Standard Chartered Plc, the U.K. bank that earns most of its profit from emerging markets, plans to introduce Shariah-compliant contracts in Asia to hedge against changes in commodity prices, reports Bloomberg.
The products, which the London-based bank made available in the Persian Gulf in March, will allow buyers and sellers to agree on fixed or floating prices and make it easier for companies to protect themselves from volatility in goods such as sugar, rice, wheat and crude oil, Afaq Khan, chief executive officer of Standard Chartered’s Islamic banking unit in Dubai, said in an interview on Aug. 9.
“This year the big push is on commodity derivatives,” he said. “We will certainly be offering them in countries like Malaysia and Indonesia in due course. When there is sufficient demand we will go to the central banks to seek approval.”
Asia accounted for 68 percent of the total $7.8 billion of sukuk, or Islamic bonds, sold worldwide this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Economic growth in developing Asia, including Malaysia and Indonesia, will accelerate to 9.2 percent in 2010 from 6.9 percent in 2009, according to estimates by the International Monetary Fund on July 7. Expansion in the Middle East was forecast at 4.5 percent, compared with 2.4 percent last year.
Malaysia is the world’s biggest market for Islamic bonds, while Indonesia has the largest Muslim population. Global sales of the securities have dropped 28 percent to $7.9 billion so far this year, Bloomberg data show.
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