Within the spectrum of Islamic financial services (IFS), project financing has been one of the slower segments to develop. Historically, the reason for this has been the cost differential between conventional project financing and its sharia-compliant counterpart. In the past, conventional tenors also tended to be longer – up to 20 years for...
Bahrain’s sharia-compliant financial institutions enter 2017 after weathering the tumultuous economic environment and changing regulatory landscape of the previous year. Despite the challenges, the kingdom’s Islamic banks continue to expand in the domestic market and beyond, while activity in the newly reinforced sharia-compliant insurance...
The region’s exchanges have operated in adverse economic conditions since the decline of oil prices began in the second half of 2014, and the Bahrain Bourse (BHB) is no exception. However, the apparent stabilisation of global oil prices in 2016 has brought a similar firming of the main index and, after a year of shrinking stock prices, some...
The decline in oil prices since the second half of 2014 has focused attention on the liquidity position of the kingdom’s banking sector, and its consequent ability to achieve lending growth. The issue is a regional rather than a purely local one. The prominence of hydrocarbons revenues on the balance sheets of GCC governments means that they...
The Bahraini bond and sukuk (Islamic bond) market has been the best performing GCC fixed-income market up until December 2016, returning an average of 8.7% despite a turbulent period which saw oil prices fall to as low as $28 and the country stripped of its investment-grade, long-term issuer rating.
As investors open up to this alternative investment class, real estate investment trusts (REITs) are gradually gaining traction within the GCC. In 2016 we saw the listing – but not an initial public offering (IPO) – of Riyad REIT at Tadawul, as well as the IPO of Eskan Bank REIT, which completed its offering on December 6, 2016 and listed on...
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