The UK mid-market is a powerful driver of the economy. Often unfairly misrepresented, these firms make huge contributions to jobs and growth. Over the last 12 months the economic picture has continued to brighten despite flashpoints remaining. »
The Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Alan Yarrow during a trip to Nigeria urged the country to consider all sources of finance as a means for attracting investment funds. In particular the Lord Mayor was keen to highlight the City of London role as a leading centre for Islamic finance and stated Islamic finance can provide substantial investment for Nigeria. He added Islamic financing wa... »
The increased participation of non-Muslim jurisdictions also reflects the positive acceptance of Islamic finance among the global community. Sukuk has drawn strong interests as an attractive source of funding and a new asset class. »
Islamic bond issuance in Malaysia over the last three months marked its slowest quarter since 2010. Bloomberg TV Malaysia's Sophie Kamaruddin and Han Tan look at the factors that could mark a turnaround by year-end in the world's largest sukuk market. »
Indonesia could benefit from the winding down of operations among some Islamic lenders in Malaysia and Singapore. Bloomberg TV Malaysia's Sophie Kamaruddin and Cynthia Ng assess if Indonesia has what it takes to be the next Islamic banking hub in the region. »
In contrast to the current challenges of the conventional debt market, Pakistan was able to achieve a better reception for its Sukuk issued in November 2014. The 5 years issuance for $1bn was upped from an initial target of $500 million. The sukuk was five times oversubscribed with offers of 2.3 billion. »
The Islamic financial market would benefit from Iranian sanction lifting. In this CMTV, Standard & Poor discuss the impact of agreement between the P5+1 countries and Iran on its economy and the Sharia compliant finance industry. »
Saudi dairy and poultry producer Almarai settled for a 1.6 billion Riyal sukuk issuance after previously stating it was looking for a 2 billion issuance depending on "market conditions", which it seems were not present to allow it to achieve its target issuance amount. Sukuk tend to be heavily oversubscribed and the fact that Almarai was not only able to hit its desired issuance amount, let alone ... »
The decision to tap the conventional market over sukuk is somewhat surprising given that Pakistan previously tapped the sukuk market in November 2014 with a $1 billion 5 year issuance, a transaction which was five times oversubscribed with offers of $2.3 billion against initial size of $500M which was upped to $1 billion. Such demand allowed the Government of Pakistan to close the transaction offe... »
Profit from Nigeria’s World Class Sharia Listed Companies Nigeria is Africa’s biggest economy and second only to Saudi Arabia in terms of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) members GDP ranking. It currently presents an interesting investment case for the Islamic investor. »
