IslamicFinance.de

JPMorgan will include sukuk in its emerging markets indices starting from October 31. Dollar-denominated sukuk from Turkey, Malaysia and Indonesia will be included in JPMorgan’s flagship EMBI Global Diversified index, against which an estimated $313 billion in assets is benchmarked. The move could help sukuk break away from their traditional buy-and-hold investor base. Pakistan’s $1 billion sukuk maturing in 2019 will be included in the JPMorgan Asia Credit Index alongside sukuk from Indonesia and Malaysia, but Qatar and Bahrain are currently absent. Only two corporate sukuk will be included in the JPMorgan Corporate Emerging Markets Bond Index: a 2023 sukuk from Dubai’s DP World and a 2024 sukuk from Saudi Electricity Co.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad expressed reservations over the Islamic Development Bank’s plan to open its branch in India. VHP joint general secretary Surendra Jain is currently attending a two-day meeting in Ahmedabad to discuss various issues. He said they will also deliberate on the strategy to oppose the opening of the new branch. Although IDB recently announced that it will open its first Indian branch in Ahmedabad, VHP insists that such banks are against the Constitution and banking norms set by RBI.

After the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) cancelled Ahmedabad-based Parsoli Corporation's registration as a stock broker, the CEO of the firm, Zafar Sareshwala, claimed that his company had exited the stock-broking business voluntarily in 2010 and described the SEBI's move as a classic case of harassment. He claimed that SEBI had targeted his company because it was a Muslim firm and had proposed to bring in Islamic financing. SEBI had cancelled the certificates granted to Parsoli Corporation as a stock broker on both the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange due to observations that Parsoli was not fit and proper and was repeatedly found guilty of violating securities laws on more than one occasion.

According to a recent report by KFH-Research, one million wealthy families in the Gulf region are in possession of investment assets worth about USD 1.2 trillion. The report further informs that the world's population of high net worth individuals (HNWIs) grew by a marginal 0.8% year on year to 11 million in 2011. In comparison to growth rates of 17.1% in 2009 and 8.3% in 2010, last year's growth is considered rather sluggish. There is also a decline in the aggregate financial wealth of these HNWIs as high as 1.7% to USD 42 trillion in 2011. The main reason for this is believed to be the challenging global macroeconomic conditions and volatile global financial markets.