Are you pleased with how the banking liberalization process has gone?

Ambitious plans for international financial centres in the Gulf states of Dubai, Qatar and Bahrain that would be hubs for financial services in a broadly defined region are still a long way off being fulfilled. Dominic Dudley looks at the likely outcomes.

What is causing delays to the central bank’s approval of The Investment Dar’s restructuring? One theory is that some of the roughly 15% that did not approve the plan were non-financial institutions hoping to be paid first, particularly those with claims against money-market funds and Investment Dar Bank in Bahrain.

Private lenders sold to foreign groups; Decisions awaited in bank licence auction

Restructurings likely to lead to re-rating of financial sector risk; Domestic markets insufficient for future growth

Saudi Arabia’s Jubail oil refinery is one of the biggest and most complex projects ever to be commercially financed. With dollar and local-currency funding, Islamic and conventional tranches, an IPO, an Islamic bond, and multiple export credit agencies, it has demanded a huge amount of work. Dominic O’Neill reports.

More flexibility in setting interest rates; Crackdown on non-performing loans

Touted as the next Bric country, Indonesia has avoided the worst of the financial crisis and its economy is powering ahead – but is that despite or because of a vacancy at the head of the country’s central bank? Eric Ellis investigates.

Central bank governor, Rasheed Al-Maraj, has successfully navigated his country’s banking industry through the financial crisis. But headwinds persist, not least the potential for further asset-quality deterioration. He speaks to Sudip Roy about Bahrain’s financial prospects.

Shariah banking is becoming big business in Southeast Asia, with Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta battling for the title of regional Islamic finance centre. But even the most optimistic bankers fear further expansion could be stymied by arcane regulation and lack of cross-border consensus. Eric Ellis reports.

Limitless might have hurried restructuring; Doubts remain on second conglomerate

Dar Al Arkan’s sukuk could have hardly come at a better time for Saudi Arabia.

Clear sign of internationalization of market; KFH reverts to a safe pair of hands

Will Ross, HSBC’s head of structured capital markets Asia-Pacific, is to become its co-head of Islamic finance global markets. The position is a new role created by HSBC to cement its position in the growing Islamic finance business.

HSBC will announce that Will Ross, head of structured capital markets Asia-Pacific, is to become co-head of Islamic finance global markets. The position is a new role created by HSBC to try and cement its position in the growing Islamic finance business. Priorities for Ross and his team will be to help drive sukuk issuance, to try and develop new products and to attempt to better integrate HSBC’s Islamic finance business into the firm’s global markets line. Ross, a Canadian banker well-liked by both colleagues and rival debt bankers in Hong Kong, is known as an expert in structuring and has been at the forefront of some of HSBC’s more innovative deals in Asia including the surprise $1 billion covered bond for Korea’s Kookmin Bank last June.

Standard Chartered Saadiq’s Islamic structuring team had an impressive 2009. Among its first achievements was the capped, structured rate facility it executed for Tanjung Offshore Berhad, a holding company with investments primarily in the hydrocarbon services industry. The facility was provided during the volatile environment early in the year, after the Malaysian central bank cut rates. The instrument was the first ever Shariah-compliant capped facility.

HSBC Amanah enjoyed strong financial performance, an impressive portfolio of transactions and continued development of its retail business in 2009. The bank’s bald statistics provide a glimpse of its achievements over the past year. Operating income in the year to October was up 20% on 2008. Customer numbers increased 25% in the first half of the year. On the insurance side, SABB Takaful’s total premiums rose 52% for the first three quarters.

Al Rajhi Bank has come through a difficult year for financial markets with an increase in profits, revenues, deposits and assets.

In its short history, Bahrain’s Unicorn Investment Bank can already tick off a number of successes. Founded in 2004, it has a presence in the US, Malaysia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia (through its majority shareholding in Unicorn Capital Saudi Arabia).

In a dual-currency syndicated murabaha, the Saudi operation of Kuwaiti mobile telephone firm Zain raised the largest Islamic cross-border loan of 2009.

Bigger portions of Islamic finance were to follow in restructurings after that of Kuwait’s Global Investment House (GIH). The multi-billion-dollar restructuring of Kuwait’s The Investment Dar (TID) is one example. Unlike GIH, TID is a wholly Islamic institution. In the Middle East, though, GIH was the first to complete its restructuring, roughly a year after its default in December 2008.

Despite its delays, in July Al Dur became the first big new Gulf project of 2009 to reach financial close. The deal was for a 1.2MW gas-fired independent water and power project (IWPP) in Bahrain, the island’s third plant of its kind.

The rapidity with which Al Rajhi Capital has developed its project finance business is impressive. It is now one of the biggest and most innovative players in the field, taking some competitors by surprise.

GE Capital’s first sukuk is likely be remembered in years to come as one of the landmark events in the development of Islamic finance. The firm, after all, is a quintessentially developed-market, investment-grade credit. The issue was far bigger than any previous US sukuk.

Since beginning to offer Islamic structured products a decade ago Wafra has established itself as a leading player in leasing. The firm has structured, implemented and managed more than 30 leasing programmes, with about $962 million in original equipment actual and projected costs. Twelve more programmes are planned for this year.

Despite stiff competition from CIMB Islamic and Standard Chartered Saadiq, HSBC Amanah displayed the most impressive portfolio of transactions encompassing local and international currency; sovereign, supranational and corporate borrowers; and sukuks targeted to retail as well as institutional investors. Geographically the bank can boast of deals from Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, UAE, Malaysia and the US.

Although SAAB Takaful had another good year in Saudi Arabia, with total premiums up 52% for the first three quarters of 2009, the award goes to a provider in Malaysia: Takaful Ikhlas.

Even while it began to grow in developed markets, Islamic finance faced key tests. Fears about the enforceability of sukuk contracts in the Middle East might have proved exaggerated, but critics of the industry’s mimicking of conventional finance remain.

Fund management is fast becoming one of the most competitive segments in Islamic finance. HSBC Amanah and CIMB Islamic have launched groundbreaking China- and infrastructure-related funds over the past year but the award goes to Wafra for its Kuwaiti dinar ijarah fund.