RUSSIA - VTB: The importance of being Islamic

www.euroweek.com - If VTB manages, on its third attempt, to issue a sukuk then the Russian bank will have achieved for conventional issuers what Goldman Sachs couldn’t and Crédit Agricole didn’t dare. Demonstrating that such business is possible would do a big favour for the Islamic finance market — and the Russians themselves. (source)

RUSSIA - Russian, Azerbaijani and Kazakh banks to form a United Islamic Bank

www.businessislamica.com -The International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) and Russia’s VTB Bank plan to invite one of Kazakhstan’s leading banks to form the United Islamic Bank of the CIS, Trend cites Bekham Gurbanzade, head of a working group of the IBA.

Baku hosted the Fourth International Bank Conference of CIS States in early December 2011. The VTB and IBA made agreements. The Russian bank will use the experience of Azerbaijani specialists and consultants in Islamic banking, Azerbaijan will use the experience of the VTB. Efforts were united within the framework of the Financial and Banking Council of the CIS. (source)

RUSSIA - Russian expands Islamic Finance

www.businessislamica.com - Eurasian Development Bank, a Russian-led lender backed by six former Soviet republics, wants to expand Sharia-compliant financing, Chief Executive Officer Igor Finogenov said.

“Islamic finance is an opportunity for us to enter new credit markets,” Finogenov told reporters in Moscow recently. “We hope it will allow us to diversify our liability base.” (source)

RUSSIA - PUBLICATIONS - Islamic Private Equity Fund IPEF (All Equity Funds - March 2012)

2012 March All Equity Moscow Ipef

RUSSIA - Russian-Led Development Bank Plans to Expand Islamic Financing

www.bloomberg.com - Eurasian Development Bank, a Russian-led lender backed by six former Soviet republics, wants to expand Shariah-compliant financing after helping arrange a deal last year, Chief Executive Officer Igor Finogenov said.

“Islamic finance is an opportunity for us to enter new credit markets,” Finogenov told reporters in Moscow today. “We hope it will allow us to diversify our liability base.” (source)

WORLD - PUBLICATIONS - Islamic Finance News GUIDE 2012

Country Reviews :

Czech Republic: Seeking Solutions
France: Seeking diversity
Germany: More talks, little action
Ireland: Will Islamic finance offer respite?
Italy: Friends in high places
Luxembourg: Gaining momentum
Malta: The Bahrain of the Mediterranean
Russia: Lukewarm reception
Turkey: A bumper year for Islamic finance
UK: Real estate to dominate


Full Guide

RUSSIA - TATARISTAN - Kazan IV International Islamic Business and Finance Summit - March 1, 2012

islamic-finance.ru - International Investment Forum KAZANINVEST 2012, organized together with IV International Islamic Business and Finance Summit KAZANSUMMIT, will be held in Kazan on 1 March, 2012. KAZANINVEST 2012 is being organized by Tatarstan Investment Development Agency.

The main objective of KAZANINVEST 2012 is to attract foreign direct investment in small and medium business projects. At forum the pick-of-the-day will be investment generation and increasing of regions investment attraction.  (source)

RUSSIA - PRESENTATION - Abas A Jalil: Today and Tomorrow of Islamic Finance in the Russian Federation

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RUSSIA - PRESENTATIONS - Islamic finance: Western and Russian approaches

Islamic finance: western and Russian approaches

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RUSSIA - Russian, Azerbaijani and Kazakh banks to form a United Islamic Bank

vestnikkavkaza.net- The International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) and Russia's VTB Bank plan to invite one of Kazakhstan’s leading banks to form the United Islamic Bank of the CIS, Trend cites Bekham Gurbanzade, head of a working group of the IBA.

Baku hosted the Fourth International Bank Conference of CIS States in early December 2011. The VTB and IBA made agreements. The Russian bank will use the experience of Azerbaijani specialists and consultants in Islamic banking, Azerbaijan will use the experience of the VTB. Efforts were united within the framework of the Financial and Banking Council of the CIS.  (source)

RUSSIA - The Akbars Bank debut Islamic Syndication

by Alberto Brugnoni - ASSAIF - On 17 December 2010, at 4.30 in the morning, I was standing outside my hotel in Kazan in the middle of a snowstorm waiting for Anatoly, my driver, to take me to the airport. I had to board the early flight heading back to Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport to catch my connection that would take me back to my much coveted wandering life as an Islamic finance consultant in the Middle East.  (source)

RUSSIA - EVENTS - Islamic Financing: Prospects for Development in Russia (Dec 8, 2011)

The Moscow Times newspaper and Economic Department of Russia Muftis Council invite you to participate at the Third annual Conference "Islamic Financing: Prospects for Development in Russia", which will be held on December 8, 2011.

The Conference will help the participants to find answers regarding the state of Islamic finance market and new trends of development, realization of Shariah-compliant transactions in Russia and abroad, get firsthand advice from the experts, to discuss further ways of collaboration with the international consulting and law firms. (website - more info hereunder - register here)

RUSSIA - UK - Islamic Finance Goes Global

gfmag.com - Islamic Finance is growing beyond traditional borders to encompass new markets worldwide.

The Islamic finance industry emerged relatively unscathed from the 2008 financial crisis —touting itself as an alternative to the leverage and greed that fuelled the subprime crisis in conventional financial markets. Now in the midst of what looks like another crisis of confidence in global financial markets, practitioners are highlighting its benefits again.

“Islamic finance is a pool of stable capital looking for a home. Every CFO, every government, should look at it as a stable source of liquidity,” stated Afaq Khan, CEO, Islamic Banking, Standard Chartered Saadiq, at SWIFT’s annual Sibos conference in Toronto in mid-September. In a debate entitled Islamic Finance 2.0 Khan and other market luminaries stressed that Islamic liquidity is looking for new markets outside of its traditional centers in the Middle East and Malaysia in order to balance portfolio returns. (source)

GERMANY - KL’s edge in Islamic finance - Bundesbank send representatives to Malaysia's Securities Commission for training on Islamic finance

thestaronline - German don: Malaysia’s comprehensive regulatory framework a competitive advantage

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's competitive advantage in Islamic finance is its comprehensive regulatory framework, according to a German economics professor. (source)

RUSSIA - TATARISTAN - Kazan capitalizes on its Muslim heritage - Tatarstan: Nick Watson takes a look into the state of foreign investment

rbth.ru - The Muslim-majority region has proved to be an interesting investment destination for funds with Muslim shareholders or that are based in Muslim countries.

Kazan (RBTH). Although there has been much speculation about Muslim investors moving into Russia, the situation has been one of all talk and no action – until now. Two Islamic funds have recently launched operations in the Muslim-majority Republic of Tatarstan.  (source - original source)

RUSSIA - Project and infrastructure finance in Russia: Opportunities for Islamic finance

IFN - ROUSTAM VAKHITOV and SERIK ISKAKOV discuss whether it is possible to structure infrastructure projects in Russia in a simultaneously Shariah compliant and tax efficient manner?

Good infrastructure is vital for Russia’s development due to the vastness of its territories. This includes roads, railways and related machinery, industrial plants, airports and aircrafts, oil and gas pipelines power lines as well as power stations and other projects.

Most of these infrastructure projects in Russia were implemented 50 years ago and now the lifetime of these assets is approaching the end of their exploitable economic life. Therefore the replacement or renovation of a significant quantity of infrastructure assets in the future will be an important part of the Russian economic landscape. rest of story : IFN

RUSSIA - TATARISTAN - Tatarstan Islamic finance hub ambitions boosted

LONDON, Sept 14 (IFR) - Russian republic Tatarstan's ambition to develop a Sharia-compliant market received a boost this week when the Kazan-based AK Bars Bank became the first Tatar credit to secure a murabaha loan.

It was also the first international loan facility compliant with Sharia canons for a Russian bank .

Earlier this year Tatarstan announced an Islamic finance initiative to promote the sector, and the Ba1/NR/BBB- rated Muslim-majority republic backed this up with plans to tap the Sharia-compliant market with sukuk paper. (source)

RUSSIA - AK BARS Bank closes $60 million Murabaha financing

CPIFINANCIAL.NET - AK BARS Bank has successfully closed the debut in CIS one-year syndicated Murabaha financing for the total amount of $60 million. Citi and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) acted as exclusive Joint Lead Arrangers and Bookrunners (source)

RUSSIA - Third International Islamic Business and Finance Summit opens in Kazan

“Russia should with time evolve into one of the key actors on the Islamic finance market,” President of Tatarstan noted. 

(Kazan, June 20, Tatar-inform, Alia Sabirova). The 3rd International Islamic Business and Finance Summit (Kazansummit) has today officially opened in Kazan.

Attendees at the opening ceremony were President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, Prime Minister Ildar Khalikov, Russia’s permanent representative at the Organisation of the Islamic Conference Kamil Iskhakov, Agency for Investment Development head and summit’s organising committee chairman Linar Yakupov, and foreign visitors, including the Islamic Centre for Development of Trade general director Allal Ruchdi and UK House of Lords member Nazir Ahmed. (source)

RUSSIA - Changes to Law Needed to Facilitate Sukuk Use

JAKARTA — Russian borrowers are pitching plans to sell the nation's first Islamic bonds even as regulators lag behind in customizing laws for the industry.

Executives from Gazprombank, the lending arm of gas export monopoly Gazprom, are in Southeast Asia to seek support for issuance by as many as five companies, Alexander Kazakov, director of structured and syndicated finance at the bank, said in Jakarta. Tatarstan, a Muslim-majority Russian republic, will announce a dollar-denominated sale soon, according to Kuala Lumpur-based adviser AmanahRaya Investment Bank, which is working on the proposal. (source)