MALAYSIA: Emraz Travel & Tours expects 12,000 pilgrims to use AmBank Islamic’s Umrah financing this year, Bernama reports
SAUDI ARABIA: Al-Etihad Cooperative Insurance Co to provide coverage for Saudi National Bank
SAUDI ARABIA: Islamic crowdfunding platform Raqamyah secures license from Saudi Central Bank
SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Capital Market Authority grants fintech experimental permit to Rakeez Capital
MALAYSIA: pitchIN raises funds from Malaysian Technology Development Corporation and Gobi Partners
MALAYSIA: Bank Islam Malaysia appoints Anthony Tai as group chief information security officer
UAE: Net asset value of ENBD REIT reach US$173 million in third quarter of 2022, reports TradeArabia
GLOBAL: Blockchain Takatech start-up Takadao signs MoU with MRHB Network
MALAYSIA: Elzar Shariah Solution grants Rural Capital with Shariah compliance certificate and Shariah pronouncement
US: Fursa Capital’s Islamic crowdfunding platform beta test goes live
BAHRAIN: Tamkeen signs partnership agreements with five insurance companies to train Bahrainis to become qualified actuaries
SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman appoints Ayman Muhammad Al-Sayyari as new governor of Saudi Central Bank
UAE: Dubai Islamic Bank to issue dollar-denominated sustainable Sukuk under US$7.5 billion issuance program, Reuters reports
MALAYSIA: Bank Negara Malaysia issues Islamic facilities worth up to RM33.3 billion (US$7.82 billion)
BANGLADESH: Bangladesh Bank auctions Islamic Banks Liquidity Facility receiving bids worth up to BDT40.65 billion (US$376.97 million)
PAKISTAN: Kistpay partners with Zindgi to offer financing options for smartphone purchases
MALAYSIA: Serba Dinamik Holdings and three subsidiaries apply for temporary stay of winding-up order by Malaysian High Court
SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi regulator approves Allianz Saudi Fransi Cooperative’s motor insurance products
MALAYSIA: RAM lifts rating watch on Besraya (M)’s RM700 million (US$164.5 million) Sukuk Mudarabah; upgrades to ‘AA2’
SAUDI ARABIA: Information technology firm Perfect Presentation for Commercial Services Co secures Islamic banking facility from GIB worth up to SAR50 milllion (US$13.31 million)
RUSSIA: Russia starts experimental pilot project implementing Islamic finance in Muslim-majority regions, Anadolu Agency reports
NIGERIA: Sterling Bank Group’s total assets reach NGN1.87 trillion (US$4.06 billion) in 2022
MALAYSIA: SkyWorld Capital proposes Islamic medium-term note/commercial paper programs worth RM300 million (US$70.3 million); receives ratings of ‘AIS(cg)/MARC-1IS(cg)’ respectively
PAKISTAN: Pakistani fintech Digitt Plus to offer Shariah compliant services under its soon-to-be launched super app; to commence pilot project
NIGERIA: Jaiz Bank’s total assets increase to NGN378 billion (US$819.93 million) in 2022
UAE: UAE Ministerial Development Council discusses policies and initiatives including Sukuk restructuring project, Gulf News reports
INDONESIA: Hassana Boga Sejahtera’s shares join regulator’s list of Shariah securities
SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Real Estate Refinance Co to issue US dollar Sukuk worth up to US$500 million during first half of 2023, Reuters reports
UK: Gatehouse Bank launches online decision-in-principle facility for qualifying customers
INDONESIA: Otoritas Jasa Keuangan deems Aviana Sinar Abadi’s shares as Shariah compliant
KUWAIT: Kuwait International Bank board approves proposal to sell Al-Dajeej land to unidentified interested party
UAE: Central Bank of the UAE raises base rate of overnight deposit facility by 25bps
KUWAIT: Warba Bank appoints Ahmad Faisal Yousef Al Qatami as chief retail banking officer
GLOBAL: International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation to auction US$920 million Sukuk in three tranches
QATAR: Masraf Al Rayan’s total assets decrease by 4% in 2022
KUWAIT: Boubyan Bank’s total consolidated assets increase to KWD7.9 billion (US$25.81 billion) in 2022
KUWAIT: Kuwait Finance House’s long-term IDR at ‘A’ with stable outlook, Fitch says
SAUDI ARABIA: Al Rajhi Bank records 16.31% year-on-year growth in annual net profit to SAR17.15 billion (US$4.57 billion) for 2022
MALAYSIA: RAM lifts rating watch on Besraya (M)’s RM700 million (US$164.5 million) Sukuk Mudarabah; upgrades to ‘AA2’
SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Central Bank announces insurance sector’s adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards
GAMBIA: Central Bank of Gambia’s Sukuk Salam facilities oversubscribed
INDONESIA: CIMB Niaga Auto Finance conducts public offering for Sukuk Wakalah Bi Al Istithmar I worth IDR1 trillion (US$66.59 million)
BAHRAIN: Central Bank of Bahrain’s monthly short-term Sukuk Ijarah offering worth BHD26 million (US$68.54 million) oversubscribed
BANGLADESH: Bangladesh Bank auctions three-month Bangladesh Government Islami Investment Bond and liquidity facilities
INDONESIA: Indonesia’s Takaful sector faces long-term challenges amid growing market share, says Fitch Ratings
SAUDI ARABIA: Arabian Shield for Cooperative Insurance Co renews license with Council of Cooperative Health Insurance
KUWAIT: Fitch affirms Boubyan Bank’s long-term issuer default rating at ‘A’ with stable outlook
GLOBAL: IsDB Institute and Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism reaffirm technical partnership
SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Investment Bank commences offering of second tranche of Tier 1 Sukuk
SAUDI ARABIA: Development Works Food opens SAR5 million (US$1.33 million) Sukuk offering to institutional and retail investors
SAUDI ARABIA: ACWA Power Company, a Saudi developer, investor and operator of energy and water plants, has returned to the Islamic capital market for the first time since its debut Sukuk issuance in 2021. The company recently raised SAR1.8 billion...
Despite housing the largest concentration of Muslims in Europe after France, Germany has found little success in Islamic finance. Pundits are quick to point out the reasons why Islamic finance has failed in Germany, but...
Islamic finance in Germany has been slow to take off but good work is being done on the ground, which may put the industry on the right path. In this week’s cover story, we canvass...
Third-party logistics firm Pomegranate Nigeria (PNL) has successfully raised NGN2.25 billion (US$4.88 million) through a Sukuk Ijarah issuance. NESSREEN TAMANO has the story. Proceeds from the privately placed Islamic facility, which carries a three-year tenor,...
Saudi Arabia closed its January 2023 issuance worth SAR3.47 billion (US$922.98 million) under the government’s Saudi riyal-denominated Sukuk program, while Brunei priced its 107th issuance of its central...
Despite having a small Muslim population (around 185,000, or 0.1% of the total population as of 2023 according to World Population Review), Japan continues to recognize the importance of Islamic finance and banking, on both...
2022 was marked by a slew of significant merger and acquisition (M&A) deals within the Islamic banking and Takaful industries, creating industry giants along the way. EMIR ZAINUL highlights the latest developments in M&A deals....
Algeria and Bangladesh have reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening their respective Sukuk markets, while Indonesia and Pakistan launched new guidelines to further support their Islamic finance and banking sectors. KCB Bank Tanzania launched a landmark Sukuk issuance while Labuan plans to debut Shariah compliant security...
The Islamic Finance news Awards honor the best in the Islamic financial industry and are one of the most prestigious awards highly recognized by the global Islamic capital markets. These awards continue to be an apt representation of the current Islamic financial market landscape.
OMAN: The Central Bank of Oman (CBO), in collaboration with 51%-state-owned telecommunications company Omantel, has selected five fintech start-ups, including a Shariah compliant one, to join its six-month accelerator program dedicated to empowering fintech start-ups...
Algeria and Bangladesh have reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening their respective Sukuk markets, while Indonesia and Pakistan launched new guidelines to further support their Islamic finance and banking sectors. KCB Bank Tanzania launched a landmark...
Saudi Arabia closed its January 2023 issuance worth SAR3.47 billion (US$922.98 million) under the government’s Saudi riyal-denominated Sukuk program, while Brunei priced its 107th issuance of its central bank Islamic bills worth BN$25 million (US$18.95...
Designed to complement its Shariah investment toolkit, HSBC Asset Management seeks to provide investors with exposure to the global Sukuk market with the launch of the HSBC Global Sukuk Index Fund. EMIR ZAINUL has the...
The regional government of Indonesian province Riau is taking steps toward issuing Sukuk to fund public development projects. VINEETA TAN writes this could pave the way for Islamic municipal bonds in Indonesia. Although Indonesia is...
The Bahraini state-owned Oil and Gas Holding Company, widely known as nogaholding, has secured a US$200 million revolving credit facility structured as a Murabahah financing scheme from a banking syndicate led by Al Baraka Islamic...
In the global Sukuk market this week, we see regular Islamic paper issuers conclude their first issuances for the new year. Malaysia's special economic zone in the city of Labuan is preparing to issue Shariah...
The Labuan International Business and Financial Centre (Labuan IBFC), a special economic zone in Malaysia's Labuan, plans to issue Shariah compliant digital security tokens this year, through its newly launched Islamic Digital Asset Centre (IDAC)....
GLOBAL: Two weeks after IFN announced the best Islamic banks in the world in 2022, we are pleased to reveal this year's winners of the IFN Best Banks Poll 2022 – Country: the best local...
The Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC), the insurance arm of the IsDB, has signed an MoU with UAE-government-owned Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) to promote renewable energy projects...
The UK actor Peter Ustinov once referred to Toronto as ‘New York run by Swiss’. Both cities share a large diverse population, a North American culture and are the largest cities along with being the...
Detecting, preventing, reacting, repairing and learning from these crucial exercises to continue financial activity: this is the challenge of the European Digital Operational Resilience Act, which came into force at the end of 2022. As...
Islamic cooperatives are one of the types of cooperative and solidarity economies that secure job opportunities and contribute to poverty reduction as well as support many development goals. Cooperatives, in the legal sense, entered the...
Malaysia’s economic growth has declined due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a global crisis which also affects the Malaysian economy and the health of its citizens. Many individuals have been affected by the virus...
Islamic finance in Palestine has significantly improved during the last few years, despite different and diverse challenges, such as political turmoil (the Israeli occupation) as well as regulatory issues. By the end of 2021, there...
The 17 SDGs initially emerged from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) conference on sustainable development in Brazil in 2012 and were finally approved and adopted in 2015 at the UN General Assembly by all 193 countries present at the time. The goals replaced the eight MDGs or Millennium Development Goals, which were launched by the UNDP in 2000 with the commitment from world leaders to fight poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women in all parts of the world. The debate is on whether the MDGs were a failure or part success but an analysis I...
The Australian Islamic finance industry has been growing at a steady pace in recent years, with more and more investors looking for ways to align their financial goals with their moral and ethical values. Two of the most well-recognized and major financial companies offering Islamic finance products in Australia, Crescent Wealth and Hejaz Financial Services,...
2022 proved to be an action-packed year in terms of trading and brokerage endeavors and engagements in the Islamic world, and 2023 is poised to be an even greater success. The MENA region in particular seems set to continue in its outperformance of the global economy, with the IMF predicting GDP regional growth for the...
Eqraz is the newest kid on the block in the Canadian Islamic finance landscape where it is providing Shariah compliant retail financing based on Tawarruq. It has been an endeavor of four years and is a product which complies with the Canadian tax and disclosure regulations among many others as relayed by its CEO and...
According to an S&P Global Ratings report, the GCC’s continued economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic would enhance Islamic insurers’ growth prospects in 2023. This recovery is being strengthened by higher hydrocarbon prices, rising activity in the non-oil sector and increased government spending on infrastructure projects. Additional mandatory coverage and generally higher insurance demand are...
Crowdfunding started in Malaysia in September 2014 when the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) issued a consultation paper on the ‘Proposed Regulatory Framework for Equity Crowdfunding (ECF)’. In February 2015, the SC released the ‘Guidelines on Regulation of Markets’, outlining the requirements for the registration of ECF platforms and the obligations of their operators, following which...
Islamic finance and blockchain are two subsectors of the global financial ecosystem rarely discussed in tandem. That does not undermine their significance — on the contrary, blockchain and Islamic finance are regularly featured in the...
Financial product restructuring (FPR) is an action taken by an Islamic financial institution to significantly modify the financial and operational aspects of a product or financial instrument, usually when the business is facing financial pressures....
Islamic finance today has become a global growth phenomenon that no region or country can afford to ignore. According to the State of the Global Islamic Economy Report 2020/21, an annual industry report produced by...
Zakat and Infaq are alternative solutions in alleviating poverty. In Indonesia, Infaq has been used in solving social problems related to education and poverty (Daroini, Ikhawan & Saputro, 2020; Ulya & Al-Azizah, 2021). Infaq means...
Although there is a strict prohibition against charging interest, a significant number of Islamic banks still rely on interest-based benchmarks like the Karachi Interbank Offered Rate (KIBOR) or the London Interbank Offered Rate as a...
In this episode, Vineeta Tan speaks to the co-founders of German Islamic fintech start-up INAIA, Bilgehan Akbiyik and Emre Akyel, to understand how COVID-19 has altered the fledgling Shariah finance landscape in Germany, and how digitalization is playing a vital role in tapping this market.
