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Sukuk

Economic and Capital Advantage from Securitization – Sukuk


Sukuk – An Overview

Generally, sukuks are asset-backed, stable income, tradable and Sharia’ compatible trust certificates. The primary condition of issuance of sukuks is the existence of assets on the balance sheet of any government, monetary authority, corporate body, banking and financial institution or entity which wants to mobilize its financial resources. The identification of suitable assets is the first, and arguably most integral, step in the process of issuing sukuk certificates. Sharia’ considerations dictate that the pool of assets should not solely be comprised of debts from Islamic financial contracts (e.g. Murabaha, Istisna).

Recently, the concept of sukuks originated with the conventional concept of securitization or asset monetization. Increasingly, creative and practical applications for sukuks are being developed, which demonstrate that Islamic assets may be monetized in a Sharia’ compliant manner that is compatible from a risk and asset management perspective with the traditional roles of fixed income securities. Currently there are several types of sukuks which can be engineered to the specific need of entity. These include:

• pure ijara sukuks
• variable rate redeemable sukuks
• hybrid/pooled sukuks
• zero-coupon non-tradable sukuks
• embedded sukuks

Sukuk Market Overview

In the current environment, the demand for sukuks significantly exceeds its supply. Today, the global sukuk market, denominated in international currencies, is estimated to be US$ 18 billion. If domestic sukuk issuance is included, it has now exceeded US$ 50 billion and is expected to surpass the US$150 billion mark before the end of this decade. Although the size of the market may seem modest by global standards, the sukuk market has been registering an impressive average growth of 40 per cent per annum. The phenomenal demand has been spurred by the high levels of surplus savings and reserves...