Evidently there aren’t enough high quality sukuk to go around…
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 […]
Saudi Arabia has overtaken the UAE to become the largest Sukuk (Islamic bond) issuer in the Gulf region, raising $6.4 billion in Q1 2012, compared to issuance of $1.9 billion by the UAE. Malaysia accounted for 71 per cent of total issuance and was the top Sukuk issuer with $31 billion followed by Saudi Arabia […]
In Indonesia, members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, the Islamist organization that seeks the re-establishment of a global caliphate under Shariah law, recently held protests against higher fuel prices. SFW readers may recall that Hizb ut-Tahrir in America held a conference in Chicago a couple of years ago calling for an end to capitalism to be replaced […]
Testimony in a terrorism trial in Indonesia indicates that the late Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden directly funded the bombing in Bali, Indonesia that killed 202, many of them Western tourists. Osama bin Laden gave the Jemaah Islamiyah $30,000 to carry out terror attacks in Southeast Asia, a key witness in the ongoing trial […]
Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim nation but it has historically enjoyed a secular political and cultural tradition. In more recent years that has been changing. Jihadists are targeting Indonesia through violence, politics and finance. Shariah banking in particular has been growing at a rapid rate in Indonesia. Today, Indonesia ranks only behind Iran […]
Indonesian Sukuk Sales Slowest in 3 Years
It is usually very difficult to find objective news reporting on Shariah Finance. This is especially true of the Sukuk (Islamic Bond) market. The financial jihadists are hypersensitive about this sector and go to great lengths to ensure that the state-controlled media in their countries, as well as Western media outlets who have been bought […]
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services assigned its ‘BB+’ long-term foreign currency issue rating to the proposed issue of benchmark-sized global Sukuk trust certificates by Perusahaan Penerbit SBSN Indonesia II, a fully-owned special purpose vehicle of the Republic of Indonesia. According to S&P’s ratings scale, BB is below investment grade and thus termed “junk.” http://cpifinancial.net/v2/News.aspx?v=1&aid=9719&sec=Islamic%20Finance
It hasn’t garnered much attention, but the Indonesian government failed to place a recent sukuk (Islamic bond) issue, supposedly because of high yields. There is no further explanation as to what this means. Note that the term “yield” is used in association with sukuk. This is symbolic of the fact that sukuk are really concoctions […]
It’s not so newsworthy that foreign investors are interested in acquiring a 50% share of Bank Muamalat, a major shariah-compliant bank in Indonesia. But it is worth mentioning that Indonesia’s central bank has declared that no foreign investor will be permitted to alter the bank’s shariah-compliance platform. Note that when Shariah-compliant institutions invest in the West, […]
Money Jihad: Terror Donations Followed Laws of Allah
From Money Jihad blog: The court defense of two terrorist financiers in Indonesia show that they are true believers in the rewards of the money jihad. Donors behind Abu Bakar Bashir’s funding operation for a terrorist training camp say that they were making their donations in order to obtain “rewards from Allah.” Their actions were perfectly legal, even required, within […]
Bank of Uganda, the republic’s central bank, has sent delegates to Indonesia to learn more about Shariah-Compliant Finance. Bank of Uganda is expecting the first shariah bank in the “pearl of Africa” to open in early 2012 after Uganda’s parliament passes a law permitting the establishment of Islamic banks. This is clearly a form of […]
Indonesia’s highest inflation rate in almost two years is discouraging investors from the nation’s Islamic bonds as borrowing costs are expected to increase. http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/02/11/indonesian-sukuk-shunned-inflation-quickens.html
Worldwide Sukuk issuance forecast to reach $30 billion this year
A report on Islamic banking issued by Kuwait Finance House (KFH) has said global issuance of Islamic bonds will reach $30 billion this year, up from $20 billion in 2009. According to the KFH report, the rising optimism over the health of the global economy as well the increasing popularity of Islamic banking products have […]
Indonesia will delay a planned $650 million global sukuk (Islamic bond) offer to the first half of 2011 from October because a lower budget deficit forecast reduces this year’s borrowing needs. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSJAK48723020100818
It seems all is not well in the world of Islamic bonds, known as Sukuk. In addition to declining Sukuk subscriptions, we now have news that Indonesia, the most populous Muslim nation in the world, which has rich oil wealth, held a Sukuk auction which was an utter failure. On June 29th, the government of […]
Sukuk “Alert”
Official and private entities in Jordan, Indonesia, Abu Dhabi, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Dubai, Luxembourg, Sudan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Kuwait, Thailand, Islamic Development Bank and General Electric (GE) all are contemplating or planning Sukuk (Islamic bond) offerings in the near future… http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-22/jordan-indonesia-islamic-development-bank-plan-sales-islamic-bond-alert.html
Indonesia plans to issue a benchmark size global sukuk in October. The sukuk could be about $500 million to $600 million. http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Business/Story/A1Story20100615-222221.html
Indonesian Sukuk Offering Falls Short of Target
Indonesia’s Finance Ministry raised $68 million in a sukuk (Islamic bond) offering this week, well short of its fundraising target for the auction. http://news.alibaba.com/article/detail/markets/100270111-1-update-1-indonesia-sells-620-bln.html
Islamic finance eyes new regions
We’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that the Shariah Finance industry has been disappointed in its efforts to expand into Western markets. The bad news is that they are turning to Asia and the Pacific Rim for their dawah operations… http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61H31Q20100218?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=summitNews&rpc=401
CIMB Islamic eyes Indonesia, Singapore for growth of Shariah-compliant financial products–including derivatives
CIMB Islamic bank of Malaysia, the world’s top sukuk arranger, will offer new sharia products this year to expand its business in Indonesia and Singapore, as the Islamic finance market struggles to recover from the financial crisis. The bank plans to launch products such as Islamic auto financing, structured instruments, derivatives and unit trusts to […]
Indonesia sells $850 million of sukuk
Indonesia has sold more than 850 million dollars worth of Islamic bonds to domestic retail investors, exceeding its target by more than two and half times, officials said Monday. http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/business/indonesia-sells-850-million-dollars-worth-of-islamic-bonds-kb-03?
The Voice of America (VOA) was founded as a radio broadcast service to be beamed around the world to bring news from an American perspective to people in countries which didn’t have access to American news. VOA played a supportive role during the Cold War by providing a counterweight to communist-controlled news organizations behind the […]
Shariah Banking is spreading, with government sponsorship, in the world’s most populous Muslim nation… http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/01/19/sharia-banking-grows-strong-indonesia.html?
Indonesia’s Islamic banking assets are set to grow 30 percent next year, partly because of a more favourable tax environment. http://www.iii.co.uk/news/?type=afxnews&articleid=7675758&subject=markets&action=article
Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank plans expansion throughout Asia
As if the United Arab Emirates had not done enough to the world financial system through the debacle of Dubai, now Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank has announced plans to expand its business throughout Asia. http://www.arabianbusiness.com/575493-adib-plans-expansion-throughout-asia
Malaysian Islamic reinsurer MNRB Retakaful forecasts that revenue from its overseas operations will exceed that of domestic operations in five years. It particularly has its sights set on Indonesia, Brunei, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Spreading Shariah insurance to these countries is perhaps not as much of a concern since each is already predominantly Islamic, but one […]
Prudential to launch two Islamic funds
British insurer Prudential plans to launch two Islamic equity funds in Dubai in the coming months and apply for an asset management licence in Indonesia… http://www.business24-7.ae/Articles/2009/10/Pages/26102009/10272009_e06349b8453c4b278cce9e206bdf29d6.aspx
Five Indonesian banks including Bank Central Asia, the No. 3 lender, expect to launch standalone sharia units next year. A revised law on value added tax, which removed double taxation in the Islamic market, is expected to encourage more banks to start Shariah banking subsidiaries. http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKJAK48943020091023?rpc=401&pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=11564
Recent moves in Indonesia, including plans by one province to stone adulterers to death, have raised concerns about the reputation of the world’s most populous Muslin country as a beacon of moderate Islam. One ethnic Chinese Indonesian businessman, a practicing Christian who asked not to be quoted by name, said he feared if the trend […]
If there is a Western financial institution that has done more to promote Shariah than HSBC, we don’t know about it. HSBC has embraced Shariah enthusiastically and is involved in its financial arm everywhere from Western Europe to the Persian Gulf to the Orient. If there is a financial institution worthy of a boycott by […]
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