Private Banking

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Islamic finance title from German translated to Chinese

Dear Reader,

The German language book on Islamic finance by the Editor of IslamicFinance.de and Dr Wackerbeck from Booz Consultants is now translated to Chinese.

Please find the biographical information below:

Authors: Michael Gassner / Philipp Wackerbeck
Title: Islamic Finance – Islam-gerechte Finanzanlagen und
Finanzierungen
ISBN number: 978-7-5139-0217-5
PUBLISHER: Beijing - Democracy and Construction Press
Pre-Publication Date: 2012.7

Full biographical details: http://db.lib.bua.edu.cn/asord/asorditem.php?asord_marc_no=0001344540

Orders: http://www.amazon.cn/%E4%BC%8A%E6%96%AF%E5%85%B0%E9%87%91%E8%9E%8D-%E7%B...

Book review about the German language original: http://www.rpi-virtuell.net/workspace/24686AD5-936C-476D-9EA0-65E2968590...

Best regards,

Michael Gassner

Islamic finance job openings October 2012

IslamicFinance.de offers an overview about new job openings of October 2012 herewith - firms aiming to be included please send a job profile/hyperlink to newsdesk@islamicfinance.de - the full details of the advert has to be accessed by the hyperlink below the brief description:

Product Manager, Islamic Banking

Standard Chartered Bank - United Arab Emirates-SCB (United Arab Emirates)
Job Description
?Development of Islamic wealth products across CBMS, insurance and investment streams to create customer value proposition.
?Ensure successful implementation of the Islamic banking strategy across high value segment.
?Concentrated responsibility to work with the Priority/Wealth/Private/SME product/frontline teams and support functions to build on the current Islamic banking capabilities and to create seamless customer experience
?Act as a product specialist for RMs on client meetings to introduce and explain the Saadiq solutions to meet their needs
?Financial budgeting and business forecast. Evaluation of financial performance.

What’s Wrong with “Banking the Unbanked”?

Even though people in developed and developing countries live complex financial lives, by far not all of them have bank accounts as money management hubs. Popular means of money management among poor people are keeping savings at home, joining savings clubs, transacting with family/friends, signing on with formal licensed providers etc. In contrast, people in developed countries rely on bank accounts. Since opening a bank account for a poor person will hardly change his/her financial life, a more complex transition and a better measure of financial inclusion is necessary.

Read more on: http://cfi-blog.org/2012/10/09/whats-wrong-with-banking-the-unbanked/

UBL Funds to launch Islamic scheme

In a recent announcement UBL Fund Managersstated that it will launch its new Shariah-compliant investment scheme. The scheme known under the name UBL Islamic Cash Fund is described as an Islamic Money Market Scheme with clients who have cash lying idle in a current account as a target group. Investing in UBL Islamic Cash Fund will enable customers to earn a competitive return which will be calculated and announced on a daily basis.

More on: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012\09\19\story_19-9-2012_pg10_3

Source: 

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012\09\19\story_19-9-2012_pg10_3

Malaysia: Islamic finance pensions

Reforms in the Malaysian pension system aiming to liberalise Malaysia’s pensions market have been announced. One of the newly introduced items is the voluntary Private Retirement Scheme (PRS). It will allow Malaysians to purchase a wide variety of products from private fund management firms, thus making it easier for them to focus on Islamic investment. The expected result of this move is a notable stimulation of the Islamic finance market. However, in order to bolster investor confidence in the sector, greater regulatory oversight will be necessary.

Islamic bank tempts savers with 4pc rate

The Islamic Bank of Britain offers a two-year fixed account with an expected profit rate of 4pc. People of any faith can take advantage of this table-topping offer. Since the bank's investments go to Sharia compliant and ethical trading activities, the 4pc are not paid as interest but offered as an 'expected profit rate'. This account rate os only available from July 21 until August 19.

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IslamicFinance.de aims to raise USD 2'500 for quarterly running costs

Dear Reader,

IslamicFinance.de is privately funded for many years. Now, for the first time, you have the possibility to make a contribution, from one Dollar upwards!

The technical details, and the money transfer via paypal is organised by Kapipal a new online fundraising tool:

http://www.kapipal.com/islamicfinance

On the blog I gave some more thoughts about Islamic finance media for those interested: http://www.islamicfinance.de/?q=node/3454

Please also note: The fundraising action has a deadline, so act today, not tomorrow and tell your friends about it!

All donors who will leave a message will be listed in the article, which follows after closure of the fundraising period.

I am happy to meet you in person either on 19th March in Milano (http://www.islamicfinance.de/?q=node/3396) or on 10th May in Frankfurt (http://www.islamicfinance.de/?q=BAFINII) at the respective Islamic finance conference.

Wa at Taufiq min Allah, all the best,

Michael Saleh Gassner

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Islamic finance media - a challenge, and what one could do

Dear Readers,

Islamic finance media are a tricky service. This is true for various reasons: The Internet eats up the revenues, because everything ought to be free. Islamic banks are still a niche phenomena, and international banks like UBS or Deutsche are almost as large as the entire global Islamic finance industry. Consequently the marketing budgets are much lower, too.

Last not least, who should advertise? The banks among themselves or to the clients? Advertising from bank to bank, does usually not make much sense, but real client oriented formats are hard to find, too. May be this is a niche. Others, who could finance Islamic finance media are basically the service providers to the banks, but due to the limited number of Islamic financial insitutions, direct marketing, e.g. face to face meetings will be preferred.

This in short is the background why Islamic finance media are not so well established in terms of journalism and research, but mostly reflecting the press release as criticised by the makers of the Islamic Globe. See: http://www.theislamicglobe.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article...

Report for free download: Sarasin releases Islamic Wealth Management Report 2012

In its 2012 Islamic Wealth Management Report illustrated by masterpieces of Islamic calligraphy, by the Chinese Muslim master Hajji Noordeen, deals with the theme “The path to corporate transformation – converting a company to Islam”.

Bank Sarasin reviews the complexities of converting a business to Islam, a topic which is rarely discussed or written about. Conversion is complicated by the need to address every aspect of a business, the lack of broadly accepted standards and regulations, and differences in the Muslim world itself. The Report, released today, is the Bank’s third on Islamic Wealth Management.

Converting a business to Islam can increase the value of a company by 18-25% due to the scarcity of genuine Islamic investments. But the conversion process is arduous, extending from the design to distribution and beyond, to how the company spends its profits. As Sarasin notes, the market potential is massive, with the global Muslim population expected to increase by 26% to 2030, to 2.2 billion, rivalling China and India in terms of market size.

Islamic Investor for iPhone

IdealRatings® Islamic Investor™ is the only iPhone application that tells you if a stock is Shariah compliant or not, gives you a detailed report explaining why, and alerts you if it changes status, it is designed for personal use by individual investors.

IdealRatings® is the most trusted provider of accurate, and timely, Islamic Finance information. Most Islamic index providers, and financial institutions in 18 countries rely on IdealRatings to create and manage their Islamic,Shariah compliant, products. Our data is available directly, or on Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg terminals.

Features:

-Find out, instantly, if a stock in your local market is Shariah compliant or not.
-Learn why by reading a detailed report.
-Explore Shariah compliant stocks from the Top Stocks and Featured sections.
-Track the compliance of your favorite stocks.
-Receive an alert if a stock changes compliance status.
-Share your findings with your friends and colleagues.

Bank Sarasin urges a stronger focus on Islamic Financial Planning

The key challenges and opportunities addressed in the Islamic Wealth Management Report are:

•Managing the Islamic wealth cycle through the entire process of wealth acquisition, preservation and distribution and achieving the required balance between spiritual and worldly obligations.
•Understanding the primary issues facing Waqf donors despite the strong growth drivers in this market: poor performance is due in part to the shortage of professionals leading to low quality asset management and lack of transparency.
•Considering the suitability of the Swiss private banking family office structure as a wealth management tool to ensure effective Islamic governance.
•Addressing the challenges facing Islamic mutual funds to achieve growth and performance.
•Recommending standardisation, education and diversification of Sukuk in order to increase the supply of products and the liquidity of the market.
•Analysing Islamic equity and indices performance over the last year to illustrate that diversification remains key for investment without compromising Islamic principles.

Demand for Islamic private banking services rising, says KFH

Private Financial Services Department Manager at Kuwait Finance House (KFH) Talal Al-Nesf claims demand for private Islamic banking services has grown rapidly during the past two years, despite the impact of the financial crisis.
However, Al-Nest also pointed out that private banking clients have reassessed their objectives and strategies, becoming more conservative while also seeking profitable products with minimal risks. Such an approach is contrary to their approach before the crisis, where they were willing to take high risks in return for high returns in light of the available opportunities and liquidity.
KFH is currently considering new products from all aspects, especially the level of risk, the expected returns, and the estimated exiting time. Those products are expected to be offered through funds that invest in the sectors of Ijarah and shipping. In addition, Al-Nest stated that KFH is expected to boost the Sukuk market.

[German] - Steuerliche Wuerdigung islamischer Vertragsmodelle - Neuerscheinung im Bankverlag

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

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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/

Mideast's wealthy community grows 7% in 2009

The number of High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) in the UAE dropped almost 20 percent last year. The growth levels in the Middle East were the lowest of all the regions surveyed in the report and Amir Sadr, head of Middle East Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, said this was evidence that the region had underperformed in 2009. A new study by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) found that millionaire households owned more than half of the wealth in the Middle East and Africa region in 2009.

S&P: European Finance House Offshore Sharia Fund Assigned 'AAf/S1+' Fund Credit Quality And Volatility Ratings

Press Release

European Finance House Offshore Sharia Fund Assigned 'AAf/S1+' Fund Credit Quality
And Volatility Ratings

LONDON, May 4, 2010--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it assigned
its 'AAf' fund credit quality and its 'S1+' fund volatility ratings to EFH Funds SCA
SICAV-SIF - Liquidity Subfund (the "subfund"), a Luxembourg-domiciled U.S
dollar-denominated liquidity fund, managed by European Finance House (EFH). This is
the first Standard & Poor's fund credit quality and fund volatility rating assigned
to an offshore Islamic fund.

Fund credit quality ratings generally reflect our assessment of the level of
protection against losses from credit defaults and are based on an analysis of the
credit quality of the portfolio investments and the likelihood of counterparty
defaults.

Fund volatility ratings generally reflect Standard & Poor's view of the fund's
sensitivity to interest rate movements, credit risk, investment diversification or
concentration, liquidity, leverage, and other factors.

The ratings reflect Standard & Poor's analysis of the subfund's credit quality and

S&P: Islamic Investors' Risk Tolerance Will Determine Demand For Sharia Fund Ratings

Press Release

Islamic Investors' Risk Tolerance Will Determine Demand For Sharia Fund Ratings,
Report Says

LONDON, May 4, 2010--The economic boom in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region
has fueled the emergence of Islamic finance in the international market in the past
decade. Revenue growth in this region has particularly benefited the asset
management sector, as Standard & Poor's noted in a report published today (see "Using Fund Ratings To Assess Credit And Market Risks In Sharia Funds").

The Middle East is by far the largest market for Sharia-compliant funds, but
conventional players in Europe, South Africa, and the U.S. have also launched a
number of funds that comply with Sharia law during past years, enhancing their
product range to meet the specific requirements of Islamic investors seeking to
invest in this asset class.

The number of product types remains limited, which Standard & Poor's Ratings
Services believes is largely due to the nascent nature of Sharia funds. Funds also
have to be invested in ways that are permitted under Islamic law. Sharia funds,
unlike traditional bond funds, do not invest in conventional rated fixed-income

Islamic Wealth Management Report published by Bank Sarasin

Press Release

The report provides investors with an in-depth overview of the various asset classes in Islamic wealth management along with a synopsis of the market scenario during the past 18 months. The report also explores the concept of estate and succession planning, which Sarasin believes is insufficiently addressed in the Islamic finance industry and is a key element of Sarasin’s Islamic wealth management offering. Finally, the report provides an insight into the bank’s economic outlook for 2010.

The key issues and challenges addressed in the report are:

  • how Sharia screening reduced the downside in volatile markets and how it affects the finance industry and investors,
  • the behaviour of direct real estate investments in comparison with real estate funds and Sharia-compliant real estate investment trusts,
  • the income-related role of Sukuk within Islamic balanced portfolios and the probability of defaults,
  • a comparison between various Islamic investment funds ranging from income-oriented to commodity, real estate and equity funds,
  • the size and future of the Islamic private equity and venture capital industry,

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.

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