IslamicFinance.de

Nigeria, Africa’s second-largest economy and home to 75 million Muslims, plans to sell its first Islamic debt within 12 months as part of a bid to become the continent’s center for Shariah-compliant financing.
The West African country is seeking to diversify the economy by developing its finance industry.
Issuance is rebounding after Dubai World, one of the emirates’ three main state-controlled holding companies.

Abu Dhabi Islamic banking is growing at a fast pace and its size globally is expected to reach $2.7 trillion (Dh9.9 trillion) by 2015. Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank announced the launch of its wealth management service that will cater to the needs of mass, affluent and high net worth customers.
Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank Wealth Management offers a range of investment solutions such as sukuk, equity, treasuries, commodities, mutual funds, real estate advisory, trust, private equity and other Sharia-compliant opportunities worldwide.

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, a top-tier Islamic financial services group, today announced the launch of its Wealth Management service that will cater to the increasingly discerning needs of mass, affluent and high net worth customers. The service will offer an innovative range of investment solutions that are tailor-made to meet the financial needs of their customers through dedicated and certified relationship managers who are supported by a team of investment professionals. ADIB Relationship Managers combine their industry expertise with technical and investment expertise to deliver innovative investment solutions and to support their brand promise of 'Trusted Advice by Trusted Advisor.'

The emirate of Dubai is named after the daba, a desert locust that eats everything in its path.
For three decades, Dubai gorged first on oil, then on credit. Swarms of expatriates -- reportedly as many as a thousand a week -- came to the feast.
But with the global credit crunch of 2008, the consumption came to a gut-sickening halt. Dubai was revealed -- it really is a city built on sand.
Thousands of skilled professionals made their way north to the shores of the Arabian Gulf in the expectation of long-term or permanent work. They eventually formed one of the largest expat communities in the emirate.
The classifieds in The Sunday Times and other South African newspapers heaved with Dubai-based job vacancies, and local companies such as Group Five and Murray & Roberts cashed in on major construction contracts.

The report pointed out that Kuwait ranked first among the GCC countries in terms Islamic banks assets to total banking assets, while Saudi Arabia and the UAE have risen among the countries that promote Islamic finance products and services. It added that there are many opportunities still available for Islamic finance solutions in the region where real estate finance tops other areas of interest prevalent in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
The existence of financial centers in Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE, as well as a number of Islamic finance organizations such as the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions, Liquidity Management Centre, and the International Islamic Financial Market will continue to attract new players to the region and further propel the Islamic banking industry to greater heights.

With high net worth individuals (HNWIs) in the GCC are seen as the most active in management their wealth during later life, over 90 percent reject the idea of getting retire, according to Barclays Wealth latest Insights report.
The report titled The Age Illusion: How the Wealthy are Redefining Their Retirement is the twelfth in the Barclays Wealth Insights series, shows that HNWIs in Saudi Arabia (92 percent), United Arab Emirates (91 percent) and Qatar (89 percent) illustrated the biggest desire amongst global respondents to keep working in later life. According to the findings of the report the retirement is being rejected by a new breed of wealthy worker, who want to carry on working for as long as they are able.

With the Islamic finance industry worth an estimated $1 trillion and growing rapidly, it is perhaps no surprise that a number of Asia-Pacific nations are among a growing band of countries worldwide to signal their intention to carve out a larger share of the market.
Countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, along with Hong Kong, have set their sights on becoming hubs for Islamic finance, where investments are made according to Islamic principles.
While their sectors may be at varying stages of development, they are facing a common predicament: a shortage of professionals skilled in Islamic finance.
Education institutions around the Asia-Pacific region, like their counterparts in the Middle East and Europe, are increasingly seeking to fill that gap by adding Islamic finance specialization to their master’s programs in business administration and elsewhere.

Over the years, Islamic banking in the Gulf Co-operation Council region has witnessed remarkable growth and seen tremendous demand for its products and services, the report said. The share of Islamic banking sector continues to increase, accounting for around 16.6% of the total assets of the region’s banking system as of end-March 2010.
In order to meet the growing needs of Shariah-compliant financing in the region, most conventional banks have either opened a new subsidiary or introduced an Islamic window within the existing infrastructure, according to KFH.
In terms of financing, opportunities for Islamic banks in the GCC include residential mortgages, underpinned by a high level of demand for home mortgages within the local market.

Islamabad —Pakistan, Afghanistan and Senegal, among the world’s 50 poorest nations, are turning to Islamic banking to spur economic growth by encouraging people to take out loans and open savings accounts. Outstanding domestic bank lending accounted for 3.5 percent of Afghanistan’s gross domestic product in 2008, 25 percent in Senegal, 27 percent in Nigeria and 46 percent in Pakistan, according to data compiled by the World Bank. The rates compare with 224 percent in the U.S. and 115 percent in Malaysia, a global hub for finance that conforms with Shariah principles.
Developing Islamic nations have shunned banking in part because of the religion’s ban on interest, limiting access to funds for project financing and stunting business growth, according to the International Monetary Fund. Governments should improve regulations, products and institutions that comply with Shariah law to accelerate the industry’s development, Patrick Imam and Kangni Kpodar, economists at the IMF, said in a telephone interview from Washington on Sept. 14.

Allfunds Bank, the business-to-business fund platform, has launched an Islamic Services Unit to comply with Sharia principles. The company, jointly owned by the Santander and Intesa Sanpaolo groups, offers over 80 sharia-compliant funds from asset management firms based in Luxembourg, Ireland, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
The unit has a fatwa endorsed by the Sharia'h Board of Amanie Dubai, a specialist Islamic consultancy firm, making it the first sharia-compliant platform.
Allfunds said its clients would have direct access to the largest available range of Islamic funds and it would take further opportunities to expand the service, such as setting up a dedicated website for the sector.

Dubai Islamic Bank has become the majority shareholder in Tamweel, taking management control; bank's liquidity 'to positively impact' Tamweel's business. The transaction marks an important milestone for the bank and the UAE property market”, said His Excellency Mohammed Ibrahim Al Shaibani, Director-General of His Highness The Ruler’s Court of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Islamic Bank.
“Dubai Islamic Bank has always been committed to the growth and prosperity of Dubai and the UAE, and we hope that this landmark deal will have a positive impact not only for the real estate sector but the UAE’s overall economic environment,” he added.

The South African government's recent confirmation that it is in the process of introducing tax neutrality laws for Mudaraba (trust financing), Murabaha (cost-plus financing) and Diminishing Musharaka (diminishing shared ownership) contracts is a long overdue recognition of the potential Islamic finance has for the country and the region. Financial services industry sources stress that the proposed tax neutrality measures are just the start and the wider objective is to introduce a comprehensive regulatory and legal framework to facilitate Islamic finance in the country both for financial inclusion and market liberalization and development reasons.
It may also have something to do with the ambition of the country to develop Cape Town into an international financial hub, an ambition which was confirmed by Alan Winde, the finance minister of the provincial government of the Western Cape; and South Africa's aim of attracting inward foreign direct investment (FDI) from the Middle Eastern countries and others such as Malaysia and Brunei.

The Saudi joint stock company's focus on the real estate sector stems from the fact that this sector is among the most promising ones in the Kingdom, a team of Alawwal executives told a press conference at Hilton's Qasr Al Sharq hotel on Sunday.
The real estate sector is capable of absorbing more capital injections locally and from overseas. Market studies reveal that the Kingdom requires over 200,000 housing units annually.
To achieve the fund's objectives, the expertise of Ulayya Real Estate Development has been called on. It is one of the pioneers in land development and is represented by Hamad Bin Seaidan who has over 30 years of real experience in the field.
The participation in the fund is open to both citizens and resident expatriates through its head office in Jeddah and branches in Riyadh and the Eastern Province. To facilitate participation in the fund, the company has formed a specialized team and has reached an agreement of cooperation with Samba and the National Commercial Bank.

The perceived sustainability and attractiveness of Islamic finance as an alternative financial management model in a post global financial crisis continues to flourish in new regions and countries trying to change banking regulations and laws to facilitate the introduction of such institutions and products in their respective jurisdictions.
The latest region which is trying to open up to Islamic finance is East Africa, including Ethiopia, where local reports suggest that the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), the central bank, is in the process of finalizing a banking regulation and business directive that would allow the authorization of a bank operating under interest-free (Islamic finance) principles.
At the same time the government of Kenya is studying the possibility of issuing the country's debut sovereign sukuk issuance, while the First Community Bank (FCB), Kenya's second Islamic bank, has launched FCB Capital, which plans to issue a series of local currency sukuk plus other Islamic capital market products for a growing market segment.

Bank of London and the Middle East (BLME), the totally-Shariah based bank, is currently working on the development of a Shariah-compliant Absolute Return Fund. The bank, which has its own Shariah Supervisory Board (SSB), has been doing quite well since opening just three years ago and has been providing Islamic investment and finance services to the 15 million Muslim population in Western Europe, as well as customers in Turkey. Nigel Denison, director and head of asset management, explained that the bank's customer base includes people of all faiths who want a trustworthy place to bank. The bank currently has predominantly Kuwaiti shareholders and would someday like to build a presence in the Kingdom.

Steuerliche Würdigung im nationalen und internationalen Kontext

Der Markt Islamic Finance wächst rasant und umfasst bereits heute ein erhebliches Anlagevolumen. Demgegenüber besteht ein großer Kapitalbedarf in der europäischen, speziell auch in der deutschen Realwirtschaft ebenso wie ein Bedarf an Investoren.

Bei der Umsetzung von Islamic-Finance-Vertragsmodellen kann die Besteuerung im Einzelfall eine ausschlaggebende Rolle spielen. Daher erläutert die Autorin in diesem Buch für ausgewählte schariakonforme Finanzierungs- und Anlageformen zunächst die Scharia-Rahmenbedingungen der jeweiligen Vertragsmodelle aus deutscher rechtlicher, ertragsteuerlicher und verkehrsteuerlicher Sicht. Die steuerlichen Fragestellungen werden anhand von Beispielen im grenzüberschreitenden Corporate Bereich im Schnittpunkt von deutschem internationalem Steuerrecht und ausländischem Steuerrecht der weiteren beteiligen Staaten verdeutlicht.

Inhalt

* Einleitung
* Grundzüge von Islamic-Finance-Vertragsmodellen
- eigenkapitalbasierte („Musharaka“ und „Mudaraba“),
- fremdkapitalbasierte („Murabaha“ und „Tawarruq“) sowie

ResearchGATE is the largest social network for academic research globally. Dedicated social profiles of researchers allow to enter academic careers, published articles in journals and books, announce fields of research for international exchange just to name a few of the features.

IslamicFinance.de took another effort to create a dedicated group and invite researchers globally to use this platform and foster research in Islamic finance. The last academic initiative taken was to sponsor and start a full fledged platform for the Islamic Finance WIKI, the online encyclopedia.

Researchers are invited to participate in these initiatives.

Please visit:
http://www.researchgate.net/group/Islamic_Finance/

Arab donors—predominantly the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Kuwait and United Arab Emirates (UAE)—have been among the most generous in the world, with official development assistance (ODA) averaging 1.5 percent of their combined gross national income (GNI) during the period 1973–2008, more than twice the United Nations target of 0.7 percent and five times the average of the OECD-DAC countries. Arab ODA accounts for 13 percent of total DAC ODA on average and nearly three-quarters of non-DAC ODA.

The share of Arab ODA in Arab GNI was exceptionally high in the 1970s and early 1980s, peaking at over 12 percent for the UAE and at about 8.5 percent for Kuwait and KSA in 1973. Nearly one-third of all ODA during the 1970s was from Arab donors. Although the ratio has fallen over time, it still exceeds the average among OECD-DAC member countries.

Moreover, Arab aid is generally untied, and is offered without conditions or restrictions.

On 21st of September this year the meeting took place between Dr. Muhammad Nedal Alchaar Secretary general of Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI), and the Russian association of experts in Islamic financing .
On the meeting the experts exchanged their opinions concerning prospects of development of Islamic financial institutions and products in Russia, application of AAOIFI standards in the field of accounting, audit and norms of Shariah, and also actual world tendencies of the young industry.
Doctor Alchaar has informed that now the AAOIFI members consist of 220 Islamic financial institutions from 46 countries of the world and informed about the basic aspects and complexities of development of the Islamic finance in separate countries, in particular, in the UK, France and the USA.

UAE's Emirates Steel Industries, which controls a majority of the country's steel market with an annual output of two million tons, on Wednesday secured a $1.1 billion loan from a group of regional banks as it seeks to expand its production capacity.
The Abu Dhabi-based firm, the operator of the largest steel plant in the UAE reached a seven-year project financing agreement with a consortium of seven conventional banks and two Islamic finance institutions.
The conventional banks in the consortium are the National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Union National Bank, First Gulf Bank, Bank of Baroda, Arab Banking Corporation, Al-Khaliji France and Al-Khalij Commercial Bank. The two Islamic finance institutions are the Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and Al-Hilal Bank.