GERMANY - Is Islamic Finance Collapsing in Germany?

www.stresemann-stiftung.de - Intrinsische Hindernisse des islamischen Finanzwesens – Scharia-Gelehrte und die Einkommensschwäche der Muslime

Von Rebecca Schönenbach, zertifizierte Islamic Finance Spezialistin – Stand: Juli 2012

Islamic Finance ist in Deutschland bisher weitgehend erfolglos geblieben. Der Vergleich mit anderen europäischen Staaten legt nahe, dass dies nicht an besonderen rechtlichen Rahmenbedingungen hierzulande liegt. Stattdessen scheinen intrinsische Hindernisse ausschlaggebend: Zum einen sind muslimische Migranten durch geringere formale Bildung und der oft fehlenden Erwerbstätigkeit der Frauen einkommensschwach und weisen wenig Anlagepotenzial für Finanzprodukte auf. Zum anderen führt das System der Scharia-Gelehrten durch mangelndes Wirtschaftswissen und widersprüchliche Rechtsgutachten verschiedener Autoritäten selbst zu Problemen. In Germany, Islamic finance has so far been largely unsuccessful. The comparison with other European countries, however, suggests that this is not due to the specific legal framework of the country. Instead, intrinsic barriers seem crucial: First, Muslim immigrants have lower than average incomes, because of lacking formal education and low labour participation rates of Muslim women . Thus, their investment potential for financial products is rather marginal and focused on real estate in Turkey. Second, the system of Shariah scholars causes some trouble due to insufficient economic knowledge and conflicting legal opinions.

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FRANCE - Paris seeks to become Islamic finance hub in Europe

www.zawya.com - A report prepared by KFH-Research stated that new global markets are seeking to join the main players in the Islamic financing industry and services, such as France. France is working relentlessly to make numerous legal and organizational reformations to facilitate the offering of Islamic financial services and products.
The report added that there is great potential for growth in the field of Islamic financial services in France, since France seeks to become a hub for Islamic banking in Europe. It noted that 1.5 million clients are willing to use Islamic banking tools and products, which equals USD 18.2 billion. In addition, French authorities have offered strong support to develop Islamic banking services, not to mention the high number of Muslims living there who seek Islamic banking services. However, the report mentioned that some legislations need to be amended. (source)

UK - TheCityUk report : Islamic Finance 2012

www.thecityuk.com - Islamic finance assets worldwide continued a long run of growth to reach an estimated USD$1.3 trillion in 2011, 150% up over the previous five years. The UK continues to maintain its position as the leading Western provider of Islamic finance with assets of USD$19bn. The UK also benefited from a globally buoyant sukuk market in 2011, with issuance up 60% to USD$84bn. This was reflected in ten new sukuk listings on the London Stock Exchange’s markets in 2011 and two in early 2012. There are now 37 sukuk with a combined value of USD$20bn listed on the London Stock Exchange’s markets. Additionally, seven exchange traded funds and two exchange traded products are also listed on these markets. - for the report go here

WORLD - PUBLICATIONS - Ernst and Young - World Islamic Banking Competitiveness Report 2011-2012

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LUXEMBOURG - How to further strengthen Luxembourg in the field of Islamic finance

For the third year running and within the framework of its AIF Club aiming at supporting and helping to develop the alternative sectors market infrastructure in Luxembourg, Ernst & Young Luxembourg hosted an event on Islamic finance on 23 September at its premises in Munsbach.

Following on from 2010’s successful event, when the annual Ernst & Young Islamic Funds and Investment Report (IFIR) was presented, this year’s workshop was designed to highlight how to further strengthen Luxembourg in the field of Islamic finance. However this year the results of the IFIR 2011 will not be released until after the event, when it will be made available for all at http://www.ey.com/LU/aif-club/IFIR_2011 on 29 September 2011. (source)

UK - Financial Times - Special Islamic Finance Report (May 2011)

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FRANCE - MOU Between Ijara Management Compagny (IMC) and Real Economy Partners (REP)

Ijara Management Company (IMC) a wholly owned subsidiary of The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) a multilateral organization, affiliated with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group and REAL ECONOMY PARTNERS (REP) announced an exclusive partnership to develop Alternative Leasing (Crédit-Bail Alternatif) solutions for the French Market. (source)

TAKAFUL - REPORTS - ERNST YOUNG World Takaful Report 2011

The Ernst and Young - World Takaful Report 2011 can be downloaded here.

RESOURCES - Islamic Finance Navigator - dictionnary AR/EN/FRE - transactions - analysis and reports

Deal all,

We have just launched the first version of an online Arabic, English and French Islamic Finance business dictionary, to facilitate the task of people working in the Islamic Finance industry and who find themselves having to deal daily with terms both from the Islamic finance and business.