Al Madina Takaful named ‘Oman Insurer of the Year’

Muscat - 

Al Madina Takaful was named ‘Oman Insurer of the Year’ at the MENAIR Insurance Awards 2016 held on January 27 in Dubai.

The company was named a finalist in three categories and won the ‘Oman Insurer of the Year’ award beating competition across both takaful and conventional insurance segments in Oman, a press release said on Tuesday.

Al Madina was the only insurance company from Oman to be recognised at this year’s awards, which are judged by an independent panel of experts and recognise excellence of companies and people in the industry.

The awards are judged by an independent panel of experts and recognise excellence of companies and people in the industry.

Speaking at the awards ceremony, Gautam Datta, CEO of Al Madina Insurance Co, said, “Wining the ‘Oman Insurer of the Year’ award is remarkable, as this the first time we are being recognised in the larger insurance industry, beyond the takaful segment we operate in. This is a milestone achievement for the organisation beating both local and regional players operating in Oman, and comes at a time when the industry is facing tough challenges. It’s a great reward for the hard work and commitment of our team, business partners and clients. A huge thank you to all.”

Speaking on the success, Usama al Barwani, deputy CEO of Al Madina Insurance Co, said, “It give us immense pride to be chosen as ‘Oman Insurer of the Year’. This is a coveted platform, and we are excited to be chosen to represent the industry in this stature. It inspires us further to meet and exceed customer expectations and excel in the way we do business.”

(MuscatDaily.Com / 02 Febuary 2016)

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Alfalah Consulting - Kuala Lumpur: www.alfalahconsulting.com
Consultant-Speaker-Motivator: www.ahmad-sanusi-husain.com
Islamic Investment Malaysia: www.islamic-invest-malaysia.com

Islamic Banking Is Dominant in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia Islamic Banks Dashboard here DUBAI/LONDON, February 02 (Fitch) In a new report, Fitch Ratings says Islamic finance is a mature and developed industry in Saudi Arabia, representing about two-thirds of total bank financing. About 38% comes from Islamic banks and 28% from the Islamic windows of conventional banks. There are 12 licensed commercial banks in Saudi Arabia. Four are fully sharia compliant with the remainder providing a mix of sharia-compliant and conventional banking products and services. Due to the largely Islamic finance nature of the lending market in Saudi Arabia, the performance and credit matrices of both Islamic and conventional banks are to a large extent similar (for more information on Saudi banks see Saudi Banks: Peer Review at www.fitchratings.com). Al Rajhi Bank is the largest Islamic bank in Saudi Arabia, and also the largest Islamic bank internationally with assets of SAR325.2bn (USD87bn) at end-3Q15. National Commercial Bank (NCB) is aiming to convert to a fully sharia-compliant bank following its IPO in 2014. NCB's loan book is already majority sharia compliant and once the bank is fully compliant it could replace Al Rajhi Bank as the world's largest Islamic bank. NCB has a large investment portfolio that will be more challenging to convert into sharia-compliant securities, in terms of availability and variety of appropriate alternatives and maintaining the current yield on the portfolio. Saudi Arabia has the largest Islamic bank asset base of any country that allows commercial banks to operate alongside Islamic banks. All banks are subject to a single supervisory authority and the same disclosure requirements. The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) regulates sharia-compliant banks in the same way as it regulates conventional banks. No special treatment is applied to Islamic products and no additional support is given to Islamic banks. However, as a predominantly Muslim market, and now that similar retail products exist in both conventional and sharia-compliant form, Islamic banking is seeing the fastest growth. In Saudi Arabia, banks benefit from large volumes of local currency liquid assets, including government securities and deposits with SAMA. However, one of the key differences between conventional and Islamic banks is the structure of their liquidity/investment portfolios. This is because Islamic banks have far fewer sharia-compliant investment options. These are mainly cash and central bank deposits, such as "mutajara" or "murabaha", which are therefore relatively low risk and low return. Investments also include sukuk issued by other Islamic banks. High spending, particularly in the form of large government projects, has started to reduce due to stricter screening, delays and cancellations, as the government reduces spending to match lower oil revenues. We expect the tougher economic environment to continue for at least two years. The challenging operating conditions are likely to affect earnings, with profitability metrics growing less quickly and possibly declining. Fitch also expects asset quality metrics to deteriorate over the next two years. The full report, Saudi Arabia Islamic Banks Dashboard is available at www.fitchratings.com or by clicking the link above. Contact: Bashar Al Natoor Global Head of Islamic Finance +971 4 424 1242 Fitch Ratings Limited Al Thuraya Tower 1 Office 1805 Dubai Media City Redmond Ramsdale Director +971 4 424 1202 Media Relations.

(Reuters / 02 Febuary 2016)

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Alfalah Consulting - Kuala Lumpur: www.alfalahconsulting.com
Consultant-Speaker-Motivator: www.ahmad-sanusi-husain.com
Islamic Investment Malaysia: www.islamic-invest-malaysia.com

Kuwait Finance House considering capital-boosting sukuk

Jan 31 Kuwait Finance House (KFH), the country's biggest Islamic lender, is studying the issuance of Islamic bonds that would boost its capital reserves, its top official told Arabiya TV on Sunday.

The offering still requires necessary approvals, its chief executive Mazen al-Nahedh told the channel.

The firm could issue capital bonds that either enhance its core Tier 1 capital or its supplementary Tier 2 capital.

Besides sukuk plans for the parent company, KFH is also planning to issue Tier 2-enhancing sukuk this year for its Turkish subsidiary.

"We are about to issue Tier 2 sukuk, for the subsidiary bank in Turkey, and we expect the issue will happen this year to support its capital situation so it can grow," he added. 

(Reuters / 31 January 2016)

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Alfalah Consulting - Kuala Lumpur: www.alfalahconsulting.com
Consultant-Speaker-Motivator: www.ahmad-sanusi-husain.com
Islamic Investment Malaysia: www.islamic-invest-malaysia.com