Gross global cross-border capital flows have shrunk by 65 percent from US$12.4 trillion in 2007 to $4.3 trillion in 2016 (McKinsey Global Institute), a trend inline with the Islamic finance industry (IFSB). A powerful force for optimism for Islamic cross border investment to buck this trend is China’s OBOR, as stated in a Jakarta Post article by George Mickhail, a senior lecturer at the University... »
Sukuk Default – Saad Group Head Arrested in Saudi Arabia Maan Al Sanea was arrested by Saudi authorities in October on charges of evading justice and owing large sums of money to creditors. He is also accused in the English courts of a $650m (£495m) fraud that has triggered a battle between hedge funds and the French bank BNP Paribas. The Telegraph reported Mr Maan’s $22bn Saad Group, collap... »
ICD and Mizuho Bank sign Islamic financing agreement The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) and Mizuho Bank have formalized a signing of Islamic financing agreement. The Islamic financing term sheet agreement was signed by Mr.Khaled Al Aboodi, the Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of ICD, and Mr. Shojiro Mizoguchi, Chief Executive Officer of Mizuho Bank (... »
Second Largest Sukuk Market Indonesia has ample room for growth, as the second-largest sukuk market in the world in 2016, Fitch Ratings says in a new report on Indonesian domestic corporate sukuk issuance. Indonesia’s domestic corporate sukuk market continues to lag far behind that of Malaysia, the largest sukuk market in the world. In the report, Fitch provides an overview of Indonesian dom... »
Meeting Discusses Socio Economic Development, Combating Poverty and Illegal Immigration Dr. Bandar Mohammad Hajjar, Chairman of the Islamic Development Bank Group, discussed with Ms. Elisabetta Martini, the Italian Consul-General in Jeddah, at IDB headquarters in Jeddah means of enhancing cooperation between IDBG and Italy in the areas of socioeconomic development, combating poverty, illegal immig... »
“Using Shariah non-compliance as a rationale for restructuring” The actions of Dana Gas can derail UAE and Dubai’s Islamic Finance ambitions as investors question credibility of UAE based Sharia compliance assurances. UAE based Dana Gas made a surprise announcement on 13 June, stating “due to the evolution and continual development of Islamic financial instruments and their interpretation, the Com... »
Yuri Barmin Analyst on Russia and its Middle East policy presents a great overview of the current state of affairs of the development of Sharia compliant financial sector within Russia and the CIS. The double push by Russian banks to enter into Islamic financial markets, initially during the global financial crisis in 2008 and most recently since 2014 due to the imposition of EU sanctions, as wel... »
Outstanding Islamic Debt Securities Approching Conventional Debt Malaysia is a world leader and standard-setter in Islamic finance. In recent years, the government increased the use of Islamic debt instruments for funding purposes. In April 2016, the government issued its fifth dollar-denominated sovereign sukuk (Malaysia 2026, and Malaysia 2046) for US$1.5 billion using nonphysical assets as coll... »
VTB Capital has helped arrange a $500 million sukuk for UAE based property developer Damac (NR/BB/NR). The sukuk issued in the name of Alpha Star Holding III Limited drew demand of around $1 billion and was priced at a profit rate of 6.25%. The issuance came in tighter than its initial price guidance of 6.5% and will be used to repay Damac’s USD650m sukuk due in 2019. Primary Sukuk Market The prim... »
Central Bank Looking to Implement Fund Based Deposit Shari’ah compliant liquidity facilities Consultation paper looks at establishing a fund based deposit facility for UK Islamic Financial institutions. The work to develop a Shari’ah compliant facility commenced in the second half of 2015, and is part of the Bank’s more general approach to broadening market access to central bank liquidity facilit... »
