Emirates NBD said on Monday that its investment bank was ranked as the leading arranger of US dollar sukuk globally in the first six months of 2014.
Emirates NBD Investment Bank arranged 10 US dollar sukuk issuances aggregating to $5.4 billion, which is the highest number of dollar sukuk issuances led by any arranger during first half of this year.
Shaikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Emirates NBD, attributed this landmark achievement to the vision of His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to establish Dubai as the capital of Islamic Economy, and said Emirates NBD Investment Bank’s milestone achievement would take Dubai one step closer to its vision of becoming the world capital of the Islamic economy.
“Emirates NBD is proud to have made this small contribution towards the accomplishment of this vision,” he said.
Shaikh Ahmed — who is also President of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman of Emirates airline and Chief Executive of the Emirates Group — congratulated the board and management of the Emirates NBD Group for continuing to set benchmarks for excellence, and wished them the best in surpassing such achievements in the future. He also thanked Emirates NBD customers for being a constant source of inspiration behind the bank’s achievements.
Shayne Nelson, group chief executive officer of Emirates NBD, said the achievement confirmed Dubai’s potential to further establish its standing as a global hub for Islamic finance, and underpins its capabilities in offering superior Islamic finance solutions.
“This achievement also reflects the bank’s focus in not only promoting Dubai’s status as a leading financial hub, but also aligning with Dubai’s Islamic hub strategy.”
“I would like to take this opportunity to recognise the efforts of the Emirates NBD Investment Banking team led by Mohammad Kamran Wajid, CEO of Emirates NBD Capital, and thank them for their valuable contributions towards achieving this success.”
The “Dubai – Capital of Islamic Economy” initiative, launched in 2013, seeks to place the emirate on the international economic map in three years as the global destination of choice that provides Islamic products, finance and services as well as raising the standards for the management and quality of this sector to new levels.
Since the launch of the drive, the UAE’s sukuk market has become increasingly vibrant with new issues hitting the market.
Spurring this upswing is a change of rule by the UAE stock market regulator will now allow smaller firms to tap Islamic capital markets through smaller-sized sukuk issues.
The new rules for Islamic and corporate bonds also seek to encourage trading in them and make it easier for foreign institutions to operate. The rules ease requirements in some areas. The minimum size of a sukuk listing is now Dh10 million, down from Dh50 million previously.
The aggregate primary issuance of bonds and Sukuk in the GCC totalled $97.7 billion in 2013, a 14.5 per cent increase from the total amount raised in 2012. A total of $51.5billion was raised by the GCC central banks of Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Oman during 2013, according to the Kuwait Financial Centre.
(Khaleej Times / 08 July 2014)
---Alfalah Consulting - Kuala Lumpur: www.alfalahconsulting.com
Islamic Investment Malaysia: www.islamic-invest-malaysia.com
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