KUALA LUMPUR: Islamic finance officials will gather in Kuala Lumpur next week to debate the industry's future path and craft crisis measures, as banks' limited capital base and liquidity management ability render them vulnerable to a global (...)
KUALA LUMPUR: Barring a sharp global downturn, Islamic financial asset growth will likely maintain its current growth clip over the next 5-10 years as new markets emerge, an industry body said on Wednesday.
The $1 trillion sector has bright (...)
KUALA LUMPUR: More Gulf sukuk issuers are expected to tap the Malaysian market in the coming months although global issuance would be lower this year due to turmoil in the Middle East, HSBC's Malaysian Islamic banking head said on (...)
KUALA LUMPUR: When regulators in Dubai and Malaysia signed a deal in 2007 to facilitate cross-border sales of sharia funds on each other's turf, they were hoping for a burst of activity to galvanize the $50 billion Islamic asset industry.
Three (...)
KUALA LUMPUR: When Malaysian Aida Othman signed up for the new law program at the Islamic university, she did not expect to become one the few women with their hands on the levers of the world's $1 trillion Islamic finance sector.
Rising global (...)
KUALA LUMPUR: Elaf Bank has applied for a Malaysian Islamic banking license after securing six financing deals worth about $1.4 billion in the country and Indonesia, its chief executive said on Wednesday.
The license would enable Elaf to execute (...)
MANAMA/KUALA LUMPUR: Arshad Khan, the chief of the Bahrain Financial Exchange, had envisaged a global Islamic trading platform when he set out to work with Malaysia's stock exchange this year.
Though the talks fell through, Khan thinks there may (...)
KUALA LUMPUR: Muwa'adah is a permissible basis for forward currency transactions, a respected sharia adviser said on Monday, challenging a widely held view which has limited the range of Islamic hedging tools.
The use of muwa'adah or mutual (...)
KUALA LUMPUR: Sumitomo Corp is arranging the first Islamic funding deal in Japan, which could pave the way for other Japanese issuers to tap the $1 trillion industry, a source with knowledge of the deal said.
The yen-denominated issue, which (...)
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian sharia bankers on Wednesday dismissed as impractical a proposed Islamic pricing benchmark, highlighting the industry's struggle to replace conventional interest rates as a pricing tool.
Despite the sharia's ban on usury, (...)
DUBAI/KUALA LUMPUR: Wrangling among scholars and wiggle room in interpretation of Sharia principles threaten to derail any attempt to arrive at global standards in Islamic finance, holding back the $1-trillion industry.
Analysts say that unified (...)
KUALA LUMPUR: When Kuwait Finance House Malaysia helped develop a $1.3 billion real estate project in the country in 2005 as a partner in the deal, Islamic equity property ventures were a rarity.
Five years on, the bank is embarking on its fourth (...)
KUALA LUMPUR/MANAMA: The global financial crisis has intensified a push for Islamic finance to return to its roots and move further away from conventional banking, but some warn that more originality could alienate investors.
Many bankers fear (...)
MANAMA/KUALA LUMPUR: Bahrain-based Islamic lender Al Baraka is in talks to buy a stake in Malaysia s Bank Muamalat, its chief executive said, with a source adding it could buy up to 49 percent in the lender.
Nothing has been signed, there are (...)
KUALA LUMPUR: Some Middle Eastern banks are avoiding organized tawarruq after a ruling against the practice, an industry official said, a trend that could signal a shake-up for the $1 trillion Islamic financing sector.
Shrugging off criticism of (...)
Islamic banks should shun conventional benchmark interest rates in favor of a profit rate derived from their activities, an Islamic banking economist said on Wednesday.
Islamic finance forbids interest-based lending but the conventional LIBOR (...)
KUALA LUMPUR/DUBAI: As Western regulators stress test top banks, Islamic finance wants to broaden its regulatory approach and improve disclosure rules amid concerns that unhealthy banks may have slipped under the radar.
Few Islamic financial (...)
KUALA LUMPUR: Islamic short-selling would help develop Sharia capital markets, Malaysia s stock exchange chief said on Thursday, defending plans for a controversial platform it hopes will improve market liquidity.
Some Sharia scholars frown on (...)
As the global downturn drags on, battering investor confidence and asset values, Islamic finance markets are expected to increasingly favor the certainty of lease-based bonds over profit-sharing structures to minimize risks.
With key sectors such (...)
KUALA LUMPUR: Sharia banks should be allowed to charge a fee for giving guarantees, a top religious scholar said on Wednesday, issuing an opinion on an issue that has so far divided the $1 trillion Islamic finance industry.
Mohd Daud Bakar - who (...)