A summary of the latest Islamic finance news from around the world.

ETFs to drive Islamic finance assets to $4.94 trillion by 2025

The growth and range of Islamic finance exchange-traded funds (ETFs) is expected to propel Islamic finance assets to $4.94 trillion by 2025, Khaleej Times reported. According to the Islamic Finance Development Indicator (IFDI) 2021 released by Refinitiv, a London Stock Exchange Group business, 2021 witnessed several new trends, including the expansion of the fintech industry and digital banks led by the UAE, Malaysia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain, the newspaper reported. The report stated that globally, Islamic finance assets achieved double-digit growth in 2020, up 14% to $3.374 trillion. Sukuks, the second-biggest Islamic finance sector, grew by 16% in 2020, propelled by activity in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and Southeast Asia.

UAE’s AlHuda CIBE and Tawhid Bank to set up Tajikistan’s first Takaful company

AlHuda CIBE UAE and Tawhid Bank Tajikistan signed an MoU to set-up the Central Asian country’s first Takaful (insurance) company. Despite 96.7% of the population being Muslim, Tajikistan has only one Islamic bank, in addition to Islamic banking windows at some banks and microfinance institutions, IBS Intelligence reported. Muhammad Zubair Mughal CEO of AlHuda CIBE said the new Takaful company would help spur growth in Tajikistan’s fledgling Islamic finance industry.

Dubai Islamic Bank prices $750 million senior sukuk

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) priced a $750 million 5-year sukuk with a profit rate of 2.74% per year, according to a report by MENAFN. The first sukuk in the UAE this year, further issuances are expected as financial institutions tap the international markets. Demand for the DIB sukuk was oversubscribed by 2.5 times, was issued under DIB Sukuk Ltd. and is listed on Euronext Dublin and NASDAQ Dubai.
Bank ABC, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD Capital, First Abu Dhabi Bank, KFH Capital, HSBC, Sharjah Islamic Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector acted as joint lead managers and bookrunners on the sukuk.

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank’s Q4 profits up 51%

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank's fourth quarter 2021 net profits were up 51%, at AED 728 million ($198 million), reported Zawya. For the full year, net profits grew 45%, to AED 2.33 billion compared with AED 1.6 billion in 2020. “On quarterly basis, revenues rose 3% year-on-year to AED 1.46 billion. This was mainly due to a 12% growth in non-funded income from investment income and improvement in foreign exchange income,” the website reported.

Islamic Finance Innovation Day (IFID) Forum to be hosted in Bahrain

The third Islamic Finance Innovation Day (IFID) Forum will be held on February 27 at the Gulf Hotel Bahrain Convention and Spa, under the patronage of the Central Bank of Bahrain. Event organiser FinMark Communications has announced Bahrain Islamic Bank as the exclusive banking partner and the bank’s chief executive Hassan Jarrar will deliver a keynote address on the ‘Next phase of digital innovation’ during the forum, reported Gulf Daily news. The programme includes two panels discussing digital solutions, challenges and opportunities, while another panel is on fintech innovation in the real estate sector.

Meezan Bank to launch Pakistan’s first Islamic e-commerce payment gateway

Meezan Bank is to launch a payment gateway and point-of-sale (PoS) system in 2022 as part of the institution’s plans to provided Sharia-compliant digital transactions systems and solutions, reported Pro Pakistani. It will be the first Sharia-compliant platform, despite Pakistan having more than 3,000 e-commerce merchants registered with various banks and there being 72,000 PoS machines in the country. According to the State Bank of Pakistan, transactions through e-commerce reached Rs. 60 billion ($342.9 million) and PoS-processed transactions reached Rs. 453 billion ($2.58 billion) in 2020-21.