CAPITAL MARKETS - Al Baraka Turkish unit to issue $200m sukuk

www.tradearabia.com - Bahraini lender Al Baraka Bank's Turkish subsidiary will go ahead with a $200 million Islamic bond issue in the first quarter, after delaying a sale last month due to pricing concerns, the bank's chief executive said.

'We will launch the sukuk in the first quarter of this year,' Adnan Ahmed Yousif said in an interview on the sidelines of an Islamic finance and banking conference in Oman. (source)

CAPITAL MARKETS - Albaraka Turk may sell Sukuk later this year

www.gulfnews.com - Albaraka Banking
Albaraka Banking Group and its Turkish unit Albaraka Turk Katilim Bankasi may offer Islamic bonds, chief executive officer Adnan Yousuf said in Muscat yesterday. Albaraka Turk may sell the sukuk after earnings results are released and depending on market conditions, he said. The group may issue Islamic bonds at a later date, Yousuf said, without being more specific. The Manama, Bahrain-based company will have a presence in Oman by the end of 2014, he said. (source)

CAPITAL MARKETS - Building Islamic Bonds – Bahrain’s Economy to Receive a Welcome Boost (Albaraka Turk)

english.gobalarabnetwork.com - Global Arab Network - With recent news of a planned new Islamic bond issue, Bahrain’s economy may be set to receive a welcome boost. The issuance may also come as a boon for the Gulf state’s financial services sector, which is a central part of its Economic Vision 2030, the long-term plan to promote the country as a leading regional and international financial centre, Global Arab Network reports according to OBG.  (source)

CAPITAL MARKETS - Turkey’s Tax Change Paves Way for Sukuk Sales: Islamic Finance

Islamic bond sales from Turkey are picking up pace after the government changed its tax law to apply the same rates to sukuk as non-Islamic debt.

Two banks, Asya Katilim Bankasi AS (ASYAB) and Albaraka Turk Katilim Bankasi AS (ALBRK), plan to sell as much as $500 million in Shariah-compliant debt after Kuveyt Turk Katilim Bankasi AS, a unit of Kuwait Finance House (KFIN) KSC, offered $350 million of five- year sukuk Oct. 20. (source)

CAPITAL MARKETS - Sukuk market needs 3 yrs to turn Noor Islamic chief says market now is shrinking - mandate from Bank Asya

Noor Islamic Bank does not expect the Islamic bond market to turn around for another three years, given the financial and political uncertainty in the region, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

"What you see in the sukuk market right now is not growing but I think it is shrinking a little bit in comparison to years before," Hussain Al Qemzi said in an interview. "I see three years before we see an upward trend in sukuk. We will see a stronger comeback afterwards." (source)

BANKING - Turkey draws closer to MENA

The Turkish economy has now re-aligned itself more closely to the regional markets in the GCC and MENA countries.

Whichever party wins the Turkish general election in June this year, one thing remains certain. Turkey's participation banking sector will continue its steady progress and, in the process, further consolidate the sector as the third major component in the Turkish financial system after the depository (conventional commercial deposit-taking) banks and the development and investment banks. Participation banking is the Turkish euphemism for interest-free profit-and-loss-sharing banking - in other words Islamic banking. Its importance is underlined by the fact that it has  flourished since its establishment in 1983 by a special decree introduced by the military regime of President Kenan Evren, and more recently it has undergone a successful transformation that has seen it become part of the mainstream banking industry following its licensing, regulation and supervision under the same provisions of the general 2007 Turkish Banking act (amended). (full story)