Malaysia's Axis REIT Management Sdn Bhd has delayed the listing of the world's largest sharia-compliant real estate investment trust (REIT) by a month after the Japan earthquake damaged several buildings in the REIT's portfolio, a source with direct knowledge of the plan told Reuters. According to the source, two of the Japanese properties, valued at 1.8 billion yen ($21.8 million) included in the portfolio were badly affected by the quake, and have now been removed from the REIT's initial asset composition.
American Finance House Lariba and Guidance Residential LLC have become the biggest providers of Islamic financial services to the 7 million Muslims in the U.S., a market Citigroup Inc. and HSBC Holdings Plc aren’t developing.
Home loans that comply with the religion’s ban on interest rose to about $2.5 billion last year, from $2 billion in 2006, Yahia Abdul-Rahman, founder of Lariba in Pasadena, California, said in an interview this month. Reston, Virginia-based Guidance had provided more than $2 billion as of October, according to an e-mail from the company on Oct. 6.
Islamic banks should diversify into areas such as asset management after real estate industry investments caused them greater losses during the credit crisis than conventional banks, according to McKinsey & Co Inc.
One third of the assets of Islamic banks in Qatar are “directly exposed in some way to real estate” compared with 15 percent for other banks, Amer Afiouni, Islamic finance associate principal at the consulting firm, said in Singapore.
Islamic finance will likely outpace mainstream banks and top one trillion dollars in total assets this year as demand for ethical investments increase, officials said Monday.
But Islamic financial institutions must guard against straying from the basic tenets of Sharia law if they are to avoid the excesses that led to the global economic crisis, an industry conference was told.
Judging by the number of deals closed, funds launched and the presence of new institutions, 2010 is turning out to be a very active year for the Islamic finance market in Saudi Arabia.
What is the "elevator" pitch of Islamic finance to the non-Muslim and the sceptical Muslim? Why do news releases often become articles in Islamic finance?
Corporate restructurings were until recently relatively rare in the oil-rich Arab Gulf, but the experience is particularly novel for investment companies and banks that adhere to Islamic, or sharia, law.
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