This week in Islamic finance, Saudi Arabia took another step toward deepening its capital market with its clearing center company’s repurchase service. In South Africa, the Takaful sector will be seeing a new product launched in the next couple of months, while in Senegal, the government issued its third Sukuk since its debut issuance in 2014.
All these and more in this week’s IFN market round-up.
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Saudi Arabia’s new REPO service
The Securities Clearing Center Company of Saudi Arabia, also known as Muqassa, launched its repurchase agreement clearing (REPO) service, with the first-ever transaction valued at SAR500 million (US$133.15 million) in government Sukuk.
South Africa welcomes new Takaful player
South African insurance and investment company Discovery unveiled its first Shariah compliant medical scheme arrangement, which will be officially launched later in June. Existing members on the company’s medical aid plans have the option to convert them to Islamic.
Sukuk issuances of note
Senegal returned to the Sukuk market with an Islamic facility worth a total of XOF300 billion (US$488.48 million), six years after its last Islamic paper issuance. Proceeds from the Sukuk will be used to fund the real estate and infrastructure needs of the country.
In Pakistan, the central bank auctioned a five-year Sukuk Ijarah paper worth PKR137.24 billion (US$734.23 million) under its long-standing Sukuk Ijarah program.
Malaysia Airports Holdings has issued its second Sukuk Wakalah paper worth RM800 million (US$183.42 million) after being upsized from its initial target issue size of RM500 million (US$114.64 million).
Meanwhile, the UAE government’s planned AED T-Bonds are expected to encourage corporates and financial institutions to issue domestic Sukuk and bonds, according to Fitch Ratings.
Change in leadership
Bosnia’s Bosna Bank International announced the appointment of a new management board, with Alek Bakalovic leading as the president. The bank also appointed a new chief risk officer and chief corporate banking officer, among others.
In Saudi Arabia, Bank Albilad elected Nasser Mohammed Al-Subaie as its new chairman of the board of directors, and Adeeb Mohammed Abanumai as the vice-chairman, both for a three-year term.
In other leadership news, Dr Amjad Saqib, the philanthropist founder of Pakistan’s largest interest-free microfinance program Akhuwat, has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian work.
Lendable’s first Islamic facility
Financial services company Lendable, which has offices around the world including the UK, Singapore and Kenya, has extended a Shariah compliant facility worth US$30 million — its first — to Indonesian Islamic fintech ALAMI.
Alba refinances syndicated facility
Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) refinanced its US$1.25 billion syndicated facility, which features an Islamic tranche and is tied to sustainability-linked targets, making it the first company in the Kingdom to complete such a transaction.