INDONESIA - OIC - IDB approves $1.96bn in new projects

www.arabnews.com - The closing ceremony of the 37th annual meeting of the board of governors of the Islamic development bank (IDB) hosted in Khartoum on Thursday was marked by the signing of a number of financing agreements. Under these agreements, the bank will contribute to financing of new development projects in 21 member countries with a total value of $1.96 billion.

According to an IDB source, the list of these countries included Sudan, Turkey, Bangladesh, Chad, Bahrain, Indonesia, Guinea, Mauritania, Uzbekistan, Senegal, Burkinafaso, Tajikistan, Sierra Leone, Cameron, Niger, Mali, Afghanistan, Gambia, Maldives, and Guinea Bissau. (source)

WORLD - TAKAFUL - ICIEC set to launch sukuk policy to facilitate credit enhancement

The idea of a third party sukuk guarantee fund is still being considered by the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Export Credits and Investment (ICIEC), the standalone export credit agency of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group. However, according to Abdel Rahman Taha, the chief executive officer of ICIEC, the corporation "has initiated work internally to design a new sukuk policy which can be offered as a means to enhance the credit structure and appeal of sukuk. It is expected that this new policy will be able to provide the much needed respite to the sukuk market." (source)

INDONESIA - CAPITAL MARKETS - Home / Economy / Islamic Finance / Indonesia to press ahead with issuance of sovereign sukuk Indonesia to press ahead with issuance of sovereign sukuk

Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country and potentially the largest market for Islamic finance, has received a major boost to press ahead with the issuance of its proposed benchmark global Islamic trust certificates (sukuk) which will be issued by Perusahaan Penerbit SBSN Indonesia II (PPSI II), a special purpose vehicle (SPV) on behalf of the Ministry of Finance of Indonesia. (source)

WORLD - GENERAL - WB meet fails to address Islamic finance role in development

ARABNEWS.COM - Oct. 03--Islamic finance got an important airing at the 2011 annual meetings of the World Bank Group/International Monetary Fund (IMF) held in Washington last week when Ahmad Mohamed Ali, president of the Islamic Development Bank Group (IDB) was invited for the first time to address the influential 84th Development Committee meeting of the World Bank as an observer.  (source)

MALAYSIA - CAPITAL MARKETS - Sukuk market set to break 1 trillion-ringgit barrier in Malaysia

The total Malaysian Islamic capital market (ICM) is projected to reach almost three trillion ringgit, RM2.88 trillion to be precise, in the year 2020, with the sukuk market set to break the one trillion-ringgit barrier to account for RM1.33 trillion worth of issuances and the market capitalization of Shariah-compliant companies accounting for RM1.55 trillion. (source)

INDONESIA - BANKING - Savings drive growth of Islamic banking in Indonesia

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country with a population of over 210 million, ought to have a natural fit with Islamic banking, finance and insurance. Indeed, the mobilization of domestic savings through Islamic banking is expected to help drive the growth of the Indonesian banking industry, according to Indonesian Vice President Boediono. (source)

WORLD - CAPITAL MARKETS - Third party guarantees for sukuk set to take off

One of the positive outcomes of the 36th annual board of governors meeting held in Jeddah last month was the approval by the Board of Directors of the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Export Credit and Investment (ICIEC), the standalone export credit and political risk insurance agency of the IDB Group, of the corporation's capital from the current $240 million to $640 million. (source)

WORLD - ICD priorities: Financing of SMEs, food security and housing

JEDDAH: The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), a multilateral organization affiliated with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group, is currently engaged in tackling issues related to the financing of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and projects providing food security and housing among member countries.

Aside from SMEs, the ICD is considering the financing of projects for providing food security among member countries on priority.

“We have some member countries having potential for providing food security so that those who do not have such potential could benefit,” ICD’s Chief Executive Officer Khaled Al-Aboodi told Arab News on the sidelines of the corporation’s first clients day held at the Jeddah InterContinental Hotel.

Those with potential include Kazakhstan, Sudan and Indonesia. (source)

WORLD - IDB seeks new economic order

JEDDAH: Islamic Development Bank President Ahmed Mohamed Ali called for a new economic order to promote global progress and prosperity at the group’s annual conference here Monday.

“I call upon Islamic financial institutions to make use of the available opportunity to establish international investment banks in order to present a new vision and a different methodology to the world in asset management and fund investment … and contribute to the reform of global financial system and stability,” Ali said at the event, which attracted the participation of over 1,000 delegates including ministers, economists, businessmen and bankers. (source)

WORLD - EVENTS - KSA - Jeddah to host major Islamic economic and finance conference: IDB official

JEDDAH: Finance, economy and planning ministers from 56 Muslim countries will attend a major Islamic economic and finance conference here next week, which is likely to be opened by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah at Jeddah Hilton on Monday. (source)

MALAYSIA - Malaysia's Zarinah Anwar calls for greater GCC-Asian connectivity

LONDON: Zarinah Anwar, chairman of the Securities Commission of Malaysia, the securities and capital market regulator, has called on Middle Eastern and Asian countries to spearhead the further expansion of Islamic finance, which in the process would also deepen business and investment linkages between the two regions where the phenomenon is already being practiced on a significant scale. (source)

MALAYSIA - Foreign Shariah advisories make their mark in Malaysian Islamic capital market

The latest list of Shariah advisers serving the local Islamic capital market (ICM) and registered by the Securities Commission of Malaysia (SC) confirms that five such individual foreign advisers are registered with the commission.

The commission is the only securities regulator in the world that requires such registration. (source)

SINGAPORE - Singapore officials rue low understanding of Islamic finance among investors

It has almost become a ritual that there has to be some sort of announcement either by the government, regulator or a financial institution at international conferences on Islamic finance. 

Singapore is no exception. Not surprisingly, Lim Hng Kiang, Minister for Trade and Industry, who is also the Deputy Chairman, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) (the financial regulator), announced a few days ago at one such conference in the island state that Singapore will in due course issue new income tax regulations for Islamic finance to provide greater tax clarity and certainty to the industry. (source)

CAPITAL MARKETS - Fragile sukuk market clamors for sovereign issuances (Indonesia, Bank Muamalat)

The talk is big, but are potential sukuk originators walking the walk? Depending on who you speak to, the picture is mixed, marked on the other hand by the "irrational" exuberance and ambition of potential issuers, many of whom do not get near to an offering, and on the other hand those who are skeptical and indifferent based on an erroneous belief that sukuk origination is always more expensive than conventional bonds and is further complicated by the Shariah compliance requirement.

The real potential probably lies in between where issuers genuinely see sukuk as an attractive and competitive alternative way of raising funds and therefore a tool to diversify sources of funding. They would however go to the market only when the timing and the pricing is right. Such an issuance in question is the proposed issuance which is expected to be closed this week. (full story - arab news)

TRADE FINANCE - IDB entities boost trade finance ties with Indonesia

The Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group) is boosting its ties with Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, under its Member Country Partnership Strategy (MCPS), a new initiative launched by the IDB in 2010 to identify, target, allocate, implement and evaluate its financing more efficiently in member countries. Thus far, already $3.5 billion have been allocated under this program to Indonesia for 2011-2014.

The latest initiatives under the MCPS include a Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) signed during the IDB Group/Indonesia meeting held in Jakarta on in May 2011 by the Islamic Cooperation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), the private sector financing arm of the IDB Group, and the Lembaga Pembiayaan Ekspor Indonesia (Indonesia Eximbank), to jointly explore investment opportunities in Indonesia and other IDB member countries. (full story - arab news)

FINANCE - ICD, Indonesia Eximbank sign partnership deal

Khaled Al-Aboodi, CEO of ICD, left, and I Made Gde Erata, CEO of Indonesia Eximbank, sign a partnership agreement in Jakarta. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, president of the IDB Group, and senior officials of Indonesia Eximbank look on. (AN photo) (full story)

BANKING - EVENTS - IFSB Summit Luxembourg - World Bank declares Islamic finance a priority area

" The presence of Sri Muliani Indrawati, managing director of the World Bank Group, underlined the importance the global multilateral development bank views the Islamic finance industry."

The Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB), the prudential and supervisory standard-setting organization for the global Islamic financial industry, embarked on a new phase of its development which may lead to a review of its mandate to facilitate a wider reach including those countries and organizations that are not currently members of the board. (full story)

BANKING - Kamel re-elected ABG chairman (plans Indonesia)

Saleh Abdullah Kamel 

By MAHMOOD RAFIQUE | ARAB NEWS

Published: Mar 24, 2011 23:00 Updated: Mar 24, 2011 23:00

MANAMA: The shareholders of the AlBaraka Banking Group re-elected Saleh Abdullah Kamel as the group’s chairman of the for another three year term during a meeting held at Sheraton Hotel on Wednesday. The shareholders’s meeting was attended by 91% of the group’s total shareholding.

The meeting also approved the payment of the dividend of $118.57 million for the year 2010 and shareholders discussed at the ordinary meeting the report submitted by the board of directors on the group’s activities during the financial year. (full story)