2021The World's Leading Islamic Finance News Provider
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COMPLIMENTARY COPY The World’s Leading Islamic Finance News Provider 2021 ANNUAL GUIDE London Dubai (DIFC) Kuala Lumpur Intermediary services & systems solutions to connect the global Islamic financial market responsibly Winner of Best Interbroker – Islamic Finance News Service Providers Awards 2019 DD&Co Limited DDGI Limited ETHOS AFP™ Sharia’a Compliant Markets Direct Investments & Strategic Award Winning Automated Trade Asset Commodity Facilitation Partnerships including and Post Trade Services Platform DDCAP Group’s award winning automated trade & post trade services platform. Risk Mitigation, Facilitator of Islamic Deal Full Straight Through Governance & Financial Connect powered Processing with Real Time Control Capability by Documentation Full member of: www.ddcap.com PREFACE The storm shall pass EDITORIAL Vineeta Tan – Managing Editor Volatility is built into the DNA of the financial markets and while we may embrace and [email protected] live by this truth, nothing could have prepared us for what 2020 unleashed. Lauren McAughtry – Contributing Editor To say that the COVID-19 pandemic ground the world to a halt is perhaps not an [email protected] overstatement. Economies paralyzed, borders shut, governments scrambling to find a Sasikala Thiagaraja – Senior Contributions Editor solution as the number of infectious cases and deaths continued to climb – such chaos at [email protected] such a scale, is unprecedented. Kenny Ng – Senior Copy Editor [email protected] One year on since the coronavirus bared its fangs, we are still navigating this “new” normal, with many still hoping to return to pre-pandemic normalcy – although that is unlikely, at Nessreen Tamano – News Editor least not for a few years as the damage caused has been so severe. [email protected] Jevitha Muthusamy – Journalist It has been a painfully challenging year, with lives and livelihoods lost. For the optimistic, it [email protected] has been a period of real test of the industry’s resilience; and resilient the industry has been. PRODUCTION If we look at the Sukuk asset class, the industry’s poster child: we see that the market Hasnani Aspari – Head of Production showcased encouraging figures with more Sukuk issued in the first three quarters of 2020 [email protected] at US$130 billion against the same period in 2019. The return on investment-grade dollar Norzabidi Abdullah – Senior Production Manager Sukuk until November 2020 was about two percentage points higher than the average [email protected] annualized return for five-year papers. And if anything, the pandemic has been a much- needed trigger to catalyze the growth of sustainable Sukuk, with governments (such as Eumir Shazwan Kamal Bahrin – Senior Graphic Designer Malaysia and Indonesia) and multilateral organizations such as the IsDB going to market [email protected] with landmark offerings designed specifically to combat the fallout of COVID-19. SALES For the Islamic banking sector, like its conventional counterpart, it has been wrestling with Cindy Gan – Director of Client Relations deteriorating asset quality and tighter liquidity. Yet, Islamic banks are still posting growth, [email protected] albeit at a lower level. And more significantly, the pandemic has compelled Islamic banks Faye Kelleher – Business Development Manager to expedite their digital strategy, deploying and adopting technology at a pace which would [email protected] not have been possible without COVID. SUBSCRIPTIONS Despite a global oil price crash, a deadly virus, and messy geopolitical developments, Karthik Thivan – Subscriptions Manager Islamic funds have been impressive at garnering more traction: mid-November 2020 data [email protected] shows that global Shariah funds assets under management grew above US$165 billion Jaya Chitra Kunchiraman – Subscriptions Development Manager, Head from 2019’s US$105 billion. And as expected, at a time when risks and uncertainties of Legal (Global) have become center stage in our lives, the appreciation for Takaful insurance as a risk [email protected] management instrument has deepened across many markets. Dharani Eswaran – Subscriptions Manager [email protected] It is incredibly easy to focus on the bad rather than the good – it is almost human nature to do so. But to manage any calamity and turmoil, hope, optimism and gratitude are of crucial Sunitapreet Kaur – Subscriptions Development Manager importance. Thankfully, the industry – which we have continuously engaged – is keeping its [email protected] chin up, and is seeing rays of opportunity in this dark storm. MARKETING The industry has benefited from rapid digitalization and ‘fintechization’; the role of Islamic Anna Rozana – Marketing Director [email protected] finance – particularly philanthropic and Shariah social finance instruments – as a tool for financial inclusion and to meet development needs has been vindicated; and the confluence FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION of ethical and Islamic finance has never been stronger. Hamiza Hamzah – Head of Finance & Administration [email protected] Nobody is denying that 2021 will be another challenging year nor that it will be a long journey to recovery – as elaborated by the many experts who have authored and shared MANAGEMENT their projections for the industry in this seminal publication. But many, backed by historical Andrew Tebbutt – Managing Director data and recent performance, firmly believe in the value, resilience and solidarity of the [email protected] industry; and together, we will weather this storm as we have always done. Andrew Morgan – Managing Director & Publisher [email protected] Published By: Sdn Bhd MALAYSIA UK Suite 22-06, 22nd Floor 16-19, Menara Tan & Tan East Castle Street, Vineeta Tan 207, Jalan Tun Razak London, W1W 8DY, Managing Editor 50400 Kuala Lumpur, United Kingdom, Malaysia Tel: +44 20 7097 9206 IFN Tel: +603 2162 7800 Fax: +603 2162 7810 Printed by: United Mission Press Sdn Bhd (755329-x) DISCLAIMER 25, Jalan PBS 14-14, Taman Perindustrian Bukit Serdang, All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, duplicated or copied by any means 43300, Selangor, Malaysia without the prior consent of the holder of the copyright, requests for which should be addressed to www.IslamicFinanceNews.com the publisher. While every care is taken in the preparation of this publication, no responsibility can be accepted for any errors, however caused. December 2020 3 CONTENTS PREFACE 44 Healthcare 99 Central Africa 3 The storm shall pass 46 Human capital 100 China 47 Islamic indices 101 Djibouti FOREWORD 49 Institutional asset management 102 Egypt By Dr Bandar Hajjar, the president 50 Islamic wealth management 103 France 6 of the IsDB Group 51 Law 104 Germany 52 Leasing Ghana UPDATES 105 53 Liquidity management Hong Kong 8 AAOIFI 106 54 Mergers & acquisitions India 12 IFSB 107 55 Microfinance Indonesia 16 IIFM 109 56 Pension Iran 17 IILM 110 58 Private equity & venture capital 111 Ireland 59 Project & infrastructure finance THOUGHT LEADERSHIP 112 Italy Ratings The obvious roadmap, or is it? 60 113 Ivory Coast 19 Thoughts on strategic drivers for 61 Real estate 114 Japan 2020 and beyond 62 Regulatory issues Mind the gap: As SDG financing 115 Kazakhstan Renewable energy gap widens, we must harness the 63 116 Kenya 20 power of science, technology and Retail asset management 65 Kuwait innovation 117 66 Retail banking Can the GCC debt capital markets 118 Kyrgyzstan 21 Risk management make an impact? 67 119 Lebanon Building a stronger and more 68 Secondary markets 22 sustainable world together 120 Luxembourg 69 Securities & securitization 121 Malaysia 70 Shariah & corporate governance SUSTAINABLE FINANCE 122 Maldives 71 Small & medium enterprises Advancing sustainable finance in 123 Malta 23 Malaysia – the year in review 73 Social finance 124 Mauritius 74 Sovereign Sukuk 125 Morocco INTERVIEW 75 SRI ethical & green 126 New Zealand Interview: Moawia Ahmed Elamin, 76 Standardization 25 CEO of Faisal Islamic Bank, 127 Nigeria 77 Structured finance Sudan 128 Offshore centers 78 Syndicated finance 129 Oman 79 Takaful & re-Takaful (Asia) SECTOR REPORTS 130 Pakistan 80 Takaful & re-Takaful (Europe) 28 Accounting 132 Palestine 81 Tax 29 Agriculture finance 133 Philippines 82 Trade finance 30 Aviation financing 134 Qatar 83 Trading & brokerage 31 Crowdfunding 135 Russia 84 Treasury 32 Cybersecurity 136 Saudi Arabia 86 Women in Islamic finance 33 Debt capital markets 137 Senegal Derivatives & hedging 34 COUNTRY REPORTS 138 Singapore Education 35 88 Afghanistan 139 South Africa Equity capital markets 36 89 Algeria 140 Sri Lanka Exchange-traded funds 38 90 Australia 141 Tanzania Family offices 39 91 Bahrain 142 Tunisia Financial institutions & corporate 144 Turkey 40 Sukuk 93 Bangladesh UAE 41 Financial technology 95 Bosnia & Herzegovina 146 UK 42 Gold 96 Brazil 147 US 43 Halal industry 97 Brunei 150 98 Canada 151 Uzbekistan 4 December 2020 FOREWORD 2021: Can the COVID-19 crisis help shape our economies for future growth? At the IsDB, our immediate response and call for joint action in order to support our member countries at different stages of the recovery Dr Bandar Hajjar is the president of the IsDB trajectory resulted in a comprehensive integrated response package Group. with a total envelop of