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Islamic finance

A drive-through ADIB ATM in Ras al Khaimah, UAE. The bank is ranked as the Middle East's 12th most valuable lender

ADIB profit up 18% on increased lending and fee income

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) reported a double-digit growth in net profit for the first quarter, on the back of an increase in lending and income from fees and commissions. The bank, which is ranked by Forbes as the Middle East’s 12th most valuable lender, reported a net profit after tax of AED1.7 billion ($463 […]

ADIB says its new sukuk platform "makes ethical, fixed-income investing easier and more inclusive”

Fractional sukuk platform launched by UAE bank

Sukuk investing in the Gulf has long been the preserve of institutional and wealthy investors because of a six-figure minimum investment threshold, effectively excluding ordinary people from buying sharia-compliant bonds directly. Now though, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) has launched an investment platform, Smart Sukuk, on which retail investors can buy so-called fractional sukuk for […]

Saudi Arabia's finance minister Mohammed Aljadaan at a GCC meeting in 2024. Saudi Arabia accounted for 60 percent of the total value of bonds and sukuk issued by the GCC

Value of GCC bonds down in first quarter

The value of bonds issued by the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) slumped by 7 percent in the first quarter of 2025 following a steep fall in Saudi Arabia, according to a Kuwaiti think-tank. The total value of bonds and Islamic sukuk issued by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman was $51.5 […]

Gulf Islamic Investments CEO Mohammed Alhassan says the company wants to double its US assets to $1.5bn within four years

Gulf Islamic Investments makes US expansion a priority

Gulf Islamic Investments, Dubai’s financial services company which has more than $3.5 billion of assets under management, is aiming to more than double the value of its business in the United States.  GII’s US assets total $750 million and include an 80 percent share in ZSpace, a virtual reality education technology company with a market […]

Ma'aden sukuk mine

Ma’aden’s $1bn sukuk nine times over-subscribed

Saudi state-owned mining company Ma’aden has sold $1.25 billion of dollar-denominated sukuk to help finance a $12 billion expansion plan. The sale was more than nine times oversubscribed, the company said. The sale, which closed on Sunday, “marks a key milestone in Ma’aden’s ambitious 2040 strategy to secure essential minerals and transform mining into the […]

ADIB's total assets reached AED226 billion as of December 31, 2024, an increase of 17 percent from last year

ADIB 2024 profit rises 16% to $436m on revenue surge

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) reported a 16 percent annual surge in net profit to AED6.1 billion ($435.6 million) in 2024, driven by strong balance sheet growth, increased business momentum and diversified revenue growth. Revenue rose by 14 percent to AED10.6 billion from AED9.3 billion last year. This growth was supported by strong increases in […]

The fund is open to investors in 12 European countries and is listed on the Deutsche Borse ETF PIF

Saudi Arabia’s PIF invests $200m in JP Morgan fund

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has invested $200 million in a recently launched exchange-traded fund that tracks dollar-denominated bonds and sukuk issued by the kingdom’s government and quasi-state entities. The JP Morgan Saudi Arabia Aggregate Bond UCITS ETF, created in mid-December, is the first internationally listed fixed-income Saudi Arabian ETF. As such, it “further deepens […]

Mohammed Al-Jadaan, Saudi Arabia's minister of finance, has said the government aims to expand strategic spending this year on development and giga-projects murabaha

Saudi Arabia’s PIF secures $7bn investment financing

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has raised $7 billion to finance future investments.  The fund’s murabaha credit facility – a common Islamic financing tool in which buyer and seller agree to cost and markup of an asset – was supported by a syndicate of 20 international and regional financial institutions, PIF said in a statement.  […]

Parliament Street in Dublin. The Irish capital is now the world’s largest listing venue for hard currency global sukuk

GCC sukuk’s best-kept secret: Dublin

For many people, the city of Guinness and James Joyce may not be the first place that comes to mind when thinking about Islamic bonds. Yet, according to a report last month from Fitch Ratings, the Dublin stock exchange – Euronext Dublin – is now the world’s largest listing venue for hard currency global sukuk. […]

Saudi Capital Market Authority headquarters is seen in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; the CMA has simplified rules

Saudi Arabia’s debt rule changes could increase sales

Saudi Arabia’s market regulator has simplified its sukuk and bond issuance rules in reforms that should boost debt sales by both domestic and international entities in Riyadh, a top Islamic finance expert told AGBI. The kingdom’s debt capital market had $408 billion of outstanding issuance as of June 30, up 18 percent versus a year […]

Central Riyadh. Of total Mena investment banking fees, 45 percent were generated in Saudi Arabia

Investment banks enjoy fee windfall from debt issuance

Investment banking fees on bond and sukuk issuance in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) have surged this year as governments, corporations and commercial banks raise increasing amounts of debt to meet their funding needs. Mena debt capital market underwriting fees in the first nine months of 2024 rose 74 percent year on year […]

Aramco says the sukuk will diversify and broaden its investor base

Aramco’s $3bn sukuk oversubscribed six times

Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil producer, said its $3 billion sukuk was oversubscribed by six times. The sukuk was issued in two US dollar-denominated tranches, each valued at $1.5 billion. The tranches, maturing in 2029 and 2034, carry annual profit rates of 4.25 percent and 4.75 percent, respectively, the company said in a statement. […]

The Maldives may be a paradise for holidaymakers but it is struggling with foreign debt

Maldives nears first sovereign default on Islamic bonds

The possibility of the first ever sovereign sukuk default by the Maldives would have negative repercussions for new sukuk issuance and the broader sharia-compliant fixed income market, industry experts have warned. Sukuk are sharia-compliant bonds that were developed as an alternative to conventional bonds, which are not considered permissible by many Muslims as they pay […]

Qatar Islamic Bank's five-year unsecured sukuk was priced at 100 bps over US Treasuries at 4.485%, the lowest rate achieved by a GCC lender

Qatar Islamic Bank sukuk three times oversubscribed

Qatar Islamic Bank, the Gulf state’s largest Islamic lender, has raised $750 million through a new sukuk (Islamic bond) issue. The five-year unsecured sukuk was priced at 100 basis points over US Treasuries at 4.485 percent, the lowest rate achieved by a lender in the GCC, the lender said in a statement. The sukuk order […]

A cashier counts Qatari riyal notes at a money changer in Doha. Estithmar's three-year sukuk offers 8.75 percent coupons

Qatari company launches first local currency sukuk

Doha-based Estithmar Holding has issued a QAR500 million ($137 million) sukuk (Islamic bond), the first corporate local currency-denominated sukuk in the country. This issuance is the first tranche of its QAR3.4 billion sukuk programme, listed on the London Stock Exchange’s international securities market. The three-year sukuk offers 8.75 percent coupons, attracting interest from banks, insurance companies and […]

Water, Waterfront, City

Kuwaiti lenders propose merger to create $50bn Islamic bank

Boubyan Bank and Gulf Bank, two of the largest Kuwait-listed shariah-compliant lenders, are set to commence an initial feasibility study for a potential merger. The merged entity will be among the largest Islamic banks with more than $50 billion in assets. NewsletterGet the Best of AGBI delivered straight to your inbox every week NewsletterGet the […]

The proposed sharia standard 62, which aims to transition the industry towards asset-backed sukuk, will not affect 2024 issuance, says S&P

Sharia standard 62 may disrupt sukuk market, says S&P

Global sukuk issuances are likely to suffer next year if the proposed standard 62 sukuk changes to sharia guidelines are implemented, according to credit rating agency S&P. “Adopting Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions standard 62 guidelines as they have been presented could disrupt the market,” it said in a new report. The […]