Malaysia’s Socio-Economic Research Centre (SERC) reported in its quarterly economy tracker briefing that up to 53,952 individuals (taken from the Government of Malaysia’s post work insurance scheme, SOSCO) were made unemployed between January and the 4th of July 2020.  Local media reports note that this figure doesn’t cover the 2.7 million self-employed individuals in the country. Whilst the second quarter 2020 (Q2 2020) figures have not yet been published, SERC estimates second quarter 2020 (Q2 2020)’s unemp...

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SCM)’s Shariah Advisory Council (SAC) has declared trading in digital assets as permissible, in a landmark announcement made on the 7th of July 2020. Datuk Syed Zaid Albar, Chairman of the SCM, made the announcement at Invest Malaysia 2020 and stated that the SAC has now allowed investment and trading in digital currencies, as well as tokens registered on digital asset exchanges. According to Kelvyn Chuah, Founder of SINEGY (the first Malaysian digital asset exchange to be approved by the SC...

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has lowered its mark-up rate on its refinance schemes by 5% in an attempt to attract further investments into Pakistan’s economy, which has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In a press release issued on the 8th of July 2020, the SBP noted that this development is in addition to the measures introduced earlier, including the lowering of the policy rate to 7% through multiple rate-cuts over the past two months. The SBP also stated that it has opted to align the end-user mark-up rates with two of its...

The number of Shariah-compliant firms in the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) has increased to 53 during the period ending 25th of June 2020, compared to the 52 firms that were listed during the previous review carried out in March 2020. A list of Shariah-compliant firms issued by the PSE included four new entities, whilst three securities had been removed. The three securities that were removed from the PSE were: 2GO Group, Italpinas Development, and Vivant. Meanwhile, the 4 new entrants were: Metro Alliance Holdings & Equities (Metro Alliance) “A”, Metro...

The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) has reported that the country's banking system is well-capitalized and able to endure both the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as declining oil prices.  CBUAE gave this statement in response to a warning from rating agency Moody's Investors Services (Moody’s) that the pandemic and declining oil prices would cripple UAE's banking sector profits. Moody's had stated that it projects the provisions against loan losses of Gulf banks to increase sharply. In its response, CBUAE noted that...

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) projects in the Sultanate of Oman have increased by 7% year-over-year in 2019 and stood at 61 projects, according to the 35th annual report on the investment climate in Arab states by the Arab Investment and Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (Dhaman). Commenting on the increase in FDIs, Dhaman stated that Oman’s FDIs have increased from USD 2.577 billion to USD 31.332 billion during 2000 to 2019.  Dhaman also stated that Oman accounts for 6% of the quotas of Arab countries in terms of FDIs and added that Oman holds an advanced posit...

TODAY, many folks approach ar-rahnu service providers to meet their routine basic needs for the buying of foodstuffs,  schooling expenses for the paying of schooling fees, clothes and stationaries and personal statuses like marriage and house construction.        One may perceive that the majority of rich folks saved their wealth not through the buying of the jewellery but instead through their participation in takaful and the buying of properties – The latter is not subject to the zakat payment. One who holds three terrace houses with a market v...

The UK’s regulators, through their own guidance and less formal channels including the Climate Financial Risk Forum, are signaling the importance of climate-related financial risksClimate risk is no longer just about physical risk but also transition risk in terms of low-carbon economy, loss of insurability for assets with greater physical or transition riskThe financial sector faces climate risks and the more that qualitative understanding is refined into quantitative analysis, the more likely it is to inspire action by financial institutions Climate-related financial risks has...

The Saudi Ground Services Company (SGS), Saudi Arabia’s leading aviation ground handling services company, signed a SAR 500 million (USD 133.3 million) Shariah-compliant Murabahah financing agreement with Saudi British Bank (SABB) on the 7th of July 2020.  According to a statement released on Tadawul, the credit facility, which was guaranteed by a promissory note, had a 30-month duration, and was required to support cash liquidity to cover working capital for operations. The loan would help mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on SGS’s w...

Halal Angels Network, which was launched to promote innovation, entrepreneurship, and start-ups in the Halal sector, has partnered with a United Kindom (UK)-based fintech Delio to digitise the Halal investment market for angel investors globally. According to Reuters, the Halal sector is expected to be worth USD 9.71 trillion by 2025. Despite the popularity of the market, no previous angel network has streamlined the investment procedure in the Halal industry. Media reported that Halal Angels Network is adopting innovative technology to dig...