OIC - COOPERATION ISLAMIC CAPITAL MARKETS - Memorandum of Understanding between Bank Negara Malaysia and Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey

www.bnm.gov.my - A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between Bank Negara Malaysia and the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey on 16 May 2012 in Istanbul, Turkey by Dr. Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor of the Bank Negara Malaysia and Dr. Erdem Başçı, Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey.

The MoU aims to foster strategic cooperation between Malaysia and the Republic of Turkey towards promoting bilateral investment and liquidity arrangements, to support the development of the financial services sector in both countries, and to enhance economic and financial linkages between the two countries through bilateral trade and investment. This will also include building the required financial infrastructure, payments and settlements arrangements to facilitate bilateral trade in the respective local currencies of the two countries. (source)

FINANCE - OIC - Turkish treasury signed loan deals of $554 mln with Islamic Development Bank

www.reuters.com - (Reuters) - The Turkish Treasury said on Tuesday it had secured three loan agreements worth $554 million with the Islamic Development Bank on April 4.

The loans will be used for the financing of construction projects, the treasury said in the statement published on ites web site.  (source)

EVENTS - Northern Cyprus to host Islamic Development Bank's forum

www.worldbulletin.net - The forum is important to introduce investment potential of TRNC to foreign investors.

Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) will host a forum on "Investment in Northern Cyprus" which will be organized by Islamic Development Bank on Thursday.

TRNC Foreign Minister Huseyin Ozgurgun told AA on Wednesday that nearly 2,000 businessmen would arrive in TRNC tomorrow within the scope of the forum which would end on April 13.  (source)

TRADE and FINANCE - OIC - TOBB head urges Muslim countries to increase economic cooperation

www.todayszaman.com - Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu emphasized on Wednesday the importance of taking concrete steps to increase economic cooperation and investments between Muslim countries.

Speaking to participants at the 28th General Assembly meeting of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) in İstanbul, Hisarcıklıoğlu described the transformation taking place in global politics and economics, as well as developments in the Middle East and North Africa. “As private sector representatives from our countries, we have a major role to take on. Our countries are full of entrepreneurs who are looking for investment opportunities,” he said. (source)

OIC - IDB approves $1.96bn in new projects

www.arabnews.com - The closing ceremony of the 37th annual meeting of the board of governors of the Islamic development bank (IDB) hosted in Khartoum on Thursday was marked by the signing of a number of financing agreements. Under these agreements, the bank will contribute to financing of new development projects in 21 member countries with a total value of $1.96 billion.

According to an IDB source, the list of these countries included Sudan, Turkey, Bangladesh, Chad, Bahrain, Indonesia, Guinea, Mauritania, Uzbekistan, Senegal, Burkinafaso, Tajikistan, Sierra Leone, Cameron, Niger, Mali, Afghanistan, Gambia, Maldives, and Guinea Bissau. (source)

Islamic Development Bank Extends $668 Million in Loans, SPA Says - High Speed Railway Ankara Konya Included

www.bloomberg.com - The Islamic Development Bank, a Saudi Arabia-based multilateral lender, approved $668 million in loans to finance projects in 12 countries, the Saudi Press Agency reported, citing the bank.

The loans include $229 million for a 304-kilometer (189- mile) high-speed rail line linking Turkey’s capital Ankara with Konya and $228 million for a sewerage network west of the Iranian capital Tehran, the news service said. (source)

TRADE - OIC - Turkey welcomes large number of Iranian firms

www.hurriyetdailynews.com - The number of Iranian firms established in Turkey registered a record increase last year, according to Anatolia news agency.

Some 590 Iranian firms were established while the number of Iranian joint ventures hit a total of 2,140. Iran was also the number-one country in terms of the increase in the number of firms in Turkey, hitting 41 percent in 2011. (source)

TRADE - OIC - PTA - Turkey Expects Bilateral Trade With Malaysia To Increase To US$2 Billion

www.bernama.com - KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 14 (Bernama) -- Turkey expects its bilateral trade with Malaysia to increase to US$2 billion this year from US$1.75 billion last year, driven by the huge potential in the construction sector and the signing of the free trade agreement (FTA) expected by mid-year.

Commercial counsellor of Turkish Embassy here, Hasan Onal, said from the total, imports from Malaysia were expected to be US$1.8 billion while exports to Malaysia US$225 million.  (source)

FINANCE - OIC - Turkey's Halkbank to handle Iran payments so long as legal

www.todayszaman.com - Turkish lender Halkbank will continue to handle customers' oil payments to Iran as long as they comply with international regulations, the bank's general manager said in the wake of fresh, unilateral US and EU sanctions.

Halkbank's dealings with Iran drew attention last year when Indian refiners disclosed they were channeling oil payments through the Turkish bank as their own central bank had shut its payment facility, fearing US retribution.

Majority state-owned Halkbank is Turkey's sixth largest bank, based on unconsolidated assets, and has a representative office in Tehran. (source)

OIC - TRADE - Pakistan not interested in PTA with Turkey

Pakistan is reportedly not interested in Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) with Turkey as the latter's offered list is not beneficial to the former, well informed sources told Business Recorder.

An official delegation led by Commerce Secretary Zafar Mahmood is leaving for Turkey on Tuesday (today) to attend Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) meeting in which different economic issues and future economic ties will come under discussion, the sources added.  (source)

FINANCE - ECONOMY - OIC - Shift in Trade Axis Starts Bearing Fruits

turkishweekly.net - Turkish government’s economic and political approach to the Muslim world in recent years, once triggered heated arguments discussing the axis of the country’s trade and politics shifting from West to East, today leads to become “one of the most promising new economic axes in the world,” according to a recent report by National Commercial Bank (NCB).

Overall Turkish-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) trade rose more than tenfold from $1.5 billion in 1999 to $16.1 billion in 2008, according to the report by Saudi Arabia’s largest lender which also owns controlling shares in Türkiye Finans in Turkey. (source)

BANKING - Turkey capitalizes on participation banking ties

Perhaps it is not surprising that the 9th Annual Summit of the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) will be hosted by the Central Bank of Turkey (CBT) on May 16-17, 2012 in Istanbul. At the meeting of the central banks & monetary authorities of the OIC member countries which was organized by the Ankara-based SESTRIC, the statistical and research organization of the OIC, and hosted by Bank Negara Malaysia, the central bank, in Kuala Lumpur last week, Erdem Basçı, governor of the CBT, was indeed a busy man. (source)

RATINGS - Fitch afrms Islamic Development Bank at 'AAA'/'F1+'

Nov 16- Fitch Ratings has affirmed the Islamic Development Bank's (IDB) Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'AAA' with a Stable Outlook and Short-term IDR at 'F1+'.

The ratings primarily reflect IDB's strong capitalisation. The bank is one of the most highly capitalised multilateral development banks (MDBs) rated by Fitch. The equity to assets ratio has remained above 65% since inception (70.7% at end-1431H, equivalent to 6 December 2010 in the Gregorian calendar). The IDB also maintains comfortable liquidity and compliance with Sharia'h principles induces extremely low leverage (21.3% at end-1431H). (source)

FINANCE - ICIEC and Turk Eximbank sign co-operation agreement

In a move designed to help Turkish investors and contractors doing business in the member countries of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC), and Turk Eximbank, Turkey’s National Export-Import Credit Bank, recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the annual meeting of the Aman Union (the association of Arab and Islamic Export Credit Agencies).  (source)

IDB - IDB boosts financing cooperation with Turkish corporates

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) latest $75 million line of financing to Turkiye Finans Participation Bank, one of the four participation (Islamic) banks in Turkey and in  which Saudi Arabia's National Commercial Bank has a controlling stake, underlines the proactive involvement of the multilateral development bank of the Muslim world in Turkey over the last three decades. (source)

INTERVIEW - Hussain Erkan - Turkey strives to build closer links with GCC stock exchanges

Turkey has been building capital market bridges to GCC and South East Asia, and chairman of the Istanbul Stock Exchange, Hussain Erkan, has been a leading architect in establishing dialogue, hosting events, and facilitating cooperation and coordination with his counterparts for both Islamic and conventional finance. In this interview, Erkan shares his thoughts on the challenges and progress of Islamic finance in Turkey, among various other issues. He is hopeful that the improvements made should be able to attract investors from the GCC. 

 

Gulf News: Would you kindly explain the role of Istanbul Stock Exchange in providing opportunities for those interested in Islamic finance?

Hussain Erkan: Islamic countries have a huge potential to create wealth in the economy with their rich resources and are capable of achieving more by improving their capital market structure. Since 2005, under the activities of Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (COMCEC), Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) has been working on creating this awareness and developing the exchange industry in Islamic countries by acting as the coordinator of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states’ Stock Exchanges Forum. We also cooperate with other international institutions such as IIFM (International Islamic Financial Market)? on developing an appropriate structure to create solutions for increasing the liquidity of Islamic capital market instruments. (source)

EVENTS - HALAL - The 1st International Halal Congress opened in Ankara with the participation of more than 16 countries.

abna.ir - (Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Participants to the Congress were members of their respective countries' chambers of commerce, as well as international manufacturers, academics and food experts.

The topics of the Congress included: Halal products (food stuffs, raw goods, necessity food stuffs, laboratories, standardization of documents, accreditation etc.), Halal medicines, Halal cosmetics and other hygienic products, Halal services (collective food services, hotels, restaurants and tourism sector, banking, transport and collective vehicles) (source)

TRADE INSURANCE - ICIEC and EXIM BANK - Demand for political risk insurance in MENA region up

One of the important issues to emerge from the second annual meeting of the Aman Union, the association of investment and export credit agencies in the Arab and Islamic world, which was held in Istanbul last week under the aegis of the Turk Eximbank, is the increased demand for political risk insurance especially insuring risks in post-conflict countries and those undergoing economic and political transformation. This is especially from those countries whose exporters are active in the OIC countries. (source)

OPINION - SPECIAL COMMENT: Turkey, SIBOS and Islamic Finance (Rushdi Siddiqui)

ALIFARABIA.COM - I was at two recent conferences, OIC Member States’ Stock Exchange Forum 5th Meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, and SWIFT’s SIBOS massive event in Toronto, and, folks, we have a lot of work ahead of us in Islamic finance/Muslim countries on build out of the capital markets, linkages, etc.  (source)

FINANCE - Local lender mediates for Indian debt to Iran

The debt crisis between Iran and India, which was caused by the US sanctions on the Islamic republic, has been resolved by the support of Turkey’s state-run Halkbank, the lender’s executives confirm. Separate reports by the Iranian media say that Turkey, Iran and Iraq have reached a consensus to found a joint bank based in Tehran.  (source)