In a market galvanised by central bank action in the US and in Europe, strong appetite for emerging market bonds have eroded the pricing advantage enjoyed by sukuk over conventional paper say origination bankers, at a time when yield-starved Islamic investors have started to become more selective. The shift might carry significant implications for the [...]
This report comes as no surprise. Jordan’s parliament has made changes to tax laws to accommodate sukuk (Shariah-compliant bonds), paving the way for Shariah finance to move into the kingdom… A long-awaited law allowing Jordan to issue sukuk has been cleared by both houses of its parliament, paving the way for the government to tap [...]
HSBC is getting rich. They’re getting rich off of connections to Saudi Arabia and their deep involvement in the Shariah-compliant bond market (known as sukuk). It seems that nobody underwrites sukuk for the Saudis like HSBC does. This is the same HSBC that has been fined a billion dollars for its illegal business with Iran. [...]
Turkey will soon issue a lira-denominated sukuk (Islamic bond), on the heels of its dollar-denominated sovereign sukuk, which was facilitated by HSBC and CitiGroup. http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=337737
Egypt’s Prime Minister, Hisham Qandil, a career bureaucrat with a history of sympathy for the Muslim Brotherhood–who was also educated at Utah State and North Carolina State–has called for economic changes to solve Egypt’s largely self-inflicted financial woes. Among the measures underway: the issuance of sukuk, also known as Shariah bonds: A sukuk issuance would [...]
King & Spalding advises on NIG sukuk repayment… http://mideast.legalbusinessonline.com/news/breaking-news/exclusive-king-and-spalding-advises-on-nig-sukuk-repayment-sources/109050
RAM Ratings has downgraded the long-term ratings of two of MRCB Southern Link Bhd (MSLB)’s secured sukuk issues and cautioned that there was a high chance the company would default on them in December. MSLB is a funding conduit for the 8.1km Eastern Dispersal Link Expressway (EDL) in Johor Baru. The highway opened to the [...]
Back in the first quarter of this year, SFW covered Goldman Sachs’ ill-fated sojourn into the world of Islamic bonds (sukuk). Goldman had planned on floating a $2 billion sukuk but the entire project was shot down by Shariah scholars. It now appears that Goldman Sachs can thank the infamous Jihadist Mufti Taqi Usmani for [...]
Sukuk continue to be the main weapon of Islamic financial imperialism. This was illustrated recently by a major sukuk offering from First Gulf Bank in the UAE that attracted investors from Asia, Europe and the USA… http://www.cpifinancial.net/news/post/15461/first-gulf-bank-comes-first This is how Shariah-Compliant Finance infiltrates the world financial system and desensitizes Westerners to the perils of Shariah.
Qaradawi’s Qatar Islamic Bank to float $1.5 billion Sukuk
On August 30, 2012 · In Islamic Banking, Islamic Bonds, Qatar, Shariah Banking, Shariah Bonds, Uncategorized
Islamic bonds, properly known as “sukuk” are increasingly becoming the favorite product of Shariah-Compliant Finance. In fact, we’re starting to see more and more Western nations and financial institutions involved in sukuk simply because wealthy Muslim individuals and institutions, armed with massive amounts of petrodollars, are insisting on Shariah-compliance for financing activities. Qatar Islamic Bank [...]
A $75 million Islamic bond issue by the Development Bank of Kazakhstan, the first sukuk issued in the former Soviet Union, is likely to spur more issues in Central Asia’s largest economy, banking officials said on Thursday. The 240 million five-year Malaysian ringgit ($75.5 million) issue on July 18, which generates an annual payment of [...]
More on NIG’s Sukuk Trouble
On July 24, 2012 · In Defaults, Islamic Bonds, Islamic Finance, Kuwait, National Industries Group (NIG), Shariah Bonds, Shariah Finance, SUKUK
As we reported yesterday, Kuwait’s National Industries Group has asked for a 4-year extension on repayment of its Islamic bond (sukuk). As might be suspected, NIG is in danger of becoming the next in line for the long line of defaults in the sukuk market. Moody’s is on the cusp on downgrading NIG’s rating: Moody’s [...]
Kuwait’s NIG asks for 4-year Extension on $475M Sukuk Issue
On July 23, 2012 · In Defaults, Islamic Bonds, Islamic Finance, Kuwait, Shariah Bonds, Shariah Finance, SUKUK
The latest sign of trouble in the Islamic bond market… National Industries Group Holding (NIG), a Kuwaiti investment firm controlled by one of the country’s biggest family conglomerates, has asked creditors for a four-year extension on a $475-million Islamic bond, or sukuk, maturing next month. The request from NIG, part of the Kharafi Group, is [...]
Sudan is one of the worst regimes in the world. They are guilty of genocide in the slaughter of black Africans, Christians and Animists and are the nation which hosted Hezbollah and Al Qaeda when the two terrorist organizations formed a training agreement in the 1990s. Today, Sudan is also among the leading nations pushing [...]
Essentially what is happening here is that the Islamists are insisting on Shariah compliance before they will consider investing. And since they have so much oil wealth, non-Muslim countries are willing to sell out… • South Africa is preparing to launch sub-Saharan Africa’s first Islamic bond, paving the way for issues by other countries in [...]
HSBC wins the useful idiot award for the year for its work in facilitating the financial jihad through handling the most Shariah-compliant bond (sukuk) offerings. Coming in second in the competition was CIMB. If you do business with either of these financial institutions, you may wish to consider these activities when making future financial decisions. [...]
Here we go again: Financial Times continues spread of the myth of “ethical” Shariah Finance
On June 18, 2012 · In "Ethical Investment", Creeping Shariah, Defaults, DeLorenzo, Iran, Islamic Banking, Islamic Bonds, Islamic Finance, MEDIA, Media, Qaradawi, Shariah Banking, Shariah Finance, SUKUK, Terror Funding, Usmani
The financial jihadists have many enablers and useful idiots in the West who help them with their dawa’h mission to spread Shariah through economic imperialism. One surfaced today in the Financial Times. Like many in the financial media, the Financial Times has acted more like a cheerleader for Shariah Finance than as a responsible journalistic organization. [...]
The market for Islamic bonds was seriously rocked from 2007-2009 when the global economic crisis forced numerous defaults. Lately the sukuk market has been thriving, with new issuances setting records. Clearly, sukuk have become the instrument of choice for spreading Shariah in the financial world. But in the past week there have been two high [...]
The financial jihadis are celebrating at the World Islamic Funds and Financial Markets Conference in Bahrain. They are celebrating the meteoric growth of Shariah-Compliant Finance, a development that the West should be deploring, since the main purpose of Shariah-Compliant Finance is to promote Shariah itself. Estimates announced at the conference indicate that investors globally hold more [...]
Irish Attorney: “Financial shock would never have happened under shariah”
On May 21, 2012 · In "Ethical Investment", Defaults, IRELAND, Islamic Banking, Islamic Bonds, Islamic Economics, Islamic Finance, Islamic Law, Islamization, Shariah Banking, Shariah Bonds, Shariah Finance, Shariah Law, SUKUK, Uncategorized
Every once in a while we come across a story that is really outrageous. Some or outrageous because they are inaccurate. Others are outrageous because they are simply offensive. Today we bring to you an article from John King, an attorney with one of Ireland’s most prominent law firms, in which he makes the case [...]
One of the key aspects of a secure investment is liquidity. The ability to turn your investment to cash is considered a key component of mature financial markets. That’s why it is so important that sukuk, also known as Islamic bonds, lack liquidity, especially as compared to conventional bonds. Investors holding sukuk that get into [...]
Report: S&P to cut rating of Dubai’s DIFC Investments on Sukuk Refinancing Risk
On April 30, 2012 · In Defaults, DIFC, Dubai, Islamic Bonds, Shariah Bonds, Standard & Poor's, SUKUK, UAE
DIFC Investments LLC, which owns properties in Dubai’s tax-free financial center, may have its credit rating cut at Standard & Poor’s due to “heightened refinancing risk” on its $1.25 billion Islamic bond due in June. DIFC Investments “has little room for delays in its efforts to secure a bank loan and government support to refinance the sukuk,” the rating [...]
Back on January 31 we reported that Dana Gas, which had issued a sukuk (Islamic bond) looked to be in trouble: http://www.shariahfinancewatch.org/blog/2012/01/31/another-sukuk-in-trouble/ Well, sure enough, Dana Gas has hired Blackstone, the world’s largest private equity firm, to restructure its sukuk set to mature in October… http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-04-24/dana-gas-said-to-hire-blackstone-to-restructure-1-billion
Sukuk (aka Islamic bonds) are fast becoming the chief tool for spreading Shariah finance. Just a few years ago, few of our posts dealt with sukuk. Now most of them do. Sukuk are used as a means of imposing Shariah compliance on nations and entities wishing to participate in global debt markets. Russia, Thailand, the [...]
We have good news and bad news. The good news is that the link below takes you to a good report that explains Sukuk, aka Islamic bonds. The bad news? The report was produced in Japan and it is clear that the Japanese have no problem complying with Shariah to get access to petrodollars…which is [...]
VTB Group, Russia’s second largest bank, is bailing on the US dollar. VTB is planning on conducting debt sales in China but, of greatest interest for our purposes, they are also looking at selling Islamic bonds, or sukuk, in Indonesia. What makes this doubly significant is that the Russian government controls VTB. “…in April last year [...]
The Middle East Forum’s Middle East Quarterly has published an excellent, in-depth look at Islamic bonds (sukuk), explaining how they work and the differences between sukuk and conventional bonds. Sukuk have fast become the instrument of choice in the world of Shariah-compliant finance, having come a long way since 2009 when Mufti Taqi Usmani, one [...]
UAE-based real estate developer Nakheel launched a new luxury project on the Palm Jumeirah yesterday, its first major residential development since completing a massive restructuring process. Nakheel, which also said it plans to issue the second tranche of its Dh4.8 billion sukuk by the end of April, has appointed Dubai Civil Engineering as the main [...]
HSBC continues to be the Western leader in facilitating the financial jihad. We post this as a reminder to Western consumers and investors. When you decide where to bank or where to get credit cards, keep in mind what HSBC is up to… http://www.tradearabia.com/news/BANK_215598.html
Evidently there aren’t enough high quality sukuk to go around…
On April 10, 2012 · In Indonesia, Islamic Bonds, Islamic Finance, Malaysia, Shariah Bonds, Shariah Finance, SUKUK
Malaysian and Indonesian pension funds, which have a combined $192 billion of assets, say plans to increase holdings of Islamic bonds are being hampered by a shortage of investment-grade sukuk. Yesterday we pointed out that Yemen had floated a sukuk with a projected 1-year return of between 15% and 18%, a sure sign of risk-a [...]
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