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Three-way fight for Islamic finance crown
London, November 15, 2013
By Bernardo Vizcaino
When the British government said last month it would issue its first Islamic bond, the implications went far beyond the debt market: it was a signal that London will not back down in an escalating tussle among cities for Islamic financial business.
London has long been the default centre for international firms to issue sharia-compliant bonds, part of a fast-growing Islamic finance sector that will be worth $2 trillion globally next year, according to consultants Ernst and Young.
But it faces a mounting challenge from two centres: Dubai and Kuala Lumpur.
Dubai, at the heart of the wealthy Gulf, announced a push into Islamic finance this year. It has an entrepreneurial culture which has already made it the Middle East's top conventional banking centre, and big state-run firms which can be expected to support the government's strategy.
The Malaysian capital has a reputation for efficient regulation of Islamic finance and a huge domestic market for local-currency Islamic bonds, which is now starting to attract foreign issuers.
The final result of the three cities' rivalry may not be known for years, but thousands of jobs and large amounts of direct investment in companies and real estate are likely to depend on the outcome.
"You need a critical mass of borrowers and investors," said Khalid Howladar, senior credit officer at Moody's Investors Service. "You have multiple centres that are looking to establish their pre-eminence in the Islamic space."
Islamic banking, which obeys religious principles such as bans on interest and pure monetary speculation, is still dwarfed by conventional banking with over $100 trillion of assets.
But the top 20 Islamic banks have been growing 16 percent annually in the last three years, far outpacing their conventional rivals, according to Ernst and Young. That makes Islamic finance tempting for many non-Muslim institutions.
In an unstable global market environment, the conservatism of Islamic financial structures may be helping the industry. Its access to big pools of Islamic investment funds in the Gulf oil-producing states and southeast Asia is certainly a factor.
Over the past year, the industry has been expanding from its traditional bases in those two regions across many nations with significant Muslim populations, from North Africa and Kazakhstan to Nigeria and Djibouti. European financial firms have tapped Islamic funds by issuing sharia-compliant bonds, known as sukuk.
That promises big rewards for the financial centres which arrange issues of sukuk and other Islamic products, employ the experts who structure them, and host the scholars who vet them for religious permissibility.
"The pent-up demand for short-term papers to manage liquidity in Islamic finance is huge, and to meet this will require other market players to come in," Malaysia's central bank governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz told Reuters.
Dubai laid claim to such business in January this year when its ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, announced a drive to develop the emirate as an Islamic financial centre.
Its main competitors responded. In March, Britain launched a publicity campaign involving government junior ministers and private sector executives to burnish London's Islamic credentials.
In May and June, Malaysia took steps to strengthen its regulation of the industry while making it easier for its Islamic insurers to invest their money overseas.
The most high-profile - and most cut-throat - area of competition between the three centres is arranging sukuk. London has led in attracting issues by big international companies because of the massive size of its conventional financial markets and its globally respected legal system.
Malaysia, however, has the advantage of a vibrant market in local-currency sukuk, thanks to a Muslim-majority population; Kuala Lumpur has accounted for about two-thirds of all sukuk issued globally this year. That is persuading some foreign firms, from as far afield as Kazakhstan, to issue in Malaysia.
Dubai lists relatively few sukuk on its exchanges; traditionally its state-owned companies have gone to London to issue. But a determined campaign by Dubai's government is now convincing its companies to issue at home, and could attract business from firms in neighbouring Gulf states.
British Prime Minister David Cameron appeared to be trying to head off that threat last month with his plan for Britain to become the first Western country to issue a sovereign sukuk.
"The UK sukuk announcement has really helped to galvanise the market," said Farmida Bi, European head of Islamic finance at law firm Norton Rose Fulbright in London, predicting the sovereign issue would help to trigger corporate issues.
However, Dubai won a victory this month when the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank, which has long operated sukuk issuance programmes in London and Kuala Lumpur, said it would set up a $10 billion programme on the Nasdaq Dubai exchange.
"I do believe Dubai can reach a leadership position, although progress has been slow and it will take a few years to reach the level of Malaysia," said Apostolos Bantis, emerging markets credit analyst at Commerzbank in London.
Because London is not located within a natural pool of sukuk issuers and European customers will remain a limited group, its position looks weakest among the three centres from a long-term perspective, Bantis added.
Other areas of competition include Islamic insurance, known as takaful, and asset management. Once again, London's sheer size gives it an advantage, while Kuala Lumpur benefits from its location in a vast, predominantly Muslim area of southeast Asia.
British-based firm Cobalt struck a blow for London earlier this year by developing a novel syndication model for takaful. The model offers A-rated capacity which most carriers in the Gulf lack, said chief executive Richard Bishop.
This could clash with Dubai's plans to expand in takaful. Abdulaziz al-Ghurair, head of the authority overseeing Dubai's financial centre, said last month that since there were only 19 Islamic re-insurance firms globally, takaful firms were forced to transfer some of their risk to conventional re-insurers.
That creates a window for Dubai to set up Islamic re-insurers, he said without detailing how this would be done.
Ultimately, much will depend on which financial centre can establish "thought leadership" in Islamic business, creating standards and structures which come to be accepted across regions and, ideally, across the global industry.
Traditionally, Malaysia has been influential because of its centralised model of regulation, which minimises disputes among different boards of Islamic scholars. But some Gulf scholars view Malaysian regulation as too liberal, arguing that it permits structures which too closely mimic conventional finance.
Dubai has a chance to chart a path between these two camps; it has said that after consulting the industry, it will issue sukuk standards that are more detailed and comprehensive than others, hopefully resolving conflicts between the regions.
"This is very important. We think it's a basic requirement but it doesn't exist as we speak. But this will not come from the sharia scholars - it has to come from the industry," said Hamed Buamim, director-general of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry, which is promoting the emirate's Islamic push. - Reuters


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Generally, I have found that the first reaction of most observers is to notice the first thing they see - the sheath. If the response is one of admiration, then it is assumed that the knife itself is of equivalent quality. Many knife makers produce wonderful examples of their craft. Some are works of art. But their creativity does not necessarily extend to the sheaths that hold them.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Michael McIntyre may have quit Britain's Got Talent, but at least that means we will be seeing much more of him doing what he does best - standing on stage telling jokes. Or rather skipping around on stage telling jokes.
Last night he hosted a benefit for children's charity Kids Company. He should have been introducing the cream of British comedy, yet he was having so much fun he found it hard to leave the stage. McIntyre was in a festive mood, quipping about overdosing on sprouts and his two children waking for their presents at 11.48pm on Christmas Eve. He was particularly sharp on gift-wrapping. "You can never find the scissors," he pondered, only to be trumped by a heckler who hijacked his own catchphrase to suggest he should look in his man drawer.
Eventually McIntyre introduced the all-star bill. Jason Manford bucked the men-in-suits trend in a snowman pullover, Sean Lock wiggled his wrinkly forehead, Jack Whitehall sang the praises of
the Nokia 3310 mobile to a massive roar.
Music came from Britain's Got Talent's pop pixie Ronan Parke, who hushed the crowd with Silent Night before Alexandra Burke reprised her hit Hallelujah. The second half maintained the momentum. Jo Brand was on sardonic spouse-bashing form: "My husband never learned to drive in my opinion."
Welshman Rhod Gilbert raged about an expensive electric toothbrush he was given, while Jack Dee was also gift-grumpy. Please don't give Dee a Kindle: "I've read it." But it was Michael McIntyre's night. He revealed that he recently visited a hospital for dental treatment which was so posh he was told to "wait in the library".
And when Stereophonics singer Kelly Jones closed with John Lennon's Happy Xmas (War is Over) the comedian circled him harmonising.
Never mind overdosing on sprouts, this was an opportunity to overdose on Michael McIntyre.
Michael McIntyre's Christmas Charity Show
HMV Apollo
Queen Caroline Street, W6 9QH
- More about:
- Charity
- Kids Company


text: Successful Tips Archive 8 Valuable Tips For Successful Business Development Author: Gary Taylr | Mar232015 Categories: Business & Marketing, Business Tips, Promotional Products No comments Business development holds relevance in almost every company. It's the art of nurturing business leads for an organization. Here is a well-known fact – a company that focuses strongly on business development will quickly leap ahead of competitors! This article provides you with 8 tips to help your business Continue Reading


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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Lipscomb baseball team is set to make its first road trip of 2012 on Tuesday heading across state to take on Tennessee Tech at 3 p.m. in Cookeville.
The Bison (4-3) head into the contest having taken one game of the three-game set against Mid-American Conference power Kent State over the weekend.
"After taking a tough one yesterday, you look forward to playing again," said Lipscomb head coach Jeff Forehand. "Fortunately for us, we've got a game tomorrow. We're going to play Tennessee Tech and we always have a good game with them when we go down there. They're a tough team to handle at their place."
Looking to snap a four-game skid against the Golden Eagles (1-6), Lipscomb is scheduled to send redshirt freshman Will Blalock to the mound for his second start of the season. Blalock made his collegiate debut last Tuesday against Middle Tennessee. The righty did not factor in the decision allowing one run in three innings of work.
"Last Tuesday was Blalock's first collegiate start," said Forehand. "So I'm looking for him to build on each start. The more opportunities he gets to go out there, the better he is going to be. We've got a lot of confidence in him."
Tennessee Tech is expected to throw junior righthander Nick Price, who enters the contest 0-0 with a 12.00 ERA on the year. Austin Wulf leads the Golden Eagles at the plate with a .379 average and five runs scored.


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- Item 43 of 60 in Collection: Louis L. McAllister Photographs
- | Return to collection
Item Description
Title: Ticonderoga - Move to Shelburne Museum
- McAllister, L. L. (Louis L.), 1877-1963
Source Document
Extent: 1 image
February 19, 1955. The steamship Ticonderoga travels overland pulled by winches as it rides along double railroad tracks. On the left workman from the W. B. Hill Company of Tilton, New Hampshire work the rails while a family stands nearby on the right. Photo 136.
Genre(s): photographs, black-and-white photographs
Note [Digital Version]
2008-07-24, Center for Digital Initiatives, University of Vermont Libraries
Type of Resource: still image
Parent Collections
Access Conditions
For usage rights related to this resource please visit: http://cdi.uvm.edu/rights/
More information.
Permanent Link:
Preferred citation
Ticonderoga - Move to Shelburne Museum, Louis L. McAllister Photographs, Box A18, Folder 03, Item 02, http://cdi.uvm.edu/collections/item/mcalA18F03i02 (accessed March 26, 2017)


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Qualicum Beach mayor turns to tech
If Qualicum Beach wants to attract more young families to the community, it might be a good idea for the town to join the 21st century in terms of the technology it offers, says the mayor.
With the dramatic advances in technology over the past few years, the concept of people driving to work every day to their Toronto or Vancouver office tower is starting to change and this could prove to be good news for Qualicum Beach, says Mayor Teunis Westbroek, if the town is able to jump on board the technological bandwagon.
"These days, people can work from a computer in their homes," said Teunis Westbroek.
"What is needed is for somewhere people can do video-conferencing. We can provide that site."
Having the ability to provide video-conferencing would allow people in many professions to do their work over their home computers and then catch up with their colleagues once a week or so without having to travel to company headquarters.
"We have the feeds to connect them with anywhere else in the world with video-conferencing." Westbroek said.
"Once a week or so, when they need a meeting with their colleagues, they can see them on the screen. It's just like being there."
Westbroek said the municipality could provide a room at the Civic Centre, stock it with high-tech equipment and allow workers to book it when needed.
"People would much prefer to work out of home in Qualicum Beach than go to work in an office tower," Westbroek said.
"We can provide a board room with the equipment they need."


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Not So Closed Minded, Part 7
(About half an hour before we close, we get a sudden rush of customers, leading to us being unable to lock the doors once it's time to close. Five minutes after closing, we only have one family left in the store to finish serving when another man walks in.)
Supervisor: "Sir, I'm sorry. We're closed."
Customer: *continues toward register*
Supervisor: "Sir, we're closing!"
Customer: *stops to look at chips*
Supervisor: "Sir! I'm sorry, but we're in the process of closing."
Customer: *walks to register*
Supervisor: *now standing directly in front of customer* "Sir, I'm sorry. We're not taking orders now. We're closed."
Customer: "Oh, okay. Um… I'll take a large ham and turkey—"
Supervisor: "Sir! I'm sorry, but we closed five minutes ago. You'll need to come back tomorrow."
Customer: "Oh. Well, you should have said something." *walks out*
(As soon as the previous customer's food was ready and they were out, I ran at full sprint to the door and locked it.)
Not Very Closed Minded, Part 6
Not Very Closed Minded, Part 5
Not Very Closed Minded, Part 4


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Liquid S1: Acer's first phablet with a 5.7-inch display announced
The Acer Liquid S1 runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, and is powered by a quad-core 1.5 GHz processor.
New Delhi: Acer has launched its first phablet Liquid S1 at Computex 2013. The phablet has a 5.7-inch 1280 x 720 display.
The phone runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, and is powered by a quad-core 1.5 GHz processor. The smartphone supports 720p videos. It has 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage. The phone has dusl-SIM capabilities and has a microSD card slot.
Acer Float User Interface allows several app windows to stay open so users can multitask without having to back out of one app to work on another. A Float Caller notification ensures that users will not be interrupted by incoming calls that take over the full screen.
The phone has been designed for Asia and Europe, but the company has not yet announced as to when the device will be launched in India.
The Liquid S1 will start shipping in Q3 2013 in France, Belgium, Netherlands, Ukraine, Russia, UK and Germany, followed by Spain and Italy with a starting price of euro 349.