Showing posts with label Islamic bonds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Islamic bonds. Show all posts
Monday, January 20, 2014
UK Courts Islamic Cash with Sharia-compliant Bonds
Sunday, November 03, 2013
Venture Capital: Muslim Money & Extending Bitcoin Influence
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Britain: "A World Capital for Islamic Finance"
But critics say that British ambitions to attract investments from Muslim countries, companies and individuals are spurring the gradual establishment of a parallel financial system based on Islamic Sharia law. The Treasury also said some sukuk Islamic bond issues may require the government to restrict its dealings with Israeli-owned companies in order to attract Muslim money.
The London Stock Exchange will be launching a new Islamic bond index in an effort to establish the City of London as one of the world's leading centers of Islamic finance.
Britain also plans to become the first non-Muslim country to issue sovereign Islamic bonds, known as sukuk, beginning as early as 2014.
The plans are all part of the British government's strategy to acquire as big a slice as possible of the fast-growing global market of Islamic finance, which operates according to Islamic Sharia law and is growing 50% faster than the conventional banking sector.
Although it is still a fraction of the global investment market -- Sharia-compliant assets are estimated to make up only around 1% of the world's financial assets -- Islamic finance is expected to be worth £1.3 trillion (€1.5 trillion; $2 trillion) by 2014, a 150% increase from its value in 2006, according to the World Islamic Banking Competitiveness Report 2012-2013, published in May 2013 by the consultancy Ernst & Young.
But critics say that Britain's ambitions to attract investments from Muslim countries, companies and individuals are spurring the gradual establishment of a parallel global financial system based on Islamic Sharia law.
British Prime Minister David Cameron announced the plans during a keynote speech at the ninth World Islamic Economic Forum, which was held in London from October 29-31, the first time the event has ever been held outside the Muslim world.
"Already London is the biggest center for Islamic finance outside the Islamic world," Cameron told the audience of more than 1,800 international political and business leaders from over 115 countries.
"And today our ambition is to go further still. Because I don't just want London to be a great capital of Islamic finance in the Western world, I want London to stand alongside Dubai and Kuala Lumpur as one of the great capitals of Islamic finance anywhere in the world." » | Soeren Kern * | Thursday, October 31, 2013
* Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute. He is also Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. Follow him on Facebook.
London wird zum Mekka
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Sukuks [or Traditional Bonds]: What’s the Difference?
The essential difference with a conventional bond is that each sukuk represents a share of ownership of the asset you are investing in. Regular bonds represent a share of debt.
Whereas normal bonds do not give the investor a share of ownership in the project they support, sukuk investors get partial ownership.
The criteria for what you can invest in with a sukuk is limited. It must be sharia-compliant. Conventional bonds which can be used for anything.
Bond holders receive regularly scheduled interest payments for the life of the bond - often at a fixed rate - and they are not affected by costs related to the asset.
Sukuk holders receive a share of the profit and accept a share of any loss incurred. [Source: Mail Online] | Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Monday, October 05, 2009
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: DUBAI -- Global issuance of sukuk, or Islamic bonds, rallied during the third quarter with the value of sukuk issued rising 82% in the latest sign that confidence is returning to capital markets.
Data from Zawya.com's Sukuk Monitor shows the value of Islamic bonds issued world-wide for the third quarter rose to $6.2 billion, from $3.4 billion for the same quarter of 2008.
Investors are putting more faith in the sukuk market, seen as a more stable platform to raise capital, as the financial crisis eases and global market conditions improve rapidly, bankers say.
Sentiment over the $3.5 billion sukuk due in December by Nakheel, a real-estate unit of government-owned Dubai World, has improved in recent weeks after Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai's ruler and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, said the emirate can meet debt obligations, estimated at as much as $80 billion.
Both conventional and Islamic deals were successfully placed, as investors became more comfortable with the economic environment.
Total global sukuk issuance stood at $13.5 billion at the end of September, data from Zawya's Sukuk Monitor shows. That is close to the total global market for primary Islamic bonds in 2008, which raised $15.2 billion, according to Zawya.com.
Mukhtar Hussain, global chief executive officer of HSBC Amanah told Zawya Dow Jones in a recent interview that the volume of Islamic bonds issued globally this year could hit $15 billion as the financial crisis eases and global market conditions improve rapidly. >>> Mirna Sleiman | Monday, October 05, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
REUTERS – INDIA: PARIS - The French parliament passed a law on Thursday which will facilitate the issuance of Islamic bonds despite opposition from leftist parties.
The adoption of the law, which was voted in by the Senate, or upper house of parliament, on June 9 modifies the legal framework for what is known as "fiducie", the French equivalent of trust in the United Kingdom.
In theory, this should facilitate the issuance of Islamic bonds, also known as "sukuk", although the government has been working on an alternative tool for issuing such debt, which could involve further legal measures.
The move is part of France's two-year drive to create a new European hub for Islamic finance, whose value globally is estimated at $1 trillion.
The ruling UMP party and the New Centre voted for the law while opposition came from the Socialist Party and other left-leaning groups, highlighting resistance from some quarters in France to altering the law in a way that could be seen to affect secular traditions.
"We are introducing Islamic law into the French legal framework," said Henri Emmanuelli from the Socialist Party. "This deeply shocks us, it is unacceptable," he said. Some experts hope that France… >>> Additional reporting by Cecilia Valente in London; Reporting by Emile Picy; Editing by Ruth Pitchford | Thursday, September 17, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
REUTERS: MOSCOW - Russia's second largest bank VTB (VTBR.MM) may become the country's first issuer of sukuk or Islamic bonds and is considering a deal worth several million dollars, VTB's investment banking head said on Wednesday.
Russian companies need to be more creative about raising capital as usual sources of funding have dried up in the global credit crunch and around $100 billion of foreign corporate debt payments are due this year. "We are looking at the possibility of entering this market (Islamic finance) -- both for us and for our clients," VTB Capital head Yuri Solovyov told journalists, adding that an issue from VTB could be worth several million dollars.
He declined to name which other Russian companies had expressed interest in such financing.
Globally, $14.9 billion worth of sukuk were issued last year, less than half 2007's issuance, according to Standard & Poor's.
To comply with Islam's ban on interest, sukuk are structured as profit-sharing or rental agreements, and returns are derived from underlying physical assets such as commodities or real estate. Investment, pork, alcohol, gambling and pornography is banned.
To date there have been no Russian issuers of sukuk. >>> © Thomson Reuters 2009 | Wednesday, March 18, 2009
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
REUTERS: LONDON/MANAMA - Cash-strapped Western companies are considering issuing Islamic bonds to tap Middle Eastern investors but face a challenge in choosing the right instrument, bankers and asset managers said.
Companies, especially in the UK and France, are looking to Islamic compliant investors as alternative sources of finance as the global crisis restricts their usual funding routes.
"There is a lot of interest from corporates to issue sukuk. My feeling is that as liquidity in the West gets scarce, they will look into the Middle East," said London-based Adnan Aziz, head of sharia advisory and structuring at asset manager BMB Group.
British retailer Tesco (TSCO.L) issued its first sukuk -- or Islamic-compliant debt --in 2007 for its Malaysian unit as well as raising conventional debt.
Islamic bonds do not pay interest, which is banned under Islamic law or Sharia, and are structured as profit-sharing or rental agreements, underpinned by physical assets such as real estate or commodities.
"We have discussions with clients, conventional issuers in Europe and we pitch both solutions, (bonds and sukuk) that is going to be a trend going forward," said Vikrant Bhansalim, who works for French bank Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) in London.
"In today's world the corporate sector is interested in the right price, the format is not as important," he said. >>> Reuters | Tuesday, February 10, 2009
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>
REUTERS:
Indonesia Reports Strong Demand for First Retail Sukuk >>> Reuters | Tuesday, February 10, 2009
SMART BRIEF: Report Details Growth of U.K.'s Islamic Finance Sector
A report by International Financial Services London found that the Islamic finance sector in Britain, with $18 billion in assets, is much larger than that of Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt and Bangladesh, countries where Islam is the primary religion. The report also states that the U.K. leads Western countries in the number of financial institutions focused on Muslims and sharia-compliant products. >>> The Telegraph | Tuesday, February 10, 2009
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>
Sunday, February 17, 2008
THE MAIL ON SUNDAY: A new sharia law controversy erupted last night over Government plans to issue special "Islamic bonds" to pay for Gordon Brown's public-spending programme by raising money from the Middle East.
Britain is to become the first Western nation to issue bonds approved by Muslim clerics in line with sharia law, which bans conventional loans involving interest payments as "sinful".
The scheme would mark one of the most significant economic advances of sharia law in the non-Muslim world.
It will lead to the ownership of Government buildings and other assets currently belonging to British taxpayers being switched wholesale to wealthy Middle-Eastern businessmen and banks.
The Government sees sharia-compliant bonds as a way of tapping Middle-East money and building bridges with the Muslim community.
But critics say the scheme would waste money and could undermine Britain's financial and legal systems.
Senior Conservative MP Edward Leigh, chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, said: "I am concerned about the signal this would send – it could be the thin end of the wedge.
"British Common Law must be supreme and should apply to everyone." New sharia row over Chancellor's plans for 'Islamic bonds' >>> By Simon Walters
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