National Australia Bank is considering selling up to $US500 million ($482m) in Islamic bonds in what would be the country’s first issuance of sharia-compliant debt securities. http://sheikyermami.com/nab-set-to-join-rush-for-islamic-cash/comment-page-1/
Harvard University has long been a hotbed of pro-Shariah propaganda in the US, specifically with its high-profile efforts to promote Shariah-Compliant Finance in the West. In about 2 weeks, Harvard will hold its latest celebratory seminar in support of Shariah-Compliant Finance: Eleventh Harvard University Forum on Islamic Finance Takaful and Alternative Cooperative Finance Challenges and […]
Moroccan banks Banque Centrale Populaire (BCP) and Banque Marocaine du Commerce Extérieur (BCME) have both revealed plans to create units offering Shariah-compliant financial services. This launch comes in anticipation of the adoption of a new law allowing the practice of Shariah banks in Morocco. The legislative framework was prepared by the Central Bank, the Bank Al-Maghrib, […]
Barclays Plc will sell its retail banking business in the United Arab Emirates to Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank PJSC $177 million. Barclays joins Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Britain’s biggest government-owned lender, and Lloyds Banking Group Plc in exiting consumer and commercial-banking business in the U.A.E. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-04-06/barclays-to-sell-u-dot-a-dot-e-dot-retail-banking-to-abu-dhabi-islamic-bank
State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Deputy Governor Saeed Ahmad recently claimed that Shariah finance is going to become a better alternative to conventional banking. “Given its global outreach, growing recognition as a stable system, and its ability to provide financial solutions to all business needs, Islamic finance is all set to establish itself as a […]
We have long pointed out on SFW that the purpose of Shariah finance is in fact to promote Shariah. Here is an example of that at work. Shariah banking is reportedly taking hold is a big way in Ethiopia, a developing nation with a majority Christian population… http://www.6kilo.com/islamic-banking-booming-in-ethiopia-2/
Here is more proof that Shariah-compliant finance is a system based on centralized economics and not a product of, or adjunct to, free market economics. The Ministry of Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatization on Friday informed the National Assembly that the government was taking steps to promote Islamic Banking in the country. http://www.brecorder.com/top-news/108-pakistan-top-news/165811-govt-taking-steps-to-promote-islamic-banking-na-told.html […]
It is no surprise that another Kuwaiti financial institution is becoming Shariah-compliant. But it does illustrate something about the whole march of Shariah compliance. For many years, conventional banking and finance proliferated and even flourished in the oil-rich Islamic world. The march to Shariah-compliance is relatively recent and is more tied to political motives than […]
The desperate quest to retrieve petrodollars sent to oil-rich Islamic states results in individuals and institutions outside the Islamic world embracing the Islamic doctrine of Shariah, allowing it to infiltrate through the financial underbelly… The 24th meeting of the IFSB Council, hosted by Autoriti Monetari Brunei Darussalam (AMBD), was held on 27 March 2014 at the […]
Ghana is the latest country to embrace Shariah via the financial trap door and, not surprisingly, the industry is being touted as “interest-free” implying they loan out free money, which couldn’t be further from the truth… http://www.myjoyonline.com/business/2014/March-25th/interest-free-islamic-banks-to-heighten-competition-in-ghanas-banking-sector.php
Thomson Reuters should not be regarded as an unbiased news source when it comes to Shariah-compliant finance and Shariah banking. That’s because Thomson Reuters serves as a vendor to the Shariah finance industry, making perhaps millions of dollars each years off of it. The latest evidence of Thomson Reuters’ bias when it comes to Shariah […]
Two of Morocco’s biggest banks, BMCE and BCP are preparing to launch Islamic subsidiaries as the Moroccan parliament discusses a bill regulating Shariah-compliant banks and sukuk issues. Parliament’s approval will be the last step before fully-fledged Shariah-compliant banks can be established in Morocco, whether they are subsidiaries of domestic banks or foreign owned, a measure which could attract more […]
The World’s First Shariah-Compliant Export-Import Bank
The purpose of Shariah-compliant finance is to promote Shariah and the industry has apparently concocted a new way of driving Shariah out to the non-Shariah-compliant world by establishing the world’s first Shariah-compliant Export-Import bank. This will inject the factor of Shariah compliance into the world of international trade. The bank is being set up by […]
One unfortunately all-too common practice in the Shariah Finance industry is to tout “interest-free” banking and instruments, mortgages and loans in particular. This implies that there is no charge for borrowing, which couldn’t be further from the truth. The reality is that charges and fees associated with Shariah-compliant loans are typically more than interest charges […]
One of the chief concerns about Shariah-Compliant Finance is the lack of liquidity born of the ban on interest. The industry has sought to address this problem with convoluted instruments which are largely unproven. And they won’t be proven until they endure a financial crisis of some sort. In the last financial crisis the instrument […]
Dubai Islamic Bank to Pursue Islamic Imperialism Through Finance
Dubai Islamic Bank plans to expand its operations into Indonesia, Kenya and other African countries. The expansion into Indonesia is not particularly noteworthy, since Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim nation. But the plans for Kenya are a different issue entirely. Kenya has a relatively small Muslim population (about 15% at last count) but […]
Japanese Banking Giant to Enter World of Shariah
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (SMBC) will fully launch Shariah-compliant finance operations in Malaysia. The banking unit of SMBC has obtained a license for foreign currency-based Shariah-compliant finance services in the Malaysia, which promotes Shariah finance under a national policy. http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0001106147
The central bank of Indonesia is searching for a bank to sign up as primary dealer for short-term sukuk, or Shariah-compliant bonds, issued by the International Islamic Liquidity Management Corp (IILM), a body it helped establish in 2010 to attempt to address the chronic lack of liquidity in shariah compliant money market instruments. Bank Indonesia is one of […]
Shariah Bank in Oman Facilitates Customers’ Zakat Donations
One of the chief concerns of Shariah-compliant finance is its relationship to zakat, the system of tithing in Islam. The concern stems from the fact that, under Shariah, one of the eight acceptable destinations for zakat money is to those fighting in the way of Allah. We have covered this extensively on SFW for years. […]
H/T to Money Jihad blog: http://moneyjihad.wordpress.com/2014/03/04/j-p-morgan-to-saudi-banksters-buh-bye/ JP Morgan Chase has dropped Al-Rajhi Bank, the world’s largest Shariah-compliant lender, as a correspondent banking client amid a push to improve risk controls. The relationship with Saudi Arabia’s biggest publicly traded bank ended Dec. 31 because JPMorgan couldn’t get enough information on where payments in dollar-clearing services for Al-Rajhi […]
Pakistani Central Bank to Push Shariah
Pakistan’s central bank has published a detailed five-year plan to promote Islamic finance through an array of proposed legislative changes, product incentives and instructions to market participants. The plan aims to double the branch network of Islamic banks, which now have about 1,200 branches, and increase the industry’s market share to 15 percent of the banking […]
Here are some statistics on the growing threat from Shariah Finance. The fact that they come from an article promoting Shariah Finance in Hispanic Business should also raise some eyebrows about the movement to push Shariah on non-Muslim communities… • Size of Shariah-Finance Industry: $1.35 trillion • Annual Growth Rate: 20% • Number of Shariah-Compliant Financial Institutions: […]
BreitBart.com: London is Shariah City
BreitBart.com has recognized the infiltration of Shariah into the UK via the financial underbelly in an article published last night. Excerpts and link… Britain has six “fully Islamic” banking organisations and government minsters are attempting to attract even more Sharia-compliant finance initiatives to the UK. But concerns will no doubt abound, considering the extra cost […]
The Pakistani-based AlHuda Centre of Islamic Banking and Economics (CIBE) is slated to conduct a Shariah finance and banking road show of sorts across the continent of Africa. Among the countries that CIBE will be proselytizing in will be Tanzania, Tunisia, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa and Mauritius. https://www.zawya.com/story/AlHuda_CIBE_will_Organize_African_Islamic_Banking_and_Finance_Road_Show-ZAWYA20140224135617/ CIBE is becoming a nefarious force in the […]
S&P Admits to “Extra Costs” of Shariah Compliance
Readers who click on the link below will note that the article doesn’t reflect the headline that we’ve posted here, but there is a valid reason for that. As is often the case with Shariah-compliant finance, the real story is often found by reading between the lines. In the article below published in Qatar, which, by the […]
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
The Infiltration of the British Financial System Continues
Elected officials in the UK have long expressed the desire for London to become a “mecca” of Shariah finance in the West (pun intended). They have bent over backwards to promote Shariah finance for years. Despite these efforts, statistics show that Shariah banks in the UK lag behind their conventional counterparts. Perhaps this is because […]
The sanctions regime against Iran over its nuclear program and sponsorship of Jihadist terrorism is unfortunately unravelling at an alarming pace. Part and parcel to that process is a disturbing development in which the Supreme Court in the United Kingdom ruled on the side of Bank Mellat in its suit against the British government. Bank […]
The Financial Jihad Comes to Hong Kong
Hong Kong seeks to attract a larger share of the Shariah-compliant finance market and is adjusting regulations to accommodate Shariah… http://www.scmp.com/business/money/markets-investing/article/1381481/hong-kongs-islamic-finance-goal-boosted-basel-iii
As widely reported on the web and here on SFW yesterday, the UK has decided to go ahead and issue a sovereign sukuk. In other words, the United Kingdom will issue a government security that complies with a foreign law. The UK is the first Western nation to do so and British leaders say they […]
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