Bello Lawal Danbatta named new IFSB head
Dr Bello Lawal Danbatta is the new secretary-general of Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB), a regulatory and supervisory global body for this growing sector of alternative finance in Europe and elsewhere. The appointment of Dr Danbatta was approved by the IFSB council at its 31st meeting on 11 December 2017 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and was announced on 26 January 2018. He assumed his office on 29 January. Malaysia is a major...
IFSB rates health of Islamic finance hubs
The Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) in Kuala Lumpur announced (27 April 2015) the release of its Prudential and Structural Islamic Financial Indicators (PSIFIs) for 15 member countries, analysing their current state of financial health. Britain, France and Luxembourg, which are competing in Europe to win ever bigger slices of Islamic finance business and wean at least a part of the sector away from Asia, have yet to join the...
UK signals major push into Islamic finance
Britain signalled a major push into Islamic finance, taking on existing operators in Malaysia, the Middle East and Luxembourg, with a US $913 million export-credit guarantee for the sale of Sharia-compliant bonds for the United Arab Emirates’ airline Emirates. British Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Hugo Swire said Britain planned to incorporate similar Islamic-finance linked export guarantee into its...
Islamic finance disputes: Arbitration options
Disputes involving Sharia-compliant financing agreements can be complex and require an appropriate form of dispute resolution. Sarah Walker and Tom Childs from King & Spalding explain that arbitration may provide an answer. Islamic finance has entered the mainstream. Around $2 trillion-worth of assets were estimated to be managed in accordance with Islamic law, or Sharia, globally at the end of last year (2014) while western...
GFH signs US$105 million murabaha agreement with KFH
Gulf Finance House has signed a murabaha (Islamic finance) agreement for a US$ 105 million credit facility from Kuwait Finance House Bahrain (KFH-Bahrain), an announcement said 27 August 2014. Both firms have operations and representations in Europe. The five year facility, which will be extended to GFH on an amortized basis and with an 18 month moratorium, will be utilized by the bank to redeem two existing debt facilities with 27...