Category: Banking & Finance

A revival of international bond issues from the Gulf is set to draw heavy demand from local and foreign investors, despite the latest geopolitical upheavals in the Middle East and the approach of higher U.S. interest rates.Gulf bond issuance has dried up since early July, because of a traditional summer lull in local investor activity as well as global market instability due to the crisis in Ukraine.During that period, tensions in some parts of the Middle East have worsened dramatically.

Shareholders of National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah (RAKBANK) have approved a 3.64-dirham ($0.99) per share offer to buy a majority stake in Ras Al Khaimah National Insurance Co, the bank said on Monday.RAKBANK's proposed price is slightly below RAK insurance's closing price on Aug. 17 of 3.7 dirhams. The stock has not traded on Monday.RAKBANK did not specify the size of the stake it wants to acquire.The government of Ras Al Khaimah, which is one of seven emirates of

Indonesia has announced a series of investor meetings starting on August 19 as it moves ahead with plans to issue Islamic bonds, or sukuk.CIMB, Emirates NBD, HSBC and Standard Chartered will arrange meetings in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, finishing in Dubai and Abu Dhabi on August 25.Indonesia is expected to raise US$1bn-$1.5bn from the global sukuk as early as next week, kicking off a trio of Islamic financings from Asian governments.-Reuters 

Sanctions on Russia over the crisis with Ukraine are leading banks to call for the development of Islamic finance as they seek alternatives to European and U.S. pools of funding.The expansion of the Shariah-compliant industry would let the country attract fresh capital from the Middle East and Asia, the Association of Russian Banks said this week in response to an inquiry from the state bank. The Bank of Russia should develop rules for Islamic banking, the association said.Global Islamic financial

London-based Gatehouse Bank is developing new business lines and widening its investor base as the Islamic wholesale lender looks to build a more stable revenue stream, its chief executive said.Gatehouse, one of Britain's six full-fledged Islamic banks, is joining several of its peers in broadening its scope, after the country's Islamic finance sector got a boost from the government's first issue of an Islamic bond in June.The bank remains focused on real estate in Europe and the United States but

Royal Bank of Scotland confirmed it was considering selling the international arm of its private bank, a deal one source said could net it as much as $1 billion, as the British government leans on it to focus more on domestic lending.The move means that Coutts, founded in the 18th century and best known as banker to Queen Elizabeth, could be split into two businesses - one based in Britain and one in Zurich from where it runs operations in

Luxembourg will start meeting investors in the next two months to drum up support for a debut sale of shariah compliant bonds as sukuk sales surge worldwide.The country, which has an AAA credit rating at Moody’s Investors Service, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings, is planning to become the second non-Muslim nation to issue a sovereign Islamic bond after the U.K. raised 200 million pounds ($335 million) in June. Ministry of Finance officials will meet investors in Europe, the Middle

A return to an era of higher interest rates could derail attempts by Islamic finance to create alternatives to a short-term funding instrument that has dominated the industry, but which some scholars and regulators want to see replaced. Islamic finance has been trying to diversify away from so-called commodity murabaha, a common cost-plus profit arrangement, in an attempt to reduce reliance on a single tool, stop money from "leaking" to western banks, and find instruments closer to the principles of sharia-compliant

|By TAP Staff|Dubai International Capital, the private equity arm of Dubai Holding, announced that it has completed the sale of Mauser Group  to Clayton, Dubilier & Rice for  $1.7 billion. The agreement for this sale was announced on 12 May 2014.David Smoot, Chief Executive Officer of DIC, said the transaction demonstrated DIC’s ability to improve and grow the companies it has invested in to ultimately achieve an attractive value at the point of exit. "We are now focused on continuing

 Regulators in Jordan have introduced a set of long-awaited rules for the issuance of sukuk, or Islamic bonds, paving the way for both the public and private sectors to tap into growing demand for sharia-compliant investments.Jordan is one of several Muslim-majority countries keen to develop their domestic Islamic finance sector and the government is studying a proposal to issue a sovereign sukuk, mirroring efforts by Egypt and Tunisia.In June, both Senegal and Britain issued sukuk, while Luxembourg and Hong Kong

National Bank of Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates’ biggest lender, raised its full-year profit forecast and said it hired 150 senior managers amid increasing growth at its fee-generating businesses.Net profit will probably rise 8 percent to 10 percent in 2014, up from an earlier forecast of 6 percent to 8 percent, the bank said today in an emailed statement. Revenue will likely be 6 percent to 8 percent higher than in 2013, it said.“We are seeing positive underlying trends

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank , the fourth-largest lender by market value in the United Arab Emirates, beat analysts' estimates slightly on Tuesday as it posted a 22 percent rise in second-quarter net profit on lower impairments.The bank made a net attributable profit of 1.06 billion dirhams ($289 million) in the three months to June 30, versus 868.5 million dirhams in the corresponding period last year, it said in a statement.Six analysts polled by Reuters had forecast an average net profit

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) has completed the purchase of a 24.9 percent stake in Indonesia's Bank Panin Syariah from its parent firm, an executive at Bank Pan Indonesia was quoted as saying on Wednesday.DIB, the largest Islamic bank in the United Arab Emirates, said last month that it was in talks to buy 25 percent of Indonesia's only listed sharia-compliant lender, which it would jointly manage and operate with Bank Pan Indonesia.In two separate statements to the Indonesian stock exchange,

|By TAP Staff| Regulation topped the list of risks among the global banking industry– replacing 2012’s leading threat, the macro-economic environment, according to the Banking Banana Skins 2014 surveyThe CSFI’s biennial Banking Banana Skins survey, produced in association with PwC, revealed the overwhelming message from respondents: the weight of new regulation is becoming excessive and could dampen economic recovery and growth. The poll is based on responses from more than 650 bankers, banking regulators and close observers of the banking

Etisalat has added four banks to the list of bookrunners for its potential debut bond, which could include dollar and euro-denominated paper of up to 12 years duration, banking sources said on Monday.The mainly state-owned company added Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Morgan Stanley, National Bank Of Abu Dhabi and Natixis as passive bookrunners, three sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity as the information is not public.They join Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC and RBS, who are acting as the

The Bahrain-based Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) said on Thursday secretary general Khaled Al Fakih had left the organisation to pursue other opportunities.Al Fakih, a Lebanese-born commercial banker, had been secretary general since February 2012, overseeing one of the main standard-setting bodies for Islamic finance.Deputy secretary general Khairul Nizam will take over his duties while AAOIFI looks for a new secretary general, the organisation said.Set up in 1990, AAOIFI has issued a total of 88 standards

Mashreqbank, the Dubai-based lender owned by the Al Ghurair family, plans to raise about $500 million from a three-year loan as it seeks funds to expand, three bankers familiar with the plan said.Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch unit and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ) are helping coordinate the fundraising with five other banks also expected to participate, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Mashreqbank is targeting a

Saudi Arabian Mining Co, or Ma'aden, has appointed HSBC Saudi Arabia as financial advisor for its planned 5.6 billion riyals ($1.49 billion)rights issue, the company said in a statement on Monday.Ma'aden had earlier this month said it was seeking shareholder approval for a capital increase to fund the expansion of its phosphate and gold operations, as well as increase funding for its aluminium business.The company is yet to receive shareholder and regulatory approval for the issue, it said in the

Pakistan's insurance firms have resolved a legal dispute with regulators which allows them to offer takaful, or Islamic insurance, a move expected to attract new players and boost competition in the sector.Pakistan introduced new takaful rules in 2012, allowing the use of takaful windows, which enables insurers to offer sharia-compliant and conventional products side by side, provided client money is segregated.This prompted a legal challenge by the country's five takaful firms claiming the rules gave conventional insurers an unfair advantage,

Malaysia's Securities Commission has tightened rules on bai inah, a popular but divisive Islamic financing contract, in a fresh sign that standards in the world's two main centres for sharia-compliant banking are slowly converging.Regulators and scholars in Malaysia and the Gulf have contrasting approaches to Islamic finance; the Gulf tends to be stricter in defining permissible transactions, and banks in the region have therefore shunned bai inah.But under pressure to develop a cross-border industry, authorities in both centres have shown

Bahrain-based Al Baraka Banking Group said it is considering issuing subordinated Islamic bonds through its South African and Pakistani units to boost their regulatory capital.The Islamic bank's plans come at a time when sovereign sukuk are expected from both countries later this year.The lender has operations in 15 countries across the Middle East, Asia and Africa.Al Baraka is working with the authorities in South Africa and Pakistan over launching Islamic bonds there, said Chief Executive Adnan Ahmed Yousif.While details have

Damac Real Estate Development Ltd. (DMC) is bolstering Dubai’s drive to lead the global Islamic economy with serviced apartments that are Shariah-compliant from their financing to their restaurants and saunas.Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank PJSC (ADIB) is managing the project’s funding as Damac, which issued its debut sukuk last month, sells the certified Islamic residences, Niall Mc Loughlin, the Dubai-based developer’s senior vice president of communication, said May 12. The company’s Constella property will have segregated swimming pools and gyms, separate

Middle East borrowers are increasingly weighing Australian-dollar bonds as they seek to tap one of the world’s biggest sources of pension funds, according to HSBC Holdings Plc.Three regional lenders including National Bank of Abu Dhabi sold A$1.05 billion ($984 million) of debt this year, known as Kangaroo bonds, compared with two sales in 2013 for A$475 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.“We expect to see further transactions from Middle Eastern issuers,” Mustafa Aziz Ata, HSBC’s head of debt capital

|By TAP Staff|Investcorp, a leading provider and manager of alternative investment products with more than $11 billion of assets under management, announced that its U.S.-based real estate arm, through separate transactions, acquired a portfolio of commercial and residential properties in Dallas, TX and South Florida for approximately $105 million."The investment market in the U.S. continues to experience growth in transaction volumes with significant capital flowing into the country. Demand for residential rental properties continues to improve as home ownership rates