SINGAPORE -BANKING - Bureaucracy holds up Singapore

www.theislamicglobe.com - ingapore’s path to Shari’ah compliant home financing is being blocked by bureaucracy.
The Islamic Globe recently reported [see Issue 44] on the absence of Islamic home financing products despite the Monetary Authority of Singapore having legislated for a range of Shari’ah compliant Islamic banking structures.  (source)

HONG KONG - HK ready to roll

www.theislamicglobe.com - The Hong Kong government is pressing ahead with legislation to make it become an Islamic finance player.
Financial secretary, John Tsang, used his annual Budget speech to flag up the territory’s plans to amend current legislation and put Sukuk on an equal footing with conventional bonds.
He said: “We are close to finalizing the draft amendments to the relevant kegislation with a view to leveling the playing field for common types of Islamic bonds vis-à-vis their conventional counterparts as far as profits tax, property tax and stamp duty are concerned.” (source)

AUSTRALIA - Getting involved in the community

www.theislamicglobe.com - Almir Colan, a well known figure in the Australian Islamic finance scene, has jumped aboard the social  networking bandwagon by launching AusCif (the Australian Centre for Islamic Finance) with some colleagues. Colan told The Islamic Globe:

“AusCif actually evolved from the Islamic Finance Australia Facebook page, which… made me rethink how we are engaging with the community and media in terms of what is going on Down Under with Islamic banking and finance...So now I am starting community events to encourage awareness of what is Islamic finance and what it could eventually become. For instance, I just finished a few events in Melbourne and Sydney and next month we are going to Brisbane, Canberra and so on.”  (source)

AUSTRALIA - FINANCE - Property fund looks up downunder

Australia ’s leading Islamic finance house, MCCA, has just revealed financial results for the MCCA Income Fund – the country’s first Shari’ah compliant investment fund registered with ASIC – which achieved a return of 5.31% for the year.
Dr. Akhtar Kalam, chairman of MCCA, said: “The professionally managed fund established in 2009 will soon surpass A$15m ($15.3m) and invests mainly in residential mortgage investments in Victoria (49%) and New South Wales (46%).  (source)

INDONESIA - TAKAFUL - Great Eastern looks east

Great Eastern Takaful, one of Malaysia’s top Islamic insurers, has announced that it will be expanding its presence across the Indonesian border in 2012.

GE Takaful hopes that by moving into the nascent Islamic insurance market in the world’s most populous Muslim state that it will rapidly assume a top three market position.  (source)

INDONESIA - BANKING - TPG/NORTHSTAR Indonesia JV branches out

PG Capital, a Texas-California based private equity shop’s joint ownership, with San Diego-based Northstar Pacific Partners, of PT Bank Tabungun Pensiunan Nasional Tbk (BTPN) in Indonesia has bought the American investors into the Islamic finance arena. BTPN is now looking to grow then spin-off its Shari’ah banking unit through acquisition. Indonesian newspaper Bisnis Indonesia has reported that one acquisition target for BTPN is microfinance bank, Sahabat Purba Danarta, currently owned by manufacturing conglomerate Tri-Putra Group. (source)

AUSTRALIA - BANKING - First Islamic bank for Australia

It’s every Islamic home financing company’s dream to become an Islamic bank, but it is not necessarily the dream of every community cooperative.

However, that is just what is about to happen to Australia’s MCCA as the building blocks are put in place to see the launch of Australia’s first Islamic retail bank catering to the needs of the domestic population – both Muslim and non-Muslim alike. (source)

AUSTRALIA - TAX - Aussie tax office in law review

Australia’s Federal Board of Taxation has completed the first stage of its consultation exercise to review the tax treatment of Islamic finance instruments.

According to the Tax Office, it has received submissions from various sources including: Australian law firms; accountancy firms; academics; individuals; industry bodies (including the Financial Services Council, CPA Australia and a joint submission from the Tax Institute of Australia and the AFMA); and state offices including the Department of NSW Treasury and Department of Industry & Investment NSW. (source)

KOREA - Islamic finance to be filibustered out of Korea

There does not look like there's much hope for Islamic finance breaking through in South Korea anytime soon, according to Min Kyung Kim senior manager of the Korean Deposit Insurance Corporation. (source)

BANKING - All that glisters for Bank Rayat Syariah

Local press is reporting that Indonesia’s Bank Rayat Indonesia Syariah – the Shari’ah compliant subsidiary of stateowned Bank Rayat Indonesia – has launched a new product that will allow customers to buy gold
as an investment in installments.

BRI Syariah hopes that by offering customers the opportunity to buy the physical commodity in small quantities as an investment that it would be able to attract new people from a broader demographic
into the Islamic banking fold. (source)

BANKING - Race is on (Bank Muamalat)

Race is on It looks like the race to acquire a chunk of Indonesia’s Bank Muamalat is narrowing, with British
bank Standard Chartered apparently in pole position.  

Bank Muamalat was Indonesia’s first Shari’ah compliant bank, starting operations in 1992. It now serves about three million customers in Indonesia and Malaysia and had piqued the interest of Qatar’s largest Islamic bank, Qatar Islamic Bank and local operator Bank Mega, as well as Standard Chartered because of its strategic positioning in what many analysts regard as one of the most significant Islamic banking markets of the future. (source)

CAPITAL MARKETS - AmIslamic launches ASEAN Equity fund - focus also Indonesia

Hot on the heels of launching its Asia-Pacific fund last month, AmIslamic Funds Management, the Shari'ah-compliant investment subsidiary of Malaysia's AmBank Group, has launched the AmASEAN Equity fund. 

The new fund will target medium- to long-term capital growth by investing in a portfolio of equities in the ASEAN markets with specific focus on the markets of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Thailand, known as the ASEAN 5. (source)

TAKAFUL - Lacey looks to LeapFrog into Indonesia

Leap Frog Investments, a private equity fund that specializes in the insurance industry said it is looking for opportunities in Indonesia’s Takaful sector.

“We are really looking for a partner in Indonesia and we hope to make an investment soon depending on what
opportunities we get,” Doug Lacey, partner at LeapFrog, told The Islamic Globe. The $135m private equity
fund was set up in 2009 by several organizations including International Finance Corporation, Soros
Fund Management, Flagstone Reinsurance, KfW of Germany and FMO of Netherlands among others. (full story)