BANKING - BNI Syariah seeks partnership with foreign investors

The Jakarta Post

JAKARTA

BNI Syariah, a unit of the countrys fourth-largest lender, Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI), says it wants to partner with foreign investors to expand its sharia banking business.

BNI Syariah president director Rizqullah said in Jakarta on Wednesday that the bank was negotiating a partnership with the Islamic Development Banks private financing arm, the Islamic Corporation for Development (ICD).He said that BNI Syariah had previously signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ICD.

ISLAMIC TRADE FINANCE - ITFC - Angels Products Indonesia - 25 million USD deal

This BLOG will also follow up on "Islamic trade finance". This item often gets neglected, but will proof to be of big importance for the Indonesian Islamic banks in the years to come. 

The Indonesian Islamic banks are therefor invited to keep us updated on any remarkable deals.

2009 was a successful year for the Islamic Trade Finance Corporation ITFC ( a division of the Islamic Development Bank IDB) and especially the deal with Angels Products Sugar Refinery in Banten-Indonesia got a lot of international attention.

PT ANGELS PRODUCTS – INDONESIA

The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) inherited the pioneering mantle of its trade finance expertise and its application of innovative Islamic finance products developed over a period of more than 30 years to develop markets and trading capacities to help the member countries of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) do business more effectively amongst themselves and with the rest of the world. This savoir-faire, positions ITFC at the forefront of international trade finance and as a vehicle for enhancing economic development.

SUKUK - Sukuk Four-Year Low Yields Fail to Deter Funds: Islamic Finance

Aug. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Islamic bond yields at four-year lows are failing to deter investors amid a flagging global recovery and dwindling new issuance of sukuk.

The average yield on dollar-denominated notes that comply with religious principles from Dubai to Malaysia fell 25 basis points, or 0.25 percentage point, so far this week to 5.22 percent, the lowest level since November 2005, according to the HSBC/NASDAQ Dubai US Dollar Sukuk Index. The yield has dropped 204 basis points this year.

SUKUK - Repos for Sukuk Eyed as Shariah Market Grows: Islamic Finance

Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- The International Islamic Financial Market, founded by the central banks of Bahrain, Indonesia and Malaysia, plans to create Shariah-compliant repurchase agreements to help Islamic banks manage funds and boost trading.

The IIFM, a Bahrain-based standards-setting body for Islamic markets, wants to introduce repos that don’t violate the religion’s ban on interest. It has proposed allowing third parties to act as intermediaries between buyers and sellers of sukuk used as collateral for short-term funds.