Islamic Banks Miss out on Saudi Sukuk The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has issued two sovereign Sukuk in its debut international hard currency Sharia compliant debt issuance. Issued in two tranches of $4.5 billion each, the issuances represent the largest sukuk ever issued beating Indonesia’s previous record issuances of $2 billion in March of this year, as well as from May 2015. Both of the Saudi suk... »
Report by IMF highlights key challenges facing the Islamic Financial Industry. Islamic Banking (IB) has grown rapidly in value and geographical reach, and has become an important and integral part of the financial systems in many countries. Though IB accounts for less than 2 percent of global finance, IBs currently operate in more than 60 countries and the industry has become systemically importan... »
Commentary by RHB Global Sukuk Markets Research, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Saudi Banking Sector Gets SAR20bn Injection The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) injected SAR20bn (USD5.3bn) into the banking system via time deposits, and also introduced 7 day and 28 day repurchase agreements in support of more monetary policy tools to support the economy. This comes after the 3 month Saudi Interbank Off... »
Retail Demand and Government Support is Helping Boost Growth Strong retail demand and proactive government support is assisting Islamic banks to grow at a faster pace when compared with their conventional peers. Khalid Howladar, Global Head of Islamic Finance at rating agency stated “Growth in the Islamic banking sector continues to broadly outpace that of conventional banks in most systems ... »
Following on from KT Bank opening the first retail Islamic bank in Germany, Peter Kruschel, director of banking supervision at the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, discussed Germany’s interest in Islamic banking in an interview with Bloomberg at the Global Islamic Finance forum held in Kuala Lumpur recently. He stated Germany is aware of the potential of the Islamic banking se... »
The Size of the Islamic Finance Market Estimates of the current size of the Islamic Finance market range from $1.66 Trillion to $2.1 Trillion with expectations of market size to be $3.4 Trillion by end of 2018. Based on $1.66 Trillion, Islamic Finance assets represented 1% of the global financial market of $127 Trillion in assets. To put this into context, $1.66 Trillion is about the size of the b... »
Kompanion Invest provides Sharia-compliant financial services in Kyrgyzstan. »
The AAA rated supranational institution, Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) in a recent investors presentation highlighted projects it has co-financed. »
Fintech’s penetration into Islamic finance is still in its infancy with a relatively small number of participants. However, the potential disruptions to traditional Islamic finance should not be underestimated. The disruptions can swing both ways. »
The paper discusses key issues related to the conduct of monetary policy in countries that have Islamic banks. »
