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UK: His Excellency Sheikh Syed Al Hashmi from Abu Dhabi to Visit Birmingham

salama — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:32:46 +0000

His Excellency Sheikh Syed Ali Hashmi. Visit to Birmingham on 3 September.
Birmingham has scored a great mark by attracting an important global personality to visit Birmingham for the day to meet key leaders and to be appraised of the investment opportunities the city of Birmingham has to offer to investors from Abu Dhabi .

His Excellency Sheikh Syed Ali Al Hashimi, special advisor to the President of UAE has agreed to visit Birmingham by special invitation from Mr Noor Siddiqi of Artis Legal and Mr. Naved Syed of Janan Meat and lead person in the development of Halal Food Parks in the UK and the Qurbani project and Mr Mohammad Nazir, Chairman of West Midlands Business Forum.

His Excellency Sheikh Syed Ali Al Hashimi also has special interest in the English legal system. He will commence his visit by a visit to the Birmingham Law Courts as well as meeting members of the Judiciary, the legal profession and the local business community.
A special seminar is being held in the presence of key Birmingham business leaders at the offices of the law firm Artis Legal situated at 43 Temple Row, Birmingham. This will provide an opportunity to discuss matters of mutual benefit, support of business and non commercial investment opportunities in Halal developments, Islamic Finance and other mutual partnerships within the Birmingham City and the West Midlands Region.

Mr. Noor Siddiqi stated “ this is a first of a series of visits that are planned to bring distinguished people from the Middle East to interact with our legal and business community in order to consolidate the relationship of the West Midlands and the Middle East ”

Mr Naved Syed commented, “for too long Birmingham City lost out investments from the UAE to London and other cities. Birmingham and the West Midlands has a great track record of developing new initiatives in the Halal Food industry and Qurbani project and this is sure to attract extra interest for potential investments from His Excellency Sheikh Syed Ali Al Hashimi”.

Later in the evening His Excellency Sheikh Syed Ali Al Hashimi will be attending an Iftari event (opening of the fast) at the Muslim Tribunal and Arbitration Service (MAT) Headquaters situated at Hijaz College in Nuneaton .

Mr Mohammad Nazir, Chairman of West Midlands Business Forum commented, “ At a time of one of the worst recessions this nation has seen since the 1930’s, This visit offers unique opportunity to Birmingham and the West Midlands . We have an active Muslim business community looking for Islamic Finance as well as developments in Technology Industry and great real estate investment in the Birmingham Cities “BIG PLAN”. We can try to convince His Excellency Sheikh Syed Ali Al Hashimi to look to our region for investment opportunities from a cash rich region of Abu Dhabi ”

“We have a great competitive advantage in attracting FDI from the Middle East to Birmingham for many reasons. Birmingham is home to one of the largest Muslim populations outside of London and Bradford . Many initiatives have been developed and located in Birmingham : First Islamic Bank (IBB), European Halal Development Agency (EHDA), IFAS Islamic Finance Advisory Services and Arabis Developments Ltd.”
It is hoped that this visit will commence a great step towards mutual collaboration and participation in commercial activity in months and years to come.

Further enquiries : Ms. G.Virk Artis Legal : 0121 237 6020

Russia: Doing Islamic business in Russia

salama — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:03:41 +0000

Tatarstan has discovered a new money-making opportunity: providing services to its Muslim community.

The majority of its inhabitants are Muslims. After the suppression of religion during the Soviet Union, Tatarstan is now rediscovering its Islamic roots – and seeking closer ties with other Muslim countries, in the Middle East or South East Asia.

Russia’s first logistics hub for halal products (products that comply with Islamic purity laws) has just opened in Kazan.

The republic’s annual trade turnover with the Islamic world has increased from $93m to $3 Billion in 10 years – nearly a quarter of its annual trade.

BBC Reporter Emma Simpson.

To see full report go to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11113357

China: Ningxia to Host China-Arab States Trade Forum

salama — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:56:10 +0000

china-briefing.com

Aug. 30 – Yinchuan, the capital city of Ningxia, will host the first China-Arab Trade Forum in a bid to further align itself with Arabic investment in hopes of securing petro-dollar investments.

Yinchuan is an ancient Silk Road city with a strong population of Muslims, many of them Arabic and Persian descendants of early Silk Road travelers. The Bank of Ningxia launched an Islamic services unit last December, which applies Shariah law to lending practices. Since then, the unit has conducted more than RMB70 million worth of business, demonstrating that there is a market for such services.

The forum will be held on September 26-30 and will be an important platform for all-round cooperation between China and the Arab nations, which have a common task of development, said Fu Ziying, vice commerce minister of China. To date, about 300 Arabic companies are sending delegates. Senior Chinese leaders also scheduled to attend.

Ningxia, China’s only specifically Muslim autonomous region, also hopes to attract investment from the Arab League’s 22 member states. In 2009, bilateral trade between China and the Arab states hit US$107.4 billion, compared to US$36.4 billion in 2004. Ningxia is home to 2.17 million Muslims. They make up over one-third of the autonomous region’s population and account for more than 10 percent of China’s total Muslim population of 20 million.

Arabic investors steer clear of investments in non-Islamic industries such as gambling and alcohol, while Islamic law also prohibits the charging of interest on debts. Hong Kong has also invested in Islamic banking services. Yinchuan is also connected to Dubai with routes through Shenzhen commencing from May this year, something that has also helped with the boosting of trade in Halal products.

Two cities in Ningxia, Helan and Wuzhong, are currently developing halal meat processing factories, and the Malaysian government approved a halal certification center in Yinchuan last March. The Saudi government is also in negotiations with the government of Ningxia over providing halal certification for the Saudi market for Ningxia products. Islam requires strict observance over food preparation and a religious leader should be on the premises to ensure compliance.

Philippines: OIC delegation set to visit Manila after Ramadan

salama — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 09:44:01 +0000

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB), based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and one of the financial arms of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), is sending a post-Ramadan delegation to the Philippines in response to a representation of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF).

NCMF Secretary Bai Omera D. Dianalan-Lucman announced this on Friday, saying the IDB has asked the NCMF to help in arranging the visitors’ itinerary and activities.

She said engineer Essam Fadel Al-Shanqiti, IDB special assistance division manager, will be leading the group. The NCMF secretary said she was informed through a letter from the IDB.

Dianalan-Lucman said she was also informed that the NCMF proposal she made to the IDB for a modern halal slaughter house in Luzon is now up for review by the bank’s Islamic Finance Services Department.

“This response from the IDB is a good signal that the NCMF is fast gaining recognition as the premier government agency through which development support for Muslim Filipino communities could be effectively channeled,” said Dianalan-Lucman.

She thanked the IDB leadership led by President Muhammad Ali for the bank’s positive response to her representation when she visited Jeddah recently.

Dianalan-Lucman said that her efforts to secure economic projects for Muslims “through NCMF is in consonance with the policy of President Noynoy Aquino III on accountability and transparency.”

The OIC website said IDB is an international financing institution and one of the four specialized institutions of the OIC. IDB was inaugurated on October 20, 1975.

OIC member states set up the IDB based on the OIC’s framework following a resolution adopted by the Islamic Conference of Kings and Heads of State and Government or Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers.

Opinion: Halal Participation Banking…is this the next chapter?

hamid — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:24:09 +0000

Pitfalls of rebranding Islamic banking in connected world

Most labels seem to have negative connotations for non-Muslims

By Rushdi Siddiqui, Special to Gulf News

Dubai: Is it time for rebranding of Islamic banking?

There are two schools of thoughts on the branding or labelling of Islamic banks: 1. We need to call a ‘spade a spade’ and there is interest in ‘interest-free’ Islamic banking; and 2. We need to focus on branding its ethical and risk sharing universal appeal, hence, label it as ethical, alternative, participation or Halal banking.

There may be 1.6 billion Muslims, yet Islamic finance may have reached only about 1-2 per cent in its 40 years.

Hence, it may not be too late for a discussion.

The world has become smaller, closer and inter-connected because of technology, telecommunication and transportation with divergent views aired daily; yet there seems to be an implicit craving for ‘curious’ convergence as ethics and justice are borderless universal qualities.

In the area of finance, we do not have Christian banking, Hindu banking or Buddhist banking, yet we have Islamic banking. So the questions is in a world looking for labels for categorisation, would the present banking system be considered atheistic banking, though currencies, like the dollar, state ‘In God We Trust’?

Important proposition

To the Islamic banking purists camp, the form is an important proposition differentiating it from the rest of the banking, and no compromise will be tolerated as it’s a slippery slope to loss identity, our unique selling proposition (USP).

Islamic banking conjures a mental picture of equity/justice and spirituality (Maqasid) that is removed from conventional interest-based banking, with images of moral hazards, collateral, debt dependence, credit crisis, farmer suicides, foreclosures, systemic risk, and so on.

Thus, the Islamic bank label should not be tinkered with, including by those with global aspirations in non-Muslim countries, as Islamic bank of Britain and European Islamic Investment Bank are two good examples of Islamic bank establishment in a G20 country, UK, notwithstanding their sub-par performance since the launch.

Successful

Yet, First Islamic Investment Bank changed its name to ArCapita. The largest Islamic fund with majority non-Muslim investors is US-based Amana funds and most successful Islamic banking subsidiary is HSBC Amanah.

But, what about Iran, which is said to have the largest Islamic banking operations, yet. Iranian bankers and scholars are rarely interviewed by Western media. Does this mean Iranian Islamic banking is not recognised by the purists camp?

Finally, we do not want splintering in Islamic banking. We have four schools of thought (Madhabs), and, we have not attained standardisation in Islamic finance. Hence, its theoretically possible for someone to suggest Maliki banking, Shafi project financing, Hanbali asset management, and Hanafi indexes! Same slippery slope?

Islamic banking, due to its linkage to the real economy and financing/investing in Sharia-compliant or sin-free activities, has been called ethical.

To those who suggest calling it Ethical Banking, existing banking is by implication unethical or less ethical. In addition, ‘ethical’ is a subjective term and may cause more controversy than open doors for acceptance of Islamic banking.

To those who may come from, say, the private equity or hedge fund space, and want to call it ‘alternative’ banking, it may suggest Islamic banking is opaque. These are the attributes Islamic banking is trying to shed.

The essence of Islamic banking is neither risk taking nor shifting, but risk sharing. The bank is not only an intermediary for capital, but also a participant in the undertaking.

Turkey, a strongly secular country with a long history of anti-Sharia sentiments, has experience with Islamic banking, and it may just have the label issue addressed. By calling it ‘Participation Banking’, it captures the core principal of Islamic banking, and, concurrently, conjures up sentiments of community banking.

Substance and form

The Halal food industry has reached more Muslims and probably better brand awareness than Islamic finance, and it comes across as a more neutral term (than Sharia or Islamic) in non-Muslim countries. Halal is aligned with ‘kosher,’ as Muslims living in places where Halal food is not available often opt for kosher food. In certain parts of the world, Islamic banking is referred to as Halal Banking, hence, the term seems to address both substance and form.

As a starting branding exercise, may be, we need to take a vote on the suggestion of Halal Participation Banking (HPB), as this would encounter less resistance by the purest and without immediately raising anti-Sharia sentiments in the non-Muslim areas. It would also help commence convergence with $640-billion (Dh2.35 billion) Halal Industry. Let Gulf News count your votes!

USA: The Economic Impact of Ramadan

salama — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 09:45:35 +0000

By Bruce Kennedy, www.dailyfinance.com

For Muslims, Ramadan means a break from the everyday. Along with the fasting, prayer and devotion, “the pace of life changes significantly during this month,” says Nader Hashemi, professor of Middle East and Islamic Politics at the University of Denver’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies. “The time for entertainment and traveling is severely limited, you spend time with immediate family. They’re celebrating, gathering. Mosque attendance goes up. It’s a month of charity, of more giving to the downtrodden.”

In countries where Islam is the majority religion, daily work schedules are often turned upside down during Ramadan, which started on Aug. 11. “And what happens, by and large, is most government offices and most national businesses tend to slow down or almost shut down, so that people can basically rest during the hot daylight hours,” says Riz Khan, a broadcast journalist who has worked with BBC, CNN and most recently Al Jazeera English in Washington D.C. “Everything comes to life in the evening after sunset.”

On some stock markets, there’s reportedly a “Ramadan Effect,” a month-long rally. “During the Holy Month, we find that on average, stock returns are almost nine times higher in predominantly Muslim countries than during other times of the year,” finance professor Ahman Etebari recently told the Voice of America. But Riz Khan notes that Ramadan doesn’t necessarily mean traders can take a holiday, especially during the current global economic downturn. “Talking to my friends in the financial world in places such as Dubai. . .they are aware of the fact that they need to keep up with the West,” he says. “The Arab markets cannot lag behind so far that they end up being adversely affected.”

Rising Purchasing Power Among American Muslims

The holiday also means special foods. “Based on the example of the Prophet Mohammed, Muslims are encouraged to break their {daily] fast with dates,” said Hashemi. “Probably these people don’t eat a lot of dates during the year, but date consumption skyrockets [during Ramadan], as do certain special sweets eaten during the Eid festivals.”

In the U.S., the market for halal-certified foods (permitted by Islam) has soared in the past decade. The Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America (IFANCA) recently estimated an 80% growth in the market for halal-certified ingredients and food products since 2005. “This increased interest for U.S. halal market ingredients and products,” according to the IFANCA statement, “may reflect the overall estimated $170 billion U.S. dollar purchasing power of American Muslims.”

In the Muslim world, Ramadan also brings with it new clothing and special entertainment. “Television scheduling is very much geared around that,” says Khan. “Programming for the Ramadan month is specifically made for the huge audiences that watch it. Soap operas [and other] types of programming are very, very popular.”

But like Christians who bemoan the commercialization of Christmas, many within the Muslim community are concerned that Ramadan is losing its meaning and becoming a commodity. “Many people fear the original reason of the fast has been lost,” says Khan. ” These things have given away to, in some cases, overindulgence in the evening and overnight. People stay up all night and they overeat. In some places food consumption goes up two or three times. . .and people actually put on weight during Ramadan, which defeats the purpose of it. People are inverting their days and finding an easy way out and then overdoing it.”

A Time to Buy

Ramadan ends with Eid Al Fitr, a celebration of feasts and gift-giving. Like Hanukkah or Christmas, Eid and other Muslim holidays have become major sales opportunities for retailers. In fact, Best Buy (BBY) came under criticism from some organizations last year for a line on one of its ad circulars wishing Muslims a “Happy Eid al Adha.” A spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said the Best Buy ad “makes perfect business sense to acknowledge and celebrate a holiday that one out of four people celebrate.”

Muslims parents in the U.S., says Hashemi, often see Eid Al-Fitr as a way of compensating for their children celebrating a holiday other than Christmas. “They will use that as a way of reminding young Muslim-American kids that they will be able to exchange gifts. They’ll buy their young children the equivalent of what a Christian American family would buy their young children on Christmas Day. So they won’t have a tree, but they’ll use that day to go buy significant gifts to make their children happy.”

“You can think of it as parallel to Christmas,” says Khan, “in the sense that it’s definitely families coming together, people hosting each other, the exchange of gifts. Kids love it because they get their presents, and they get a lot of attention.”

Dubai: Amazing potential in new hubs

salama — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 16:58:28 +0000

By Rushdi Siddiqui, Special to Gulf News

Emerging centres like Egypt and Sri lanka could provide new vision for old problems

Dubai: I recently visited Egypt, Brunei and Sri Lanka and want to share some observations on Islamic finance and the halal industry from those countries. There is genuine demand for “real” Islamic finance in these countries. However someone has not only to address the challenges, but also take a leadership role.

My first trip to Cairo opened my eyes to the potential of wholesale and retail Islamic finance in a country that can rightly claim to have “given birth to Islamic banking”. The possibilities are greater than the combined potential of the UK, China, Russia, France and Australia, and possibly greater than the existing Islamic finance hubs in Muslim countries, at the retail level.

However, there are a number of challenges for Egypt to overcome if Islamic finance is allowed to fin-ancially assist a country in contributing to, say, necessary domestic infrastructure projects. That said, Egypt can immediately contribute to Islamic finance globally, and one of its best exports is human talent.

Some call this the “brain drain”. This human talent, in the form of Sharia scholars, is the need of the hour for this niche market as it would help ease a significant bottleneck.

In Egypt, there is no shortage of scholars at Al Azhar University. And one of its most famous graduates, Dubai’s Dr Hussain Hamid Hassan, regularly travels from Kazakhstan to Kenya to explain Islamic banking to central banks, regulators, and politicians, among others.

Egypt can be the ‘exporter’ of a natural intellectual commodity: English-speaking and Arabic-understanding, well-trained, and capital market-savvy Sharia scholars. Hence, we may be on the way to finding consensus for product ruling, structures, and transactions.

Brunei presents a fresh and ambitious vision for the halal industry, Halal Brunei brand, and combined with its commitment to Islamic finance, presents a unique Islamic finance/halal industry offering. Chapter two of the Quran, Surah Al Baqarah, makes direct reference to permissibility of trade and prohibition against interest (2:275-79), and consumption of “lawful and wholesome foods” (2:168). Yet, like “twins” separated at birth, they are now reuniting 1,400 years later, possibly in Brunei.

But the halal industry has many challenges, and Brunei could be well positioned to address some of them. It can be said Islamic finance became more focused and structured with the birth of the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) (1991) and Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) (2003), as they have established guidelines for Islamic financial institutions. Now the Islamic and non-Islamic institutions have a starting point for better understanding about accounting and auditing, governance, and prudential regulations, etc.

Halal industry challenge

For example, one of biggest challenges for the halal industry is there is no international body equivalent to the AAOIFI or IFSB. One of the speakers at the fifth IHMC in Brunei mentioned 24 certification bodies in their country, which rather than providing a road map, causes a great deal of confusion. A global halal industry body on certifications, to be used as guidelines, is the now need of the hour as the status quo is not satisfactory.

At the same event, an interesting comment by Nestle managing director Peter Vogt, from Switzerland, spoke of 55 factories where halal food was manufactured. My thought, initially, was “How were they financed?” What an incredible opportunity for bridge-building between Islamic finance and the halal industry. This type of factory and its offerings are truly asset-backed, hence, why not issue a sukuk, assuming all things are equal, for its next factory in say, Malaysia or Indonesia for halal product.

Sri Lanka has been involved with Islamic finance for nearly a decade and has had more experience than the newly announced Islamic finance hubs of Malta and Australia.

As the post-war era has brought a peace dividend to Sri Lanka, the country now offers a more compelling and immediate opportunity for Islamic finance than, say, the larger India. India presents potential with a population of 200 million Muslims, but Sri Lanka is the reality of the day. Regulators are open-minded and welcoming, private sector financial institutions have had an Islamic finance offering for years, including two Islamic windows, takaful, and the central bank has provisionally approved an Islamic bank, Amana Bank, to be regulated under the banking act.

Sri Lanka needs to transform the peace dividend and the incoming GCC tourists, with thoughts on declaring itself an Islamic finance hub for South Asia. The country can not only build an Islamic “finance causeway” to south India, the Islamic finance-oriented state of Kerala, and Bangladesh, but also the Maldives and Mauritius.

Islamic finance needs to look ahead five to 10 years to new jurisdictions for growth and answers to bottlenecks, and these same jurisdictions may well have underutilised assets that can be monetised for country revenue, development, and publicity via Islamic finance.

The writer is global head of Islamic Finance at Thomson Reuters. Views expressed are his own and do not reflect that of his organisation or of Gulf News.

Sri Lanka: Halal needs regulatory framework

salama — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:22:17 +0000

The local Halal industry needs a strong regulatory framework with the increase in demand for Halal products in the count

Addressing the second Sri Lanka Islamic Banking and Finance Conference, Thomson Reuters (USA) Global Head of Islamic Finance Rushdi Siddiqui said “it is essential to have more Government regulations for the Halal industry in Sri Lanka. Measures should be taken to set up an international body for the certification process. We are going to invite the Gulf region and Thailand to convene it here,” he said.

Some specialized knowledge and more professionals are required to understand the complexity in the Halal industry to sustain the business.

One of the Sri Lankan representatives in Halal industry said Halal is a new item for the country and more professionals and scholars should work together to expand the business. The demand for the Halal products has increased in the country and people’s awareness of Halal products has also increased.

“Most of the Sri Lankan companies are seeking the Halal licence and support of professionals and scholars in the country are essential to make the industry a profitable one,” he said.

Courtesy: DailyNews

Malaysia Set To Clinch 25 Per Cent Of Global Transactions In Islamic Banking

salama — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:42:52 +0000

From Mohd Iswandi Kasan Anuar

OXFORD, July 27 (Bernama) — Malaysia is set to clinch 25 per cent of global transactions in Islamic banking within the next decade from less than 10 per cent currently, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop said.

He said Malaysia would be attractive because it was the only country having a complete value chain of Islamic financing with Islamic and conventional banking both operating in the mainstream financial services landscape.

“There is great potential and if we do it right, we should be able to achieve that,” he told a press conference at the Inaugural Oxford Global Islamic Branding and Marketing Forum here Monday.

He said Islamic finance companies in Malaysia should produce more products in view of their experience in creating truly genuine Islamic financial products.

They should create more interesting Islamic products based on the concept of mudharabah (profit sharing) or musyarakah (profit and loss sharing), he added.

On the halal industry, Nor urged the players to produce products or services that have value propositions not only for Muslim but also non-Muslim markets.

The industry has come to a level where companies should look at non-Muslim markets to create economies of scale and as a result, make the products much cheaper, he said.

“We have now come to a stage where we can create products from bottom up instead of taking conventional products and cleansing it,” he said, adding that more than 70 per cent of the world population are non-Muslims.

He said the halal brand should also mean quality, pure and clean so that the market reach would not be limited to Muslims.

“If we tell that halal is end-to-end traceability and very safe as well as follow all ethical requirements then I belief the non-Muslims will also buy,” he said.

The two-day forum that began Monday was organised by University of Oxford’s Said Business School. Tanjung Manis Halal Hub is one of the lead partners.

Tanjung Manis is a Sarawak government project and a component in the Sarawak development corridor.

– BERNAMA

Brunei: World’s First ‘Halal’ Data Centre Fund

salama — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:01:54 +0000

TAIB invests in world’s first ‘halal’ data centre fund

His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah (3rd R) the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam pose for a group photo with his family members and TAIB staff during the International Halal Product Expo 2010 at the International Convention Center (ICC) in Berakas last month. Picture: BT file

In this file photo, Pg Hj Abdul Rahman Pg Hj Mat Salleh, TAIB acting managing director, signs the Memorandum of Agreement with Royal Brunei Armed Forces at the Officers’ Mess Bolkiah Garisson in June. Picture: BT file

Al-Haadi Abu Bakar
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

Thursday, July 15, 2010

TABUNG Amanah Islam Brunei (TAIB) is a cornerstone investor for the Securus Data Property Fund Pte Ltd (Securus Fund), the world’s first Syariah-compliant data centre fund.

Managed out of Singapore, the fund has recently achieved its initial closing of US$100 million with institutional investors from the Middle East and Asia which includes TAIB as the cornerstone investor, and intends to increase its aggregate committed capital to at least US$200 million.

Securus Fund is established, managed and sponsored by Keppel Telecommunications & Transportation Ltd and AEP Capital Ltd, a member of the Saudi Arabia-based Al Rajhi Holding Group, to invest in data centre assets across Securus Funds’ target markets in Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East.

The term of Securus Fund will be five years from the initial closing and may be extended by two additional one-year periods with the approval of the board of directors of Securus Fund.

TAIB’s commitment in investing in the Fund is mainly due to its strong compliance with the principles of Syariah investment, as the partners have access to a proprietary Syariah capital base in the Asian and Gulf Cooperation Council regions, enabling them to create investment products attractive to Syariah capital investors.

TAIB’s Acting Managing Director Pg Hj Abdul Rahman Pg Hj Mat Salleh said that TAIB has been interested in investing in Syariah-compliant or halal investments.

“Being an Islamic institution, we are very particular with the investment we choose, as we only commit to invest in Syariah-compliant or halal investments. This is one of the first Syariah-compliant investments issued through Singapore, and we see it as potentially one of the best investments by TAIB so far,” he said.

As a Syariah-compliant fund, Securus Fund has, among others, a three-man committee to guide and approve the Fund’s investments. The committee comprises Associate Professor Dr Ashraf Md Hashim, a Madinah University scholar; Professor Dr Obiyathulla Ismath Bacha, an economist and academic from the International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF); and Ustaz Mustazah Bahari, a member of the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) appeal board and a consultant to the Mufti office.

The committee also include a scholar from TAIB to expand the scope of governance and compliance structure of the Fund’s activities.

Pg Hj Abdul Rahman said that TAIB has strong confidence in the Securus Fund due to Keppel Data Centre Investment Management Pte Ltd (Keppel DCIM)’s experience as a data centre operator in Singapore with its exceptional track record of zero downtime.

“We have recently visited the centre to see up close how good the centre is, and we are satisfied to see its state-of-the-art data centre co-location and business contingency services, high standard of security, air handling and high density resilient power,” he said in an interview with The Brunei Times.

Data centres are purpose-built real estate facilities housing rack-mounted information technology computer servers.

These specialised real estate assets are built and operated to high technical standards in terms of cooling, power, water-seepage prevention, fire prevention and security maintenance, and are connected to land and/or submarine fibre-optic cables for high-speed transmission of data. These mission-critical data centres provide long-term stabilised cashflows backed by long leases typically running for five to 10 years.

“In addition, AEP Investment Management Pte. Ltd. (AEPim) is 80 per cent owned by Al Rajhi, a diversified group with operations in Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates involved in businesses such as real estate development, contracting and infrastructure and financial services,” said the acting managing director.

“As a cornerstone investor, there are incentives that we can get out of venturing in to the Securus Fund. The exposure to deal with international institutions with accredited acknowledgement of their expertise is highly essential for TAIB in building up knowledge and skills aquired from the investment with Securus,” he added.

He added that the expected rate of return of investment is an eight to 10 per cent a year, along with an Initial Public Offering (IPO) as one of its main exit strategy.

In a press statement by Keppel issued in June, Jonathan King, Principal and Director of AEPim, said, “By partnering Keppel, we can create investment products attractive to Syariah capital investors.”

He added, “Data centre demand has been driven by the rapid rise of information-centric trends such as e-commerce, social networking and file sharing, increasingly stringent data-related regulatory requirements and technology advancements such as cloud computing. Supply of data centre space has been unable to match the growth in demand.”

The Brunei Times