JPMorgan to include Sukuk in its indexes will draw more global investors to the Sukuk market and boost trading of the financial instrument. Barclays made a similar decision last year in a move which at the time was stated would boost international demand by attracting more non-Islamic investors to Malaysian sukuk. Barclays Global Aggrega... »

IDB Prize for Women’s Contribution to Development The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) is an international financial institution with a membership of 57 countries spreading across different continents and regions. Its mission is to promote comprehensive human development, with a focus on the priority areas of alleviating poverty, improving health, promoting education, improving governance and prospe... »

Report by Asian Development Bank – Asia Bond Monitor September 2016, Review of Islamic Finance and Sukuk market in South East Asia. Sukuk represented 11.8% share vs. conventional in Indonesia and 54.6% in Malaysia Emerging East Asia’s G3 currency bond issuance declined 2.5% y-o-y in January–July In Southeast Asia, total G3 currency bond issues (bonds issued in US dollars, yen and euros) were... »

Commentary by RHB Global Sukuk Markets Research, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Saudi Banking Sector Gets SAR20bn Injection The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) injected SAR20bn (USD5.3bn) into the banking system via time deposits, and also introduced 7 day and 28 day repurchase agreements in support of more monetary policy tools to support the economy. This comes after the 3 month Saudi Interbank Off... »

Commentary by Yi Ren Thng, Visiting Scholar, Centre for Chinese Studies, Stellenbosch University Corporate China Expressing an Interest in Islamic Finance With only roughly 20 million Muslims in China, it is not surprising that Islamic finance has not taken off in China. Recently, however, some Chinese companies have expressed interest in tapping into offshore pools of Islamic funds. For example, ... »