MALAYSIA - OPINION - Ramadan wish list for Islamic finance

www.btimes.com.my - WHAT THE GOAL IS: The central issue is about the industry controlling its own destiny
“Behind every success is endeavour… behind endeavour, ability… behind ability, knowledge… behind knowledge, a seeker ….” Unknown.
AS THE blessed month of Ramadan arrives, here is my “seeking” list for Islamic finance. It’s not about another voice asking when the International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (IILM) will issue its first paper or disagreeing with CIMB Group CEO Datuk Seri Nazir Razak’s comment on “rolling back” government’s involvement in business, but more to do with controlling our own Islamic finance manifest destiny.   (source)

INDONESIA - CLIPS - BIFIS 2012 Bandung (AmilinTV - 4 clips)

Exclusive Interview - A. Riawan / Rushdi Siddiqui / Sheikh Nizam Yakubi / Ahmad Heryawan
Event: Bandung Islamic Finance and Investment Smbmit 2012
Venue: Grand Royal Panghegar Bandung, Indonesia
Date: 29th - 30th May 2012

MALAYSIA - OPINION - Islamic finance must finance its diversification

www.btimes.com.my - Islamic finance is usually described as an infant market with domestic focus and supported by the government, hence, much like a baby reliant upon it parents in a home environment of nutrition, nurturing, and natural growth.

“To be competitive in the new world order, one has to think like an immigrant, create like an artisan, work like a start-up and provide service like a waitress, and continuously create a unique value add.” Thomas Friedman, Foreign Affairs Correspondent of the NY Times.

IN a “hyper-connected world, the age of ‘average’ is officially over”. Is Islamic finance hearing and, more importantly, listening?

The baby-cum-toddler is eventually taken off the bottle and consumes “people food”. Islamic finance, unfortunately, is still suckling on the bottle called “real estate” and the natural growth-cum-diversification is a bottleneck risk that needs to be addressed. (source)

WORLD - OPINION - Where are the 'sisters in Islamic finance'?

www.btimes.com.my - The retirement of Tan Sri Zarinah Anwar as chairman of the Securities Commission was a defining moment on the need to establish a 'bench' strength for women in Islamic finance. 
WHERE are the "sisters in Islamic finance", if it is about inclusion?

The retirement of Tan Sri Zarinah Anwar as chairman of the Securities Commission (SC) was a defining moment on the need to establish a 'bench' strength for women in Islamic finance.

A company, much like a phenomenon, is as strong as its weakest link. Today in Islamic finance, the lack of enough women on the executive floor or the corner office is a human asset weak link. (source)

WORLD - OPINION - Mega bank, stock exchanges and trading platforms

www.btimes.com.my - ISSUES TO CONSIDER: An open letter to Islamic Development Bank president Dr Ahmad Mohamed Ali
DEAR Dr Ahmad Mohamed Ali, president, Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group;

Asalaam Alaikum,

The Islamic finance world welcomes your comments on the Mega Islamic Bank with much excitement and great sense of anticipation.

“…The ‘Mega Islamic Bank’ comes as an initiative of the Islamic Development Bank in its efforts to address the dearth of senior financiers, the absence of the Islamic tools of stock exchange and the absence of market liquidity between Islamic banks.”

Dr Ali, the Islamic mega bank, working with IDB and industry stakeholders, needs to also include stock exchanges and trading platforms, both Islamic and OIC, as part of the conversation. (source)

WORLD - OPINION - SAMI + 3 — Islamic world’s BRICS

ww.btimes.com.my - IDEAL CONFIGURATION: Other Muslim countries can be added easily, without having to change the name
“We must remember that one determined person can make a significant difference, and that a small group of determined people can change the course of history.” Sonia Johnson

THE recent BRICS summit in New Delhi, India, should be a wake-up call for the Muslim world’s own proposed BRICS, called SAMI: Saudi, Ankara, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The BRIC story, Brazil Russia, India and China, started in 2001 by a Goldman Sachs’ Jim O’Neill, “Building Better Global Economics BRICs”. In late 2010, an “S” was added for South Africa. These are growth markets with increasing political clout, and combining for nearly 50 per cent of the world’s population, US$14 trillion (RM42 trillion) GDP, and excess of US$4 trillion (RM12 trillion) foreign reserves (source: Wikipedia).  (source)

WORLD - OPINION - Sound bites in Islamic finance

www.btimes.com.my - “Interest equals disinterest because the lender has nothing to do with the borrower and his business. Islamic finance aims at creating an economy in which one financial dollar equals one real economy dollar.” Yusuf Talal DeLorenzo, syariah scholar
TODAY’S attention span can be described by a seven letter word “TWITTER”. The amount of seconds in a minute, minutes in an hour and hours in a day is the same as far as one can remember, yet we seem to be busier than ever in an information overload world.

It seems the typical time for processing, analysing and drawing conclusions of, say, news headlines is confined to the first few paragraphs of a story and we must act fast in scrolling headlines in real time. (source)

MALAYSIA - OPINION - Media and public relations — the missing link in Islamic finance

www.btimes.com.my - NEED FOR CONTROL ROOM: The industry has alphabet bodies that deal with various issues but when it comes to public relations and marketing, there seems to be a gaping hole that is getting larger
IS THERE a media and public relations (PR) "control room" for Islamic finance that educates, creates awareness, undertakes damage control, etc, so that the industry is "conventionally efficient" media-savvy?

Some recent headlines, by-lined articles, blogs and press releases from Islamic finance provide the answer:

* Is Islamic Finance a Failure? Reuters (Guest Columnist)

* KFH: Banking Products that Cement Value of Savings in Society, press release

* Islamic Banks Misleading: Clients Emirates 24/7 (Dubai, UAE)

* Reporters Notebook: The Ethical Aspects of Islamic Banks, www.greenprophet.com  (source)

WORLD - CAPITAL MARKETS - Sharia investing leans to West

Islamic benchmarks have consistently outperformed conventional ones

To some observers of Islamic equity investing, Islamic or Sharia-compliant equity indexes seem to imply investing in publicly-listed companies in Muslim countries.

The end results contradict the assumptions. This also rebuts allegations by many from the anti-Sharia movement that Islamic investing is about investing in companies linked to terrorism or financing terrorism. The largest companies in the S&P Global BMI Sharia include ExxonMobil, IBM, Chevron, Nestle and Microsoft.

Today, there is a large stock count and market capitalisation weighting bias towards the non-Muslim G20 countries in all global Islamic equity indexes. We will look at country exposure of Sharia-compliant companies, the economic sector exposure and selected Muslim country Islamic indexes, and how to increase number of Sharia-compliant companies. (source)

WORLD - FINANCE - Give Islamic benchmark rate a chance: Bankers

The launching of the Islamic Interbank Benchmark Rate (IIBR) by Thomson Reuters in Bahrain last week is the latest manifestation of how the technical architecture of the global Islamic financial industry is maturing. To many the pace of maturity remains frustratingly slow, especially in the Middle East and North Africa, while Asia is galloping ahead, which has resulted in a lob-sided West Asia and East Asia fault line. (source)

WORLD - FINANCE - Thomson Reuters Launches World's First Islamic Interbank Rate

Thomson Reuters works with leading Islamic finance institutions and banks to provide objective and dedicated benchmark for Shariah-compliant short-term interbank funding in Islamic finance industry

New York, London, Bahrain — Thomson Reuters today launched the world's first Islamic finance benchmark rate, designed to provide an objective and dedicated indicator for the average expected return on Shariah-compliant short-term interbank funding. The Islamic Interbank Benchmark Rate (IIBR), announced at the 18th Annual World Islamic Banking Conference in Bahrain, uses the contributed rates of 16 Islamic banks and the Islamic sections of conventional banks to provide a reliable and much-needed alternative for pricing Islamic instruments to the conventional interest-based benchmarks used for mainstream finance. (source)

WORLD - OPINION - Highs and lows of 2011 and a wish list for 2012

“GOD gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say ‘thank you’?” — Author unknown

I want to thank NST. Islamic Finance 2.0 is one year old.

In reflecting back and looking forward, there were exciting highs and disappointing lows.

The lows included:

# Early death of deputy governor Datuk Mohd Razif Abdul Kadir

# EIIB, one of five FSA approved banks in the UK, significantly downsizing operations, following the heels of Islamic Bank of Britain (IBB) parental rescue capital injection. (source)

MALAYSIA - OPINION - Where are the angel investors?

“ANGEL investors don’t come with a halo and wings, but they can seem heaven-sent to an entrepreneur struggling to find financing.” — Cathie Gandel

Malaysia has raised the profile of Islamic finance, takaful and the halal industry, and, now, it must do the same to venture capital (VC). VC is an important emerging asset class that should contribute to the government’s objective of building a knowledge- based economy by 2020. There were several important takeaways from the recently concluded International Venture Capital Symposium 2011. One of the most important sparks to establish a VC infrastructure in debt-based and biased Muslim countries is the role of “angel investors”.  (source)

MALAYSIA - OPINION - TAKAFUL - Time to move to takaful 2.0

A conference on the future and expansion of takaful, called Takaful Rendezvous 2011, took place in Malaysia under the banner of Kuala Lumpur Islamic Finance Forum (KLIFF) from October 4 to 6. Although the industry has come far in a short period of time, more needs to be done.

Much like the $640-billion (Dh2.35 trillion) halal industry, takaful needs to rise and address some of the challenges on size, representative industry body, and perception.  (source)

WORLD - OPINION - Islamic venture capital: Key to knowledge-based economy

FAILURE is a mark of success in venture capital.
Today, Islamic venture capital is a feel good theory presented at conferences about the lofty goals of this niche market with the focus on the formalism of structuring and screening. Its impact investing, yet we see it as a cost (at best) and a write-off (at worst). (source)

WORLD - OPINION - Money politics and political freedom - Islamic finance hubs : corruption and freedom (Indonesia)

KARL Kraus said: “Corruption is worse than prostitution. The latter might endanger the morals of an individual, the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire country.” I was recently asked to give a speech on political freedom and corruption in Muslim countries. Both areas have a direct impact on capital flight and market formation, brain drain and economic development, portfolio investors and direct investments, including Islamic finance. (source)

WORLD - OPINION - Ramadan-inspired Dates Index

As a student of Islamic finance, there are a number of important lessons captured over the years, and today’s focus will be why there is no real need to “Islamicise” everything.

 

I have been fortunate enough to be involved in many interesting conversations over the years from the potentially practical (Islamic stock exchange, Islamic LIBOR, convergence between Islamic finance and Halal industry), to potentially flawed (Islamic inflation, Islamic unemployment, consumer price index (CPI), Islamic car, Islamic washing machine), and the potentially feasible (Islamic currency, Dinar).   (source)

WORLD - INDEX - Thomson Reuters sets up Islamic indices

THOMSON Reuters and IdealRatings yesterday launched the Thomson Reuters IdealRatings Islamic Indices, the first Islamic benchmark offering research-based Syariah screening based on globally accepted standards, to investors, money managers and analysts across a range of Islamic instruments.

The indices, which will provide the most transparent Islamic guidelines for investors around the world, will also act as a transaction channel for potential investment to Malaysia. (source)

OPINION - From oil,revolutions to fundamentals

The price of oil is not the only “greaser” for the expansion of Islamic finance. Lately, a number of countries seem to be pre-empting social-movement-cum-change of regime as today’s “oil price” facilitator for welcoming Islamic finance.

But what happens to Islamic finance when alternative energy, solar, bio-mass, wind, ocean, etc., becomes a viable replacement for oil or oil simply “runs dry” or “Arab street democracy” arrives in the Muslim Opec countries, or even the anti-syariah movements in selected western countries find another “bogeyman?” (source)

OPINION - Innovation and Islamic finance

Innovation and the ensuing needed authenticity are the pre-requisites to move Islamic finance to US$2 or US$2 trillion (RM6 or RM6 trillion) by 2015.

But, how best to describe innovation in Islamic finance? Famous quotes often capture succinctly the essence of the issue, and, for innovation in Islamic finance, the below quotes are a good beginning.

"Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations." - Steve Jobs. (source)