Geert Bossuyt of Deutsche Bank notes: “In the investment product area, our competition is not that tough. In sukuk, where the local banks are more active, competition is tougher.” As ever, the key to success is innovation. “We’re more expensive”, he explains. “To justify our fees, we have to bring innovation. We go for the bigger projects, which tend to be more complex, and we tend to be able to come up with solutions where the local market fails.”
Deutsche Bank has not, however, been the only one to participate in impressive deals. Indeed, a number of other industry majors have been involved in pushing back the boundaries of Islamic finance over the past year:
The first issuance programme for sukuk securities: The Islamic Development Bank’s $500 million FRN was the first drawdown under its $1 billion trust certificate issuance programme. The order book was 1.5 times oversubscribed, allowing the transaction to be priced at the lower end of guidance at 12 basis points over dollar Libor. The deal was joint lead managed by CIMB and Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB and winner of best Islamic bank in the Middle East), while Deutsche Bank acted as joint arranger and joint bookrunner.