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GLOBAL: It has been a
week of landmark transactions, significant initiatives and major shake-ups
in the world of Islamic finance following the Eid break.
Just yesterday we saw the conclusion
of the world’s first Shariah compliant secured helicopter pre-delivery
payment funding by Libra Group’s LCI. The Murabahah
facility, participated by Bank of London and The Middle East and arranged
by Lloyds Bank, covers another Airbus aircraft – the H175, Airbus
Helicopters's new-generation medium-sized rotorcraft and the new H225e.
Already a strong Islamic finance supporter through its investment in the
Shariah compliant Alif Fund, this deal marks an expansion in Airbus Group’s
Islamic financing endeavors which primarily involved airplanes.
We also witnessed the execution
of the largest Musharakah transaction in Pakistan. Led by
Meezan Bank, the Republic’s largest Islamic bank, the PKR9.5 billion
(US$92.39 million) facility was extended to the government of Punjab’s Food
Department and effectively increased the bank’s Musharakah portfolio by
nine percentage points to 25%. According to Meezan Bank, the figure is the
largest percentage of Shirkat Al Aqd-based financing in the financing
portfolio of any Islamic bank internationally.
In Russia, the Federation’s largest bank, Sberbank launched an Islamic finance pilot project in
partnership with the Republic of Tatarstan to develop the
fledging sector in the Republic, and a move, if successful, will broaden
financing avenues for Russia.
On Wednesday, we explored the competitive Takaful landscape of the Middle East which S&P
projects will be harsher in the short term as a result of
sweeping regulatory reforms across the region (See IFN Daily Cover:
‘Tougher environment for Middle Eastern Takaful operators in the short
run’). We are already seeing the effects of the rising pressure as
Bahrain’s Arab
Insurance Group this week confirmed that it is in the process of acquiring
full ownership of loss-making Takaful Re in Dubai; and it
is likely the overcrowded market would go through a period of consolidation
and may even see the exit of players as competition heats up.
It seems that not only Standard
Chartered is going through major board changes, but Abu
Dhabi’s Al Hilal Bank is also restructuring its management. Completely
revamping its operational structure to include a new management team and a
new streamlined geographical make-up, Standard Chartered also announced
that the chairman of its Islamic business, Christos Papadopoulos (also the
regional CEO of the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan), will depart
from the organization by the end of 2015.
Al Hilal Bank
reconstituted its board of management to include a new
chairman, Mohamed Abdullah Al Rumaihi (replacing Ahmed Ateeq Al-Mazrouei),
and a new vice-chairman, Mohamed Ali Al Dhaheri. This follows the departure
of CEO Mohamed Jamil Berro last week; Sarie Asaad Arar is standing in for
Jamil as acting group CEO.
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