Mortgage

Gassner's picture

Islamic Finance Group on ResearchGATE, the largest social network for scientists!

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/

Understanding the sensitivities of Islamic mortgages

Islamic mortgages may be regarded as a niche market but they offer opportunities for brokers who work close to large Muslim populations, especially to those who understand the products and the sector.

As with all areas of lending finance for Islamic mortgages suffered in line with the market downturn. A lack of confidence, funding and a reassessment of risk with lower LTV criteria have all contributed to consolidation in what was a growing area of mortgage broking and lending.

Alburaq was a dedicated resource to brokers referring clients to Alburaq’s team in London. Islamic Bank of Britain offers training to ensure a full understanding of the market and there are competitive processing fees for packaged or introduced cases.

The important thing to remember is that this sector is growing through difficult times. Brokers will find this sector interesting and it will provide them with a loyal client base who will be keen to recommend knowledgeable and sensitive advisers to members of their community.

Home finance partnership for Islamic Bank of Britain, Legal & General

UK insurance giant Legal & General has signed a partnership with Islamic Bank of Britain (IBB) to make two Islamic home finance products available to financial intermediaries. The Home Purchase Plan (HPP) is IBB’s flagship Islamic mortgage product and is a mortgage alternative, which offers home finance without the use of interest. The Shari’ah-compliant product allows customers to purchase their home in partnership with the bank on a leasing (Ijara) and diminishing partnership (Musharaka) agreement. Islamic Bank of Britain pioneered Shari’ah-compliant retail banking in the UK and has launched a wide range of products, including the Home Purchase Plan (the halal mortgage alternative) Current Accounts, Savings Accounts and Personal Finance. Several of the bank’s products remain unique in the UK retail market.

Consumer banking will continue to be an important revenue generator of banks

Consumer banking will continue to be an important revenue generator for banks with home loans being one of the major areas of focus amid the prevailing relatively low interest rates. Apart from home loans, the other sectors in consumer banking which banks are focusing on to beef up their revenue streams are car loans, credit cards, personal loans and wealth management. RAM Ratings head of financial institution ratings Promod Dass said the relatively low interest rate environment had fuelled consumer lending, which represented more than half of the banking system’s loans. Malaysian Rating Corp Bhd vice-president and head of financial institution ratings Anandakumar Jegarasasingam said the main challenge for banks would be to ensure the asset quality of household loans. Ernst & Young Malaysia partner (Assurance) Chan Hooi Lam foresee consumer banking facilities like car loans, purchase of residential properties and credit cards to continue its growth momentum into next year. RHB Banking group director of retail banking Renzo Viegas said that apart from credit cards, the focus would also be in debit cards as the bank saw tremendous growth potential in this area.

Islamic bank injection to help Sharia-compliant products

A £20m capital injection into Islamic Bank of Britain will help develop more home loans in line with Sharia law, an expert from Defaqto has said. David Black, banking expert from Defaqto, said: “The £20m capital investment will enable the IBB to grow its Islamic mortgages. With some other banks recently reducing their involvement in Sharia loans in the UK, the IBB’s capital injection will provide fresh impetus for what will be a growth area.” Its products are structured in a different way to those provided by conventional banks. Instead of a traditional mortgage, customers pay monthly rent and purchase instalments over the agreed period to the bank on the basis of which the bank gradually sells its share of the property to the customer. The recent cash injection has meant IBB has launched two new home loans. “With a fresh injection of capital we are well placed to grow the business through our Home Purchase Plan products. The products will offer peace of mind for customers, both financially and spiritually, which is especially important in the holy month of Ramadan” , said Sultan Choudhury.

Sovereign Sukuk Beating Company Debt First Time Since May: Islamic Finance

Sovereign Islamic bonds from Asia to the Persian Gulf are lowering returns on corporate sukuk for the first time in three months.

Malaysia’s Lembaga Tabung Haji fund, France’s BNP Paribas Investment Partners and Duet Mena Ltd. in Dubai forecast government debt will outperform until property prices in the Persian Gulf recover from a slump that prompted credit-ratings companies to downgrade corporate bonds.

Saudi mortgage law delay 'will hit lenders' - BMI

Saudi Arabia's parliament delays the decision concerning the mortgage law until the members return from summer recess. Saudi Arabia, the Middle East's biggest economy, needs 1.2 million new homes by 2015, says the Deutsche Bank research.

n/a

n/a

n/a

Launch of International Islamic Finance Journal from Dubai

Press Release

Today sees the launch of a new Journal on Islamic finance from dedicated Islamic finance media entity Yasaar Media.

The Journal, called So Far – the Journal of Strategic Thinking in Islamic Finance, is written and edited by members of an Islamic finance Think Tank and is modelled on traditional academic journals. The difference with So Far is that the members of the Think Tank are predominantly practitioners rather than academics.
Member of the Think Tank are drawn from the ranks of committed Islamic finance professionals around the world and range from the Gulf and the Far East to the USA and Europe.

Each issue of So Far is dedicated to a single topic of core importance to the Islamic finance industry – and the launch issue looks at the thorny issue of the problems facing the Sukuk market. Unlike many other journals So Far is distributed free in PDF format and is available from a variety of sources including Yasaar Media thus guaranteeing maximum readership and exposure.

Saudi mortgage law to usher in new financing boom

The Saudi mortgage law, once passed would drive Saudi housing demand and prices as more people access the market.

Gassner's picture

Calling Islamic financial institutions to become member of the United Nations Finance Initiative

IslamicFinance.de is calling Islamic financial institutions to become member of the UNEP Finance Inititiave to learn and contribute to international best practice in ethical and faith based finance:

"UNEP FI is a global partnership between UNEP and the financial sector. Over 180 institutions, including banks, insurers and fund managers, work with UNEP to understand the impacts of environmental and social considerations on financial performance."

membership information package:
http://www.unepfi.org/fileadmin/forms/MembershipInformationPack.pdf

Gassner's picture

Presentation Islamic Mortgage models for the German market

The Central Council of Muslims in Germany presented on the BAFIN Islamic Finance conference how mortgages for the Muslim community could look like, how large the market is and challenged the perception that there would be a need to change laws to avoid double real estate transfer tax; it shall rather work tax efficient with proper structuring and without changes. Hence, financial institutions are asked to provide equity and debt based mortgages for the Muslim market.

Islamic Finance in North America

Yasaar media published a new report called Islamic Finance in North America 2009 for free download, which is co-published by Codexa Capital, UM Financial Group, King & Spalding, and Doha Islamic.

According to the report Islamic finance in North America has developed along two quite separate paths:

  • The first path focuses on retail Islamic finance and centres mostly on home financing products and credit cards.
  • The second path involves a number of high profile GCC-based Islamic investment banks and their deployment of hundreds of millions of dollars in private equity and real estate developments in North America.

Read the full report for free at the link below.

Markaz expects 50 % surge in Saudi demand after mortgage law

The total demand for residential units in Saudi Arabia will be in the range of 500,000 to 800,000 during the period 2009-13. The currently planned organised supply will provide about 73,000 units during 2009-13 and the rest will be tapped by current and future projects by smaller size developers and major projects planned in future.

Deyaar's contracts will be Shariah-compliant

Business 24/7 reported on 6 January that the real estate developer said that Deyaar's contracts will be Shariah-compliant and they are going to deal exclusively with Islamic banks. Deyaar is an affiliate of Dubai Islamic Bank. Markus Giebel, the CEO of Deyaar has written a column for Business 24/7.

Amlak Finance first quarter profits soar by 425%

Gulf News reported on 6 April that Amlak Finance reported a 425 %growth in first quarter net profits to Dh 126 mn compared to only Dh 24 mn in the first quarter of 2007.

Amlak also reported an impressive 165 per cent rise in revenues to Dh 270 mn during the first quarter of 2008 compared to Dh 102 mn in the same period last year.

The Extraordinary General Meeting mandated the board of directors with the issuance of convertible sukuk, up to Dh1.8 billion, in addition to non-convertible sukuk up to at Dh3 billion, for a total value of Dh4.8 billion.

Nasser Bin Hassan Al Shaikh is the chairman of Amlak Finance.

Source: http://archive.gulfnews.com/business/Banking_and_Finance/10203528.html

Syndicate content