StanChart riding on the strength of Gulf Islamic finance (By IFN)

GLOBAL: Standard Chartered Bank (StanChart) has announced that it will be arranging up to four Sukuk within the Gulf region this year. Afaq Khan, CEO of Standard Chartered Saadiq, has confirmed that the bank is involved in the arrangements of both corporate and sovereign Sukuk in multi-currencies.

“There are three to four Sukuk deals in the pipeline that StanChart is working in the region. These are UAE dirham, US dollar and Malaysian ringgit-denominated Sukuk to be issued by corporate and sovereigns,” he said. However, he did not disclose the value of the Sukuk, saying that they would be at least benchmark sized.

StanChart’s announcement came on the back of a recent report which stated that Sukuk issuances out of the Gulf has been at its strongest in the last six months as the region takes advantage of low interest rates.

“The Islamic market in the UAE has grown from 6% of the banking system to 22% in 2010, and in Qatar it has grown from 12% to 27% in the last decade. Other countries such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia also show the Islamic banking sector growing faster than the conventional system,” he said, commenting that if the market continues to grow as much, it will become a significant part of the financial system within the region.

The bank which has recently been involved in a number of Sukuk issuances, namely that of DIFC Investments (US$1 billion), Majid Al Futtaim (US$500 million), Jafza (US$650 million) and Sharjah Islamic Bank (US$300 million) sees no slowing down in its Islamic unit as impact of the ongoing Eurozone crisis spilling over to the region’s Shariah compliant institutions is minimal as they have little or no exposure.

See: http://redmoney.newsweaver.co.uk/x1jo1nj59vph38rwoni3wx?email=true&a=6&p=25428555&t=21553665