Skip to content Skip to Search
Skip navigation

Islamic finance

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. In separate statements to Boursa Kuwait, the two lenders said they will conduct due […]

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 […]

The total debt capital market in the GCC is likely to cross $1 trillion this year

UAE raises $1.5bn from 10-year bonds

The UAE has secured $1.5 billion from the sale of long-term bonds, according to a news report. The government sold 10-year bonds priced at 60 basis points over US Treasuries, Reuters reported, citing bank documents.  The initial price guidance was lowered from 90 bps after demand reached $5.75 billion, the report said. The total debt […]

Egypt's new Shariah Index says it has received strong interest from a large number of local, regional, and international investors

Hopes high for Egypt’s shariah-compliant index

The Egyptian stock exchange has announced the launch of a long-awaited shariah-compliant index, a move observers say is likely to attract new investors and boost the North African country’s latent Islamic banking sector. Gulf investors are said to be particularly interested. The chairman of the Egyptian Exchange (EGX), Ahmed el Sheikh, announced that the new […]

Government initiatives to raise levels of Saudi home ownership have increased the number of mortgage approvals

Saudi new mortgage approvals rebound

A greater supply of affordable housing and a growing resignation among prospective house buyers that interest rates are unlikely to fall substantially is helping to propel a rebound in new residential mortgages in Saudi Arabia. Under Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia set a target to increase home ownership among the kingdom’s adult citizens to 60 percent […]

Saudi Arbaia's new sukuk initiative aims to bolster the domestic market

Saudi Arabia issues $17bn Islamic bonds after early repayment

Saudi Arabia has issued new sukuk (Islamic bonds) worth SAR64 billion ($17 billion) following the early purchase of over SAR63 billion of outstanding debt.  The initiative aims to bolster the domestic market, the National Debt Management Centre (NMDC), which manages the Saudi government’s debt obligations and future maturities, said in a statement. The new sukuk […]

Saudi Arabia sold three sukuk tranches of $1.25 billion, $1.5 billion and $2.25 billion

Saudi Arabia’s new sukuk order book hits $20bn

Order books for Saudi Arabia’s $5 billion Islamic bond (sukuk) reached $20 billion, according to news report. The kingdom, the world’s top oil exporter, sold tranches of $1.25 billion, $1.5 billion and $2.25 billion, reported IFR, a London Stock Exchange Group publication. The bonds have durations of three, six and 10 years, respectively. Spread on […]

The indicative price for EIB's 5-year sustainability sukuk was set at 100 basis points over US Treasuries

Emirates Islamic Bank’s green sukuk orders hit $1.9bn

The Islamic unit of Emirates NBD, Dubai’s largest lender, has launched a $750 million green sharia-compliant sukuk. The indicative price for Emirates Islamic Bank’s (EIB) 5-year sustainability sukuk was set at 100 basis points over US Treasuries, Reuters reported, citing a document from an arranging bank.  The issuance, part of EIB’s $2.5 billion certificate issuance […]