The IFSB sees growing demand for fintech within the Malaysian Islamic financial services system, because customers are looking for alternatives.
IFSB secretary-general Jaseem Ahmed said „demand for fintech within Islamic finance had increased following the global financial crisis“ and further that “There are tremendous opportunities for fintech within Islamic finance. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, there has been a loss of confidence, so people are looking for alternatives,”
Jaseem added that commercial banks are really taking up fintech to reach out and improve the attractiveness of their products at a lower cost and also said that he expected sukuk issuance to continue remaining strong in Malaysia.
The IFSB event, which ends tomorrow, comprises forums that bring together key stakeholders of the Islamic financial services industry.
Saudi Aramco has plans that would raise 11.25 billion riyals (3 billion US-Dollar) from its debut Islamic bond. That would boost the size of the sale because of investor demand. King & Spalding Partner Rizwan Kanji weighs in on "Bloomberg Markets: Middle East."
The Kenyan Treasury will push through the country’s first Sukuk bond in the coming year. The changes will see the Public Finance Management Act amended to allow the issuance of the bond, which has been in the works since 2014.
Treasury CS Henry Rotich said that the Capital Markets Act, the Co-operatives Societies Act and Sacco Societies Act are also lined up for ammendment.
The government plans to borrow up to Sh256 billion from external sources in the next fiscal year, to plug a budget deficit of Sh524 billion. The State has in the recent past taken up foreign loans in form of the Eurobond and syndicated loans from commercial lenders. Kenya has been mulling over a Sukuk bond for the past two fiscal years, given its highly discounted nature, which would provide cheaper financing compared to commercial loans. The lack of the necessary regulatory framework has, however, delayed this option. In the current fiscal year, Kenya has turned to syndicated loans to finance part of her budget deficit. These loans include the just signed $800 million loan from four international banks, and a similar $500 million facility taken from the African Export-Import bank.
The shareholders of Qatar's Masraf Al Rayan, an Islamic lender, approved the issuance of sukuk worth up to $2 billion to meet the bank's liquidity needs on Sunday. The Gulf state's second largest lender by market value appointed banks in January to handle a debut sukuk issue of around $500 million, banking sources told Reuters that month.
Saudi Aramco is paying a significant premium to the government and to its previous borrowing in its first sukuk sale. Aramco is offering 7-year, riyal-denominated sukuk at 25 basis points (bps) over the six-month Saudi Arabian Interbank Offered Rate (SAIBOR). The private placement, part of a 37.5 billion riyal ($10 billion) Islamic bond programme, could be as large as about 6 billion. It is expected to take place early next week. Riyadh is restructuring the company and its regulatory environment to make Aramco attractive as an investment. But major decisions on the company's structure and its post-IPO dividend policy have not been announced. Alinma Investment, HSBC Saudi Arabia, NCB Capital and Riyad Capital are the joint lead coordinators. They are joined by GIB Capital, Samba Capital and Saudi Fransi Capital in dealer roles.
Saudi Arabia is considering whether to change the structure of its planned U.S. dollar sukuk issue, which would be the kingdom's first international sukuk issue. The structure would comprise a mudaraba agreement plus a murabaha facility. Potential changes to that structure are now under discussion to make the instrument more easily tradable and less complex to understand for international investors. So the structure may be changed to an ijara format, a lease-financing structure which is common among sovereign sukuk issuance around the world. The new issue would be Saudi Arabia's second international bond sale after a $17.5 billion debut conventional bond issue last October. Citi, HSBC and JP Morgan are global coordinators, BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank are also involved with lead roles.
Dubai-based building company Drake & Scull said it breached financial covenants in relation to a sukuk syndicated facility and other bank facilities in 2016. The company incurred an annual loss 815.3 million dirhams ($222.01 million) last year as low oil prices and an economic slowdown hit the construction sector in the Gulf region. Drake & Scull was not able to comply with reporting requirements requested for a conditional waiver and therefore, breached financial covenants. These loans are now overdue on their principal and interest payments, and they are technically payable on demand.
Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Aramco) set final pricing for its debut Islamic bond as the company presses ahead with plans to raise $10 billion in debt. Aramco is selling debt with a seven year tenure in a private placement at 25 basis points over the country’s interbank offered rate. The oil giant is selling debt ahead of an initial public offering in 2018 as the country’s finance ministry plans to cut taxation on the company. The cut will boost Aramco’s net income by 300%, putting per-barrel income in a range similar to that of international oil companies. Aramco’s sukuk follows Saudi Arabia’s $17.5 billion bond issue in October, which was the state’s debut international debt sale. Saudi Arabia is also said to be planning a sale of riyal-denominated Islamic bonds to local institutions to help boost the country’s Islamic bond market.
The Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) has published the exposure draft of the accounting standard on Sukuk and invites feedback from the Islamic finance industry. The objective of the standard is to prescribe the accounting and financial reporting guidance for the accounting treatment and classification with regard to the Sukuk issuance. It also covers the presentation and disclosure of Sukuk issuance. It provides principle-based accounting treatments for broadly two types of Sukuk issuance, off balance sheet and on balancesheet as well as respective subcategories. Comments on the exposure draft are welcome and should be directed no later than 31 March 2017 to accounting@aaoifi.com. Comments and suggestions will be presented in an upcoming meeting to discuss and make necessary changes to the standard.
Turkey's state grain board TMO and construction firm Gap Insaat have received regulatory approval for debut sukuk sales. Turkey has seen steady issuance of sukuk from the government and the country's Islamic banks, but an increase in corporate issuance could help tap into a much wider stable of issuers. According to the country's Capital Markets Board, the TMO will raise 150 million lira ($41.6 million) via a sukuk that will be arranged by Islamic lender Kuveyt Turk. Turkey is seeking to build a bigger role in the industry and forge closer ties with fast-growing economies in the Gulf and southeast Asia. The Turkish Treasury hired banks to arrange a sale of sukuk in the international markets, with meetings set to begin this week in the United Arab Emirates.
Turkish treasury mandated the Dubai Islamic Bank, HSBC, and Standard Chartered to explore opportunities for a possible sukuk issue. A series of investor meetings will be organised in the UAE on March 28, 2017. Meanwhile, the country’s monetary authority raised its highest interest rate while leaving all of the other rates unchanged. The lira rallied as the move was seen paving for they way for tighter policy and serving as insurance against bouts of currency weakness.
Two standard-setting bodies are proposing new guidelines for sukuk that would make them more transparent and easier to structure. The Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) published draft accounting standards for sukuk. It clarifies how sukuk should be treated on balance sheets and which information issuers should disclose. The AAOIFI said it had also formed a working group to overhaul its sharia standards for sukuk. Last year, the Malaysia-based Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) drafted its own guidelines for disclosure related to Islamic capital market products. Aligning the market around common standards and requiring all issuers to disclose the same information could increase investment in sukuk.
Indonesia's finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati announced the government plans to issue a global sukuk this week. Indrawati did not give further details on the planned issuance. An official has previously said the government will issue global sukuk in the first half of 2017. According to Thomson Reuters, Indonesia has given initial yield guidance of 3.75% for a five-year tranche of the U.S.-dollar sukuk and 4.5% for 10-year tranche.
Shareholders of Kuwait Finance House (KFH) have approved issue of sukuk and other sharia-compliant financial instruments.
The Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) the second sukuk issuance on behalf of the National Electric Power Company (NEPCO) at a total value of JD75 million, 4.1% returns and a five-year maturity period. The bank reported that demand on the sukuk was 2.73 times the value of the issue, having received orders for JD205 million-worth bonds. The CBJ said the high turnout underlines the increasing demand on the financing tools compatible with the Islamic Law, which have been lacking in the local market during past decades. The bank said the success of this issuance was a result of the continuous coordination of the Finance Ministry, the CBJ, NEPCO, the Jordan Securities Commission and the Central Sharia Oversight Commission.
UEM Edgenta will issue Islamic commercial papers (ICP programme) and Islamic medium-term notes (IMTN) with a combined aggregate up to RM1bil in nominal value and a sub-limit of RM300mil.
UEM Edgenta said the proceeds raised from the sukuk programmes would be utilised for its syariah-compliant general corporate purposes. The ICP programme has been assigned a preliminary rating of MARC-1/S and the IMTN programme has been assigned a preliminary rating of AA-IS by Malaysian Rating Corp. The company added that it had lodged the required information and relevant documents relating to the proposed sukuk programmes to the Securities Commission.
Saudi Arabia hired Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and HSBC as global coordinators on its international Islamic bond sale. The kingdom also picked Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas among others as lead managers for the sale. The sukuk could come as soon as this month. Saudi secretary-general of the Finance Committee, Mohammad Al Tuwaijri, announced in December the kingdom's plans to raise between $10 billion and $15 billion from international bond markets in 2017 and sell about 70 billion riyals locally. The world’s biggest oil exporter is considering international and domestic debt issues to help finance its budget deficit.
Towards the end of this month Bank Muscat is expected to raise OMR23-30 million, which is the first tranche of Meethaq’s OMR100 million-sukuk programme. Meethaq is Bank Muscat’s pioneer Islamic banking window in Oman. The bank has already received an initial approval from stock market regulator Capital Market Authority (CMA). Bank Muscat's Deputy CEO Sulaiman Al Harthy said the sukuk programme starts with a small amount, maybe OMR25-30 million to test the market and see the market appetite. Al Harthy also noted that this year, Islamic financial institutions are expected to grow at a similar rate as seen last year. Meethaq Islamic financing receivables rose to OMR855 million by end-December 2016, compared to OMR635 million in the same period in 2015.
http://timesofoman.com/article/104732/Business/Bank-Muscat's-sukuk-issue-expected-this-month-says-official
The United Arab Emirates' Sharjah Islamic Bank (SIB) plans to issue convertible sukuk equivalent to 10% of the lender's capital. Funds raised through the debt sale will be used by Islamic endowments selected by the government of the emirate of Sharjah. The bank also authorised a capital increase to 2.67 billion dirhams ($726 million) from 2.43 billion dirhams.
Oman’s Capital Market Authority (CMA) has given provisional approval for two new sukuk issuances of an aggregate size of RO 300 million (around $780 million). CMA President Abdullah bin Salim al Salmi said the proposed issuances underscore the potential and appetite for sharia-compliant finance and investment in the Sultanate. He noted that as of end-June 2016, the value of the sharia-compliant capital market jumped to RO 3.91 billion ($10.16 billion), comprising sharia-compliant shares, investments and sukuk, versus RO 3.24 billion ($8.42 billion) a year earlier, representing an increase of 21.14%. Significant growth has also been witnessed in the Takaful market with premiums reaching RO 41.99 million as of end-2016, up from RO 38.77 million a year earlier, representing an increase of 9.2%.