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GLOBAL: There was an
incredible show of industry support and commitment from the highest of
authorities across some of the biggest and most promising Islamic finance
markets this week.
Just yesterday, Malaysia’s prime minister Najib Razak announced a slew of
initiatives and development for the industry, more particularly the Islamic
asset management sector. It has been revealed that the Securities
Commission (SC) of Malaysia is designing a blueprint – to be published by
the end of this year – for the Shariah fund and wealth management segment,
which will include medium and long-term strategies and recommendations to
guide the sector to new heights. The SC will also be introducing new types
of licenses for boutique fund managers and will broaden the range of
activities for fund management companies. Najib confirmed that sovereign
wealth fund, the Employees Provident Fund, will be offering a Shariah
compliant investment option by 2017 and as a result, effectively creating
the world's largest Islamic fund of its kind. On the socially responsible
investment (SRI) front, Malaysia will soon see its very first SRI Sukuk
program. Worth up to RM 1 billion (US$274.93 million), the facility will be
issued by Ihsan Sukuk with full recourse to Khazanah Nasional, and will be
used to finance Shariah compliant SRI projects.
Indonesia too has big Islamic finance plans. At the highly successful IFN
Indonesia Forum 2015 this week, the Financial Services Authority or
Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK) announced that the Republic is in the process
of establishing a centralized Islamic financial center similar to the
Malaysia International Islamic Financial Center. Dr Mulya E Sirega, the
deputy commissioner of banking supervision for the OJK, also revealed that
Islamic repos as an instrument are in the cards, while the National Shariah
Board recently issued a long-dated Fatwa facilitating Islamic hedging.
Declaring 2015 as its Shariah capital year, the Republic’s last several
sovereign Sukuk programs have been very well received with the latest one
(the 21st April) attracting IDR4.73 trillion (US$361.43 million)
in incoming bids out of which IDR2.03 trillion (US$156.12 million) was
awarded.
The latest to make headlines is the Ivory Coast who mandated the Islamic
Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector as lead manager to
the West African republic’s debut Sukuk program. Worth XOF300 billion
(US$490 million), the program will be issued over the 2015-20 period in two
equal phases.
In the Middle East, Dubai generated buzz when its crown prince, Sheikh
Hamdan Rashid Al Maktoum, who is also the chairman of the Dubai Executive
Council, gave the green light for a series of measures proposed by the
Dubai Islamic Economy Development Center to propel the emirate forward in
its journey to become the world's Islamic economy capital. These
initiatives include creating another Islamic Economy Index. While in
Bahrain, the Bahrain Bourse, which is looking to launch its Bahrain
Investment Market at the end of June, is poised to introduce Islamic real
estate investment trusts next month, according to Gulf Daily News.
In other noteworthy news: IFN has learned that Kuwait Finance House
Malaysia appointed Ahmed Alkharji as CEO and managing director; Gulf
Finance House has initiated steps to delist from the London Stock Exchange;
Malaysian Re has gained approval to enter the Islamic space via a new
re-Takaful unit; while previously embattled Amlak Finance, is making good
pace re-anchoring itself in the market as the Islamic mortgage provider not
only elected a new board of directors, but also agreed to secure regulatory
approval to resume trading.
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