INDONESIA - ARTICLE - The Shari’ah Service in Indonesia’s Conventional Banking System

www.businessislamica.com - Tony Hidayat - In Indonesia’s banking industry the size of Islamic banking is still small. In January 2012, the assets of Indonesia’s banking industry reached Rp 3,598 Trillion, while the assets of Islamic banking at the same period only reached Rp 144 Trillion, or a share of only 4%.
One of the reasons behind this is the limited existence of an Islamic banking office network. An office network—which consists of a branch office, sub-branch offices and cash offices— is the center of banking transactions and the proximity of the bank becomes the customer’s dominant factor for using its banking services. In January 2012, the office network of national banking was up to 14,820 branches, while that of the Islamic banking only reached 1,943 branches. (source)

SINGAPORE - ARTICLE - Is There Room for Singapore to be an Islamic Finance Hub?

www.businessislamica.com -  Islamic finance was marked with exponential developments globally over the three last decades, spurring enormous demand for Shari’ah-compliant schemes. Although relatively new, Islamic finance has, ever since inception in the late 1960s (Halabi. et.al. 2004), proven to be one of the fastest growing elements of the global financial system. According to the Global Islamic Finance Report 2011, the Islamic finance industry reached $1.14 trillion in total value of assets and has been consistently growing at an average rate of 10%. In addition, there are over 300 Islamic financial institutions that are operating in about 75 countries across the globe, comprising of banking, takaful and capital market sectors.
Interestingly, the attention for Islamic finance is not only coming from Muslim countries but also from non-Muslim ones as well. Indeed, some non-Muslim countries are aiming at becoming the hub for Islamic finance. Hongkong for example aspires to be an Islamic finance gateway to China, while the UK aims to entrench London as a global gateway for Islamic finance. Last but not least, Singapore also aspires to be the main center for Islamic finance in Asia. This article tries to further analyze on the future development of Islamic finance in Singapore. (source)

WORLD - FUNDAMENTAL DEBATE - Goldman Sachs : genuine or Ribawi Sukuk in the making?

A) The deal on paper : a plain vanilla Murabaha Facility

The above inserted graphic reflects the most used practice of the Murabaha-to-the-Purchase-Order.  The reader will be familiar with this.

The Base Prospectus stipulates repeatedly: " whereby  the Trustee  will, at the request of GSI,  use the proceeds of the issuance of the Series to purchase certain commodities  from a third party Seller on immediate delivery and immediate payment terms and  will  immediately sell such commodities  to the GSI on immediate delivery terms but with payment on a deferred basis." And  further Mr. Asim Khan - MD and head of structuring for Dar Al Istithmar -  stated that the paperwork "clearly shows  that Trustee, as seller, sells the commodity to GSI, as purchaser. Thats it...."    and further that:  "Once  the commodity is sold to GSI, its then at GSIs discretion to do what it wants  to with the commodity".  This looks like a plain, even boring Murabaha Facility. Yawn

Mr. Khan further states that: "the legal documents  ... have been reviewed and approved by leading scholars in the Islamic finance industry ..." and suggests that Mr. Mohammed Khnifer   did not fully read or grasp the contents of the available documentation.   It is however clear that Mr. Khnifer did read the documentation sufficiently and that he did grasp the implications thereof very well.  Actually, Mr. Khnifer voices a concern of a not unimportant part of the industry.

Simple review of legal documentation is hardly convincing.  One must go have a look at the intentions of the parties concerned and their factual behavior.  It was this look that originated the 'Tawarruq-debate' in the first place.
(Source) or (rest of story hereunder) (softcopy available on demand)

INDONESIA - ARTICLE - Indonesia Islamic Banking Market Assessment Q2-2011 (Case Study: Islamic Commercial Bank and Islamic Business Unit)

I. GENERAL OVERVIEW
The global economic recovery was getting stronger at the end of 2009, it has shown the optimism condition for the economic development of Indonesia in 2010. Although Greece faced an economic crisis in second quarter of 2010, Indonesia, with inflation rate reached 6.96 in 2010, the GDP Growth has returned to 6.10, from 4.58 in 2009. Then, this situation did not significantly influence the condition of Indonesia islamic banking. (source)

INDONESIA - RATINGS - Indonesia's Benchmark- Sized Global Sukuk Trust Certificates Rated 'BB+'

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services assigned its 'BB+' long-term foreign currency issue rating to the proposed issue of benchmarksized global Sukuk trust certificates by Perusahaan Penerbit SBSN Indonesia II (PPSI-II), a fully owned special purpose vehicle of the Republic of Indonesia (BB+/ Positive/B; axBBB+/axA-2).  (source)

AUSTRALIA - TAX - A Super IF opportunity: Shari'ah-based superannuation is there for the taking

Australia unveiled its new annual budget amidst a soaring currency and rising prices. Of significance to the Islamic finance market is the submission of the final report that recently went to the Board of Taxation to help create the IF an equal footing, tax wise, with conventional banking, creating an infrastructure that does not penalise in any way Shari'ah-compliant institutions or products.  (source)