In the Islamic finance realm of the GCC, Saudi Arabia and the UAE may dominate headlines, but this week we turn our attention to Kuwait – one of the strongest economies in the Gulf – which may just be catching up to its peers.
The IFN team finds out what is driving foreign players into Singapore’s nascent Islamic finance market and takes stock of an apparent surge in Waqf interest in Malaysia. We dive deep into key Islamic offshore centers and the infrastructure financing sector as well as bring you a breakdown of Warba Bank’s inaugural Sukuk. Columnist Daud Vicary discusses the concept of relevance and trust in his monthly piece; our IFN Correspondents report from five different countries and on four different sectors this week; while market experts from Al Rayan Investment, the World Bank and Kord Capital, share their insights into Islamic exchange-traded funds in Qatar, infrastructure Sukuk and Takaful respectively. We also have a special report on Kazakhstan, coinciding with our successful IFN CIS Forum in Astana earlier this week.
As usual, we wish our readers an informative and insightful read.