Search results for: 'Islamic finance'

Mariam Fatima has recently joined Amana Bank as a member of the New Product Initiatives Division. Seeing the need for a Shariah-compliant pawn service (Qard Hasan) in Sri Lanka, Fatima presents this product gap to her team. During two years, she and her team develop a pawn service that complies with Islamic banking principles - finally offering lower-middle-class individuals the opportunity to borrow money more securely.

The Sukuk sector is the fastest growing sector of the Islamic Finance Industry. Indeed, it grew by 14% within just one year (between 2014 and 2015). The total outstanding Sukuk globally stood at US$ 342 billion at the end of 2015. Sukuk has been widely embraced globally as Sovereign Sukuk has been issued by various countries such as UK, Malaysia, Hong-Kong and South Africa. Supranational entities such as World Bank affiliates International Finance Facility for Immunization (IFFI), the Islamic Development Bank Group and even companies such as Dubai Islamic Bank, Goldman Sachs and Zorly Energy have all issued Sukuk.

The Jordan Sovereign Sukuk transaction was the pioneer Sovereign Sukuk issuance by the country. Jordan, which is one of ICD’s member countries, has been very active for the past couple of years in terms of Islamic Finance regulations and framework given that it has four Islamic banks in operation in Jordan and passed the Islamic Finance Sukuk Law in 2012.

This case is about Shari’ah compliant project financing in Saudi Arabia. It introduces the four categories of Islamic Finance which are Islamic banks, takaful, Shari’ah compliant asset management and sukuk by providing the definition, history and a summary of each one. It delves into sukuk by describing how a company called Sadara sought out financing and decided to tap into the sukuk market in Saudi Arabia. Students learn about the structure of the sukuk and are introduced to new concepts and vocabulary such as musharaka, istisna and ijara. The case wraps up by describing some of the challenges of using sukuk to help finance large-scale projects.

This case focuses on how Islamic banking, and especially women’s banking, has been evolving in recent years in Saudi Arabia and the UAE with banks created based on their religious and ethical principles. It explains the history of Islamic banking as well as how the banks function in order to be Shari’ah compliant. The case provides cultural insight into how the world of finance works in these countries where there are banks run by women with female customers in a family-like atmosphere. One of these is a branch for women created by ADIB called Dana. Through product innovation, it was created with specific products and services for women based on research and has been very successful. The case emphasizes how women are inspired by these banks for women and are able to be successful and fulfill their professional goals. It explains how women are in charge of their own money and how they have financial and decision-making power in their households as well as in the business world and goes into detail about how women are investors, financial managers, credit receivers and customers in these countries.  Financial service providers in the West can draw useful lessons on how to adapt financial products to serve the needs of women.