posted by Christopher Holton Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain accuse Qatar of financing “extremist” groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood. The four nations sent Qatar a list of 59 individuals and 12 institutions that allegedly finance terrorism and receive support from Qatar. Among the most prominent names on the list is Abdul […]
posted by Christopher Holton The Persian Gulf island nation of Bahrain has decided to cancel a billion dollar conventional bond deal and settle for a Shariah-compliant bond (sukuk) deal. The reason for the cancelation sheds light on the hidden risks involved in Shariah-compliant bonds. Bahrain scrapped the conventional bonds because they would have been rated […]
Here is a story that illustrates that Shariah-compliant financial institutions are far from immune from risk, as much of the propaganda surrounding the industry claims. It is certainly worth noting that two of the banks that were involved in the joint venture in question, Bank Saderat and Bank Melli, are two of the very largest Shariah-compliant […]
Shariah-compliant airliners? Not exactly, but their financing is Shariah-compliant… A Bahrain-Dubai joint venture has closed a $94 million deal at list prices for the lease of three Bombardier Q400 NextGen planes, its third Sharia-compliant aviation deal since December… http://english.alarabiya.net/en/business/aviation-and-transport/2015/04/30/Bahrain-Dubai-joint-venture-closes-third-Bombardier-deal.html
Just as we predicted, the collapse in the price of oil is making itself felt in the market for Shariah finance’s favorite instrument: sukuk, also known as Islamic bonds or Shariah bonds. This happened before in 2008-2009. The sukuk bubble may be bursting… Tumbling oil prices are battering Bahrain’s Shariah-compliant bonds. The Gulf nation’s dollar-denominated […]
Seattle-based Falah Capital is preparing to launch a shariah-compliant exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks large US stocks, the latest shariah-compliant product to be issued in the USA. The ETF will be advised by Exchange Traded Concepts and Mellon Capital Management, with Bahrain-based Shariyah Review Bureau acting as shariah advisor. Readers of SFW may wish to […]
Prospects for international Islamic capital markets remain bright, according to the Chief Economist of the Economic Development Board, Dr. Jarmo Kotilaine. Dr. Kotilaine discussed the prospects for the future of Islamic capital markets during a speech held at the World Islamic Funds and Capital Markets Conference in Bahrain. This year’s event marks the conference’s 10th […]
Bahrain-based Al Baraka Banking Group said it is considering issuing subordinated Shariah-compliant bonds through its South African and Pakistani units. The South African issue is obviously more significant from a geopolitical standpoint since Pakistan is already an Islamic nation with a mature system of Shariah finance. South Africa, on the other hand, is not an Islamic nation, […]
The Kahleeji Commercial Bank of Bahrain has taken over financing of an aircraft maintenance facility in Sola, Norway. In addition, Bahrain-based Gulf Aero has taken the maintenance facility over from Pratt & Whitney, a US-based aircraft engine manufacturer. The bank is now preparing to launch a Shariah-compliant bank in Norway. http://www.aftenbladet.no/energi/aenergy/Sharia-bank-finances-western-Norway-aircraft-facility-3359997.html#.UwZJwShQpbU
Arcapita, one of the most notorious Shariah-Compliant international conglomerates, with a major office in Atlanta, Georgia, is looking for money to it can complete a “Shariah-Compliant” bankruptcy, something that would be the first of its kind in the USA. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which is already providing Arcapita $350 million in bankruptcy exit financing, is now seeking […]
The Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI), which lists the Jihadist Shariah scholar Mufti Taqi Usmani as the chair of its Shariah Advisory Board, will hold its annual conference in Bahrain this year… http://www.ameinfo.com/kfh-bahrain-sponsors-aaoifi-annual-sharia-conference-337986
Gulf Nations to Continue Shariah-Compliant Sukuk Push
HSBC Bank, perhaps the West’s most shameful pimp for Shariah-Compliant Finance, and a serial violator of Treasury regulations regarding Iran sanctions, is reporting that the market for Shariah-Compliant bonds (known as sukuk or Islamic bonds) is set to break records in 2013 thanks to the proliferation of issues from Gulf states. Mohammed Dawood of HSBC […]
The Wall Street Journal Weighs In On Al Goreeza: Inconvenient Truths About Al Jazeera…and about Dow Jones too
We’re glad to see that the Wall Street Journal has weighed in on the nefarious aspects of Al Jazeera, echoing what we reported here on SFW last week: https://shariahfinancewatch.org/2013/01/03/al-gore-sells-out-to-qatar-state-owned-al-jazeera-buys-current-tv/ It’s worth pointing out some of the highlights in the Journal’s article: …the network reflects the interests of the government that runs it—making it akin to […]
Long-time readers of SFW may recall some posts from the past two years alluding to the fact that, despite a great deal of hype, Shariah-compliant banking is failing in the United Kingdom. For instance, in June of 2010, we posted a report from the Australian media quoting industry insiders in the UK admitting that Shariah-compliant […]
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 […]
The most prominent weapon in the financial jihadists’ arsenal is the sukuk, also known as the Islamic bond. Sukuk have taken off like wildfire in the Islamic world and they are being pushed out hard to the non-Muslim world. South Korea, the Philippines and Thailand are just three nations that have come under intense pressure […]
Al-Baraka Banking Group, the leading Islamic banking group based in Bahrain, announced the organization of the 32nd session of its annual symposium on Islamic economic system on Aug. 10-11 at the Jeddah Hilton. The symposium, to be held under the chairmanship of Saleh Kamel, chairman of Al-Baraka Banking Group, will discuss a number of emerging […]
Bahrain, one of the centers of Shariah-Compliant Finance, has been hard-hit by the unrest in the Arab world and its economy has been disrupted as a result. It remains to be seen what impact this will have on Bahrain’s robust efforts to export Shariah finance around the world… http://www.thenational.ae/business/economy/business-standstill-hits-bahrain-economy
The UK-based investment rating firm Fitch has downgraded Bahrain’s rating due to the instability in the tiny island nation. Bahrain has become a center for Shariah-Compliant Finance and the regime there has taken a leading role in spreading Shariah Finance to the rest of the world… http://apnews.myway.com/article/20110303/D9LNQQ9O1.html
A planned $1 billion Bahrain sovereign bond issue is likely to be delayed as anti-government protests shook the Gulf Arab kingdom on Wednesday while jittery investors, worried about their exposure, sold off state bonds. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/16/bahrain-bond-idUSLDE71F0I920110216
Bahrain-based Shariah Bank Cuts Size of Sukuk Offering as Costs Rise
Bahrain’s Albaraka Banking Group reduced the size of a scheduled March sukuk (Islamic bond) offering to $250 million-$300 million from the planned $500 million, its Chief Executive Officer Adnan Ahmad Yousuf announced. The cost of borrowing through sukuk has risen since anti-government protests began in Egypt two weeks ago on concern political instability may spread […]
Perhaps because Shariah banking has received such a cold reception in Great Britain, British Shariah-compliant banks are now moving into the Islamic world. It is yet to be seem how this will work out for them, since Qatar just moved to shut down the Shariah-compliant divisions of HSBC, Barclays and Standard Chartered in that country. […]
The World Islamic Banking Conference (WIBC) will be held from November 22 to 24 at Bahrain’s Gulf Convention Center. More than 1,200 delegates from 50 countries are expected to attend the WIBC.
Hyperion Asset Management, a Brisbane, Australia-based money management firm is the responsible party for allowing the camel’s nose to get under the tent in Australia. “We are delighted to welcome the Hyperion Australian Equity Islamic Fund to Bahrain,” said Economic Development Board chief executive officer Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa. “This reflects the growing […]
The Shariah scholars are a central concern in Shariah Finance because several of the most prominent are Jihadists with ties to extremist groups. Placing more power in such hands doesn’t help matters. There appear to be two competing entities in this movement: Mufti Taqi Usmani’s AAOIFI (Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions) and […]
What this article ignores is the tendency of Arab Muslims to treat non-Arabs with prejudice. That is one of the chief sources of this “rivalry.” Split by an age-old rivalry stemming from the fight for market share and differences in sharia interpretation, Islamic banking hubs Malaysia and the Middle East have struggled to work together […]
Though, as is typical with state-controlled media in the Islamic world, you have to search hard to find it in the article linked below, ABC Islamic Bank of Bahrain reported a net loss for the 2nd quarter. The spinmasters at the bank and the Arab media turned the news into a profit for the first […]
Loss-making Bahrain Islamic Bank, a Shariah-Compliant bank, plans to try to raise up to $143 million in a rights issue at a 37 percent discount, the first time a major Bahraini retail bank has sought fresh capital since the financial crisis. Bahrain Islamic’s shares, which rarely trade on Bahrain’s stock exchange, closed at 159 fils […]
Investor’s Business Daily has a great editorial worth reading. It seems that Obama administration officials are holding summit meetings with lobbyists at Caribou Coffee across from the White House. Caribou Coffee is a Shariah-Compliant business owned by a bank in Bahrain whose Shariah advisory board chair is the Jihadist Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi (banned from travel […]
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