IslamicFinance.de

Representatives from Azzad Asset Management announced the selection of Federated Investment Management Company as sub-advisor for the Azzad Wise Capital Fund, America's first Halal fixed-income mutual fund. The Federated team has researched and purchased Sukuk, a significant holding in the Azzad Wise Capital Fund, for US and European mutual funds, as well as in separately managed accounts for large pension and institutional clients, said Azzad Senior Investment Strategist Fatima Iqbal. In addition, they have extensive experience managing fixed-income securities, generally. Much of the same analysis will be implemented in their management of the Azzad Wise Capital Fund.

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Contents
Revised Shariah Screening Methodology: 1
Expands ICM’s Global Reach
SHARIAH
New Shariah Advisory Council Resolutions 3
DEVELOPMENT
Region’s First Structured Covered Sukuk 7
Royal Award for Islamic Finance Calls for Global 9
Nominations
SC and Autoriti Monetari Brunei to Strengthen 9
Efforts in Greater Cross-border Activities
SC Leads Islamic Finance Taskforce to Publish a 10
Report on Enhancing Infrastructure for ICM
REGULATORY
IFSB-IOSCO-SC Collaborate on Disclosure 11
Requirements for ICM Products
SC Revises Equity Guidelines for SPACS 12
Technical Note on the Application of SC’s 13
Guidelines In Relation to Non-Tradable and
Non-Transferable PDS and Sukuk
FEATURES
2013: Another Resilient Year for the Global 14
Islamic Finance Industry
Global Islamic Funds Industry: Achieving 18
Growth Under Challenging Times
Harmonisation of Shariah Rulings 22
in Islamic Finance
News Round-up 29
STATISTICAL UPDATES
Malaysian ICM – Facts and Figures 32
Free download below at source:

The UAE's Debt Settlement Fund was set up to rescue Emiratis struggling to meet payments on loans and credit cards. It was launched with an initial budget of Dh10 billion. Heavily indebted Emiratis who receive help by the fund are not allowed to borrow from any banks and their name is centralised in all banks. All banks are required to cooperate, and uncooperative institutions will face penalties. Under the auspices of the agreement, the bank writes off half the outstanding amount of the debt, which must be in dispute. However, in turn, the bank gets closure on a debt that is stuck in litigation. However, only Emiratis who have been taken to court by a bank on account of default as of the date of the launch of the initiative in 2011, qualify for the programme.

London-based RiverCrossing Capital Partners, a new Islamic investment firm, has launched its first product, a U.S. real estate fund, as part of a plan to offer non-traditional asset classes to institutional investors in the Gulf. The firm will develop asset-based funds with a non-cyclical nature, chairman Mohammed Abdulmalik said. RiverCrossing's first fund will have a target investment horizon of five years and focus on medical offices, self-storage facilities and senior and student housing in the United States, he added. RiverCrossing aims to raise $45 million in the first tranche of its Alternative Real Estate U.S. Fund this quarter, reaching a total of $125 million with a second tranche in the next 12 to 18 months.

The Azzad Wise Capital Fund, America's first Halal, socially responsible fixed-income mutual fund, turned four years old this month. Falls Church, Virginia-based Azzad Asset Management launched the interest-free fund in 2010. Over its four-year history, the Azzad Wise Capital Fund has proven to be an diversification and income-generating tool for investors who observe the Islamic law. Although it does not deal with debt instruments created from interest-based lending, the Azzad Wise Capital Fund shares in the gains from its ventures, which include Islamic bank deposits and Sukuk. Bashar Qasem, Azzad President and CEO, started Azzad Asset Management in 1997. In 2000, Qasem and his colleagues oversaw the launch of the Azzad Ethical Fund, and ultimately created the Azzad Wise Capital Fund to diversify client accounts.

A meeting of the 58th session of the Permanent Council of the Islamic Solidarity Fund of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation reviewed the current financial situation of the Fund and the projects it is executing for member states and Muslim communities in non-OIC member states. OIC Secretary General Iyad Ameen Madani called for the mobilization of support for the ISF to overcome the limitation of resources in the face of growing needs, adding that many humanitarian issues were awaiting the attention of the Fund. He called for the establishment of a work group to identify projects for the ISF and unify efforts. The ISF has so far built 2,418 projects at a cost of $207 million in 130 countries throughout the world.

Mashreq’s Islamic banking division, Mashreq Al Islami, has launched its flagship Islamic Equity Fund, Al Islami Arab Tigers Fund. The fund will facilitate investment in a diversified portfolio of growth and dividend stocks in the MENA region. The Al Islami Arab Tigers Fund will invest in listed equities of companies that comply with Shariah law values. Mashreq fund manager Reda Gomma said that given the spending spree by MENA governments to upgrade their infrastructure, corporate earnings are poised to grow substantially over the medium to long term. Al Islami Arab Tigers is a well regulated fund and is a good opportunity for investors to benefit from growing economies in the Middle East, Gomma added.

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has approved $515.6 million to fund several socioeconomic development projects. The funds consist of $490 million for the energy sector, divided into $220 million for a power plant project in Pakistan, $90 million for a similar project in Morocco, $83.4 million in Senegal, $60 million for power plant expansion in Mauritania, and $36 million for rural electrification project phase II in Cameroon. The education sector received $17.8 million consisting of $7.5 million for a project in Burkina Faso, and $10.27 million for Suriname. In the transport sector, the Board approved a $6 million technical assistance loan to the Republic of Niger. IDBs Waqf Fund had approved $780,000 as a grant for Muslim communities in non-member countries for educational projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, India and Malawi.

Bahrain’s Al Salam Bank has launched a listed sharia-compliant real estate investment trust (REIT) that will invest in a portfolio of Asian properties. The REIT will invest in between 15 and 35 properties and be managed by Swiss-based B&I Capital AG, with Al Salam providing seed capital for the fund. The Islamic lender did not reveal the expected size of the fund. Al Salam was an anchor investor in the Sabana Industrial REIT, which was listed on the Singapore exchange in 2010 and was one of the world’s first REITs to adopt Islamic principles. A handful of Islamic REITs have been launched, including Dubai Islamic Bank’s Emirates REIT in 2010. Malaysia now has three listed Islamic REITs.

US-based Islamic stock fund manager Saturna Capital Corp is selling its first plan in Malaysia, betting that Southeast Asian equities will weather a global emerging-market rout. The company, which has US$4.1 billion (RM13.6 billion) of assets under management globally, wants to raise RM100 million in the Malaysian fund's first year. The vehicle will invest in syariah-compliant companies in the region, focusing on building-material, healthcare and consumer stocks. The new ringgit-denominated fund will target local and overseas high net worth individuals and institutional investors. The outlook for Islamic fund management in Malaysia is still good, after a constant growth at an average rate of 25 per cent a year since 2009.

Panin Bank Syariah, the Islamic banking unit of Bank Panin Indonesia, plans to provide prospective hajj saving service for hajj and umrah. Managing Director of Panin Bank Syariah, Deny Hendrawati, said that company targeted hajj and umrah fund between 1 trillion to 1.5 trillion IDR from four thousand to five thousand customers. Panin Bank Syariah also develops its e-banking service. E-banking service is connected online to the Integrated Hajj Computerized System (Siskohat) at the Ministry of Religious Affairs. Hence, the customer's name who meets the minium saving will be automatically enlisted as a prospective hajj. According to central bank's new rule, Bank Panin Syariah can use its 500 parents' networks across Indonesia.

NCB Capital has joined hands with Jeddah-based SEDCO Development Company to launch the AlAhli SEDCO Residential Development Fund, a public close-end Shariah-compliant investment opportunity. The fund provides investors with capital growth by purchasing land plots in Jeddah for development, construction and sale of residential apartments targeting the middle income segment of the population. Minimum subscription is SR50,000 and the fund aims to have an internal rate of return of 10 percent per year. The new fund has been created to address the shortage of reasonably affordable residential accommodation for middle and upper income home buyers.

For many years we see in the media experts believing in inflation and even hyper inflation. However, in the same time we face proponents warning against deflation. So far we all noticed.

Only a about a week ago I read an article by Myret Zaki clarifying that unfortunately inflation and deflation co-exists.

Myret Zaki's thesis is that we face inflation on financial markets, and deflation in the real economy (in French):

http://www.bilan.ch/myret-zaki/redaction-bilan/inflation-et-deflation-co...

In my view there is a general major shift in the price matrix and I still try to figure the magnitude and implications thereof. It is a bit irritating as at University we learned about neutrality of money:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutrality_of_money

This means any extra supply will increase prices equally, 5 % more money, all prices going up 5 %. Pretty plausible at first hand. However, it seems it does not work in reality any more (or never did).

Essel Finance is planning a Shariah fund for foreign investors in real estate. The Shariah fund will have a corpus of $100 million (Rs 620 crore). The fund is looking to close the fund forge partnerships with Shariah funds by February-March. Amit Goenka, chief executive officer, Essel Financial Services said the Shariah partner would offer the fund on its behalf and once the company gets its licence for the offshore fund it was planning, it would bring the Shariah component under its fold. Essel's offshore vehicle may also get its investors to directly invest in real estate projects here and not route it through the fund. The offshore fund has planned a corpus of $200 million. Its domestic fund does debt deals and charges developers with coupon rates of 18 to 19 per cent.

The global demand for Islamic pension funds is currently between $160 billion and $190 billion, according to estimates by Ernst & Young's (E&Y) Global Islamic Banking Center. At present, most of these funds are parked under conventional sovereign pension funds due to lack of investment options. Several fast-growth emerging markets including Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and UAE are seeing strong demand for Shariah-compliant retirement plans. A key decision is whether to allow members of the fund to transfer their existing account balance to the Sharia-compliant fund, or if only the future contributions should be segregated as conventional or Islamic. Additionally, timing for the desired transfer is important. The fund would model the outcomes based on several factors.

The Islamic fund industry manages about $46 billion, only a tiny part of the total global asset management figure, which stands at $60 trillion. The issues that need be addressed for the Islamic asset management and investments to grow were discussed at the first Global Islamic Economy Summit 2013. Performance of the funds is key to bringing in clients, both institutional and retail. In a region, such as the GCC, where the retail component is extremely small, funds have to ensure capturing all the sectors in the market. Moreover, savings ratio in Muslim countries is low and awareness of mutual funds among retail groups is very low. With an attractive performance and support from the sovereign funds and pension funds and the governments, the sector may grow substantially.

EIIB-Rasmala, a venture between London-based European Islamic Investment Bank and Dubai's Rasmala Group, has launched a sharia-compliant trade finance fund as a low-risk investment product. The Cayman-domiciled fund is linked to emerging market trade transactions and the firm hopes to attract $100 million into the fund over the coming year. The fund targets a return of 4 percent with low volatility as the firm continues to expand its sharia-compliant product range. Since last year, EIIB-Rasmala has launched three Islamic funds including a leasing fund and a sukuk fund seeded with $25 million of the company's own capital.

According to Thomson Reuters Global Islamic Asset Management Report 2014, assets under management of GCC Islamic funds have been increasing, post global financial crisis and the 2011 political turmoil in the Arab world. However, assets under management (AUM) have been decreasing for the global Islamic fund industry. While Islamic funds globally have doubled since 2007, the AUM have marginally gone up in the last few years, and have in fact declined 1.7 per cent in 2013. Of the total $62 billion assets under management, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia Luxembourg comprise the top three Islamic fund hubs. The full report will be released next week at the Global Islamic Economy summit in Dubai.

According to estimates by EY’s Global Islamic Banking Center, the pent up global demand for Islamic pension funds is currently between $160 bn and $190 bn. At present, most of these funds are parked under conventional sovereign pension funds due to lack of investing options. Since greenfield operations would take too long to satiate market demand, a more practical approach is the partial transformation of existing pension funds to carve out Shari’a compliant tranches. The transformation will need to be carefully planned to choose the right business model and operational framework. The choice of business model will determine the governance structure, the complexity of financial reporting, tax implications, and go-to-market timeframes.