issue no. 163 - january–march 2007 / muharram–rabi al awwal 1428

NEWS
NEWHORIZON January–March 2007
Islamic
home finance
products
in Egypt
Amlak Finance and Real Estate
Investment, a company offering
Islamic home finance products,
has been launched in Egypt. It
is the first to offer Islamic home
finance products to the local
market.
‘With growth of over 1.5 per
cent annually, and a current
shortfall of approximately
145,000 houses per year, the
real-estate industry has been
highlighted by the current
government as an area for
development in 2007,’ says
Shahil Akram Juma, CEO of
Amlak Finance and Real Estate
Investment in Egypt. Added
to this, the government has
introduced the mortgage finance
law, enabling individuals across
the country to own a home
within a well regulated system
headed up by the Mortgage
Finance Authority (MFA).
Chairman of the MFA, Osama
Saleh, says ‘As we work to
provide physical housing for all
sectors of society, it is right that
people should have the ability to
choose a financing solution that
is in line with their beliefs’.
When this backdrop is combined
with Egypt’s largely Muslim
population, it is no wonder that
the parent company Amlak
Finance has decided the time
is right to enter the Egyptian
market. Initially, customers
will be able to purchase any
completed property, with longterm
tenures of up to 20 years.
Islamic banks growing rapidly
Islamic banks are growing at
more than twice the rate of
conventional banks according
to Ahmed Darweesh Bin
Dagher Al Marar, managing
director of Abu Dhabi Islamic
Bank (ADIB). Globally the
growth rate of Islamic banks is
23 per cent, more than double
the ten per cent growth rate of
conventional banks. Islamic
deposits in Gulf investment
accounts have more than
doubled in the last five years,
and Al Marar believes that
Islamic banks will attract half
of the world’s Islamic funds in
as little as a decade.
The research that led to these
results has been carried out by
ADIB for the Oxford Business
Group (OBG), a UK-based
publishing, research and
consultancy conglomerate.
OBG is preparing its new
guide to doing business in Abu
Dhabi and this research will go
into a chapter dedicated to the
Islamic financial services industry.
The guide will be available in the
second quarter of this year.
Two deals for the European
Islamic Investment Bank
The European Islamic
Investment Bank (EIIB), the first
Shari’ah-compliant Islamic
investment bank to be
authorised and regulated by the
Financial Services Authority in
the UK, has announced the
completion of two deals.
The first is a structured trade
finance facility with trade
finance group CCH
International (CCH). Under the
deal, EIIB has signed an
agreement with CCH and its
subsidiaries for a sterlingdenominated
revolving financing
facility. The proceeds of the
facility will be used according to
the principles of Shari’ah to
finance UK-based supplier of
steel products, Alphasteel. This
deal is the sixth structured trade
finance transaction to be signed
by EIIB and the first in the UK
for CCH. Managing director of
CCH, Eren Nil (right), said that
the deal was ‘a key addition to
our funding base which has
traditionally been provided by
Middle Eastern institutions’.
In the second deal, EIIB has
signed a committed standby
facility with the Islamic Bank of
Britain (IBB). The facility is
structured as an undrawn
revolving commodity murabaha
and is designed to assist IBB in
managing its liquidity profile.
ICCI to
set up 200
companies
in ten years
The Islamic Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (ICCI)
has announced that, through its
subsidiary the Foras Investment
Company, it will help to set
up 200 companies in the next
five years in the 57 member
countries of the Organisation
of the Islamic Conference (OIC).
The announcement is part of a
ten-year development plan and,
according to Foras CEO Hatim
Jamil Mukhtar, it has been set
up ‘to accelerate the process of
economic development across
the Muslim Ummah’. Mukhtar
made this announcement to a
select gathering of businessmen
in Lahore.
Foras currently has a paid up
capital of $100 million and it is
hoped that this will soon double.
The company will set up five
sub-holding entities in Pakistan,
Malaysia, Turkey, Egypt and
Senegal, which it is hoped will
help speed up the process of
company formation across the
Muslim world. According to
Mukhtar, the companies will
be set up ‘for the promotion
of diverse fields ranging from
bio-technology to IT and
infrastructure’.
Foras has already begun its
work with the preparation
of investment road maps for
ten Muslim countries, such as
Pakistan. It is hoped that these
steps will lead to the formation
of an economic consortium of
the Islamic world.
10 IIBI www.islamic-banking.com