The decision to tap the conventional market over sukuk is somewhat surprising given that Pakistan previously tapped the sukuk market in November 2014 with a $1 billion 5 year issuance, a transaction which was five times oversubscribed with offers of $2.3 billion against initial size of $500M which was upped to $1 billion. Such demand allowed the Government of Pakistan to close the transaction offe... »

Indicative Sukuk prices are provided for a number of liquid sukuk. »

Profit from Nigeria’s World Class Sharia Listed Companies Nigeria is Africa’s biggest economy and second only to Saudi Arabia in terms of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) members GDP ranking. It currently presents an interesting investment case for the Islamic investor. »

The report concludes "The Sukuk market should continue to perform well as supply has waned this year, although there is expectation that some GCC countries may want to finance their budget deficits by borrowing in the debt capital markets which would lead to some welcome supply in the market." »

Angela Martins of the National Bank of Abu Dhabi delivered a lecture to the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce for its members in São Paulo, titled “The Islamic financial market”. The use of Islamic financial instruments such as Murabaha were discussed as means for Brazilian exporters to offer Sharia compliant transactions to Muslim customers. »

Qatar Islamic Bank announced in response to an article published in Al – Watan newspaper in Qatar, which quoted a Financial Times article, “QInvest to sell Panmure Gordon stake” that the aforementioned article is unfounded as of date. Qatar Islamic Bank deems it necessary to make this clarification by virtue of transparency and disclosure. »

The decision by DBS Bank of Singapore to wind down its Islamic banking unit and integrate the specialist skills of its Islamic finance bankers into its main operations signals new levels of maturity for the Islamic finance industry. Islamic finance sits stronger as part of the total, not a sum of the parts and the move by DBS reflects tighter integration of Sharia compliant financial services, whi... »

The Bloomberg Malaysia Sukuk Ex-MYR Total Return (BMSXMTR) closed flat at 101.63 (week prior: +0.04%, 101.63) while the Dow Jones Sukuk Total Return Index (DJSUKTXR) rose marginally by 0.02% to 154.58 (week prior: -0.16% to 154.55). The weighted average yield of BMSXMTR widened 1.1bps to 2.36%. Worst performers are FGBUH 16, MALAYS 21-25, RAKS 25, ISDB 17 for 3rd week in a row, shedding USD19.38m ... »

International law firm Clifford Chance advised International Company for Water & Power Projects (ACWA Power) on two syndicated commodity murabaha-based transactions to add another SAR1.109 billion (US$295 million) to its revolving shari'a compliant working capital facilities. »

Raja Teh Maimunah, CEO of Hong Leong Islamic Bank, in an interview with Bloomberg stated that Malaysian Islamic banks need to merge to achieve economies of scale, and that the prospects of a possible merger are always on the table. She also explains the potential for growth in digital payments, especially in Vietnam and Indonesia as well as witnessing slower growth in Malaysia. »