By Arno Maierbrugger/Gulf Times Correspondent /Bangkok Islamic finance and banking are on a rapid growth pattern in Morocco, only shortly after the country’s central bank, Bank Al-Maghrib, finally and after several delays in July 2017 officially introduced a comprehensive regulatory framework for what it calls “participation banking” in the north African country. Islamic finance was […]
Namibia’s central bank left its benchmark rate unchanged for a sixth consecutive meeting to support economic growth and maintain its currency’s peg with the South African rand. The southwest African nation’s Monetary Policy Committee maintained its key interest rate at 6.75 per cent Wednesday, Governor Ipumbu Shiimi told reporters in the capital, Windhoek. Last month, […]
(Reuters) – Islamic trade finance is poised for change with the launch of new products and common standards as Islamic banks look to grab market share away from traditional lenders which are retreating from the sector because of regulatory constraints. Islamic banks have been laggards in trade finance but some see a business opportunity, attracted […]
Jordan Islamic Bank has inaugurated a special power station for solar power generation to cover 75% of the consumption of the bank’s branches and offices Staff Writer, CPI Financial Jordan Islamic Bank (JIB), a subsidiary of AlBaraka Banking Group (ABG) has inaugurated a special power station for solar power generation to cover 75 per cent of the […]
By Kudakwashe, CPI Financial GFH frees up further assets pledged under the Sukuk for potential disposal. GFH Financial Group (GFH) has paid the entire amount of its $200 million Sukuk which was originally drawn in 2007. The facility was funded by a mix of GCC and international banks and the bank acknowledged its timely repayments despite challenges, […]
Saudi Arabia has begun selling local currency government bonds through a new “primary dealer” scheme designed to increase demand for the debt By Andrew Torchia, Reuters News DUBAI – Saudi Arabia has begun selling local currency government bonds through a new “primary dealer” scheme designed to increase demand for the debt and widen the range of […]
WHAT IS ISLAMIC BANKING AND WHERE IS IT HEADED? As old as the religion itself, Islamic banking has reached new levels of maturity in the past fifty years. It is forecast to be worth 3 trillion dollars by 2021 with Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and the UAE currently leading the market. This banking system follows Islamic guidelines, based on profit-sharing, instead of interest being charged […]
Uzbekistan lenders already offer some Islamic financial products, but specific legislation could make them cheaper while helping to introduce new ones. Uzbekistan has announced plans to introduce Islamic finance regulations and setting up an Islamic finance institution to expand its banking sector as well as to tap into foreign markets in an effort to revamp […]
The fintech nomenclature is applied to any technology that has a transformative effect on organisations and processes in the financial sector. Contrary to popular belief, it is not conceptually owned by the start-up community, or defined only by the emergence of new models such as the sharing economy, and technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), […]
More and more banks in the Islamic world — a community of nearly 2 billion people worldwide — are adopting blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. As early as 2016, major Islamic banks such as ICICI Bank and Emirates NBD began researching blockchain’s capabilities to reduce transactional costs, according to Coindesk. In 2017, the UAE’s Emirates Islamic became the first Islamic bank […]
