From REITs to SMEs, Saudi has been aggressively diversifying and expanding its investment universe to varying success. Our cover story this week takes stock of the Kingdom’s progress and identifies the winning and weak points of the strategy of the world’s largest Islamic finance market.
In this issue, we bring you the first of a two-part series on Waqf in Africa and we also hear from the horse’s mouth on the delay of Bangladeshi banks in issuing Sukuk. Brunei is the focus of this week’s analysis in which it is observed that the small Sultanate may just make a huge impact on the international Islamic finance landscape with a new plan in place and in the case study, CIMB Investment shares with IFN the inner workings of Malaysia’s first Chinese water infrastructure Sukuk deal.
Read from the Capital Market Development Authority of the Maldives on the current progress and future initiatives by the tropical nation to position itself as a South Asian hub for Islamic finance; the International Islamic Financial Market shares its two cents on the state of standards and standardization; and RHB Islamic explains the Shariah fintech phenomenon.
As usual, we wish our readers an informative and insightful read.