Luxembourg - A prime location for Sukuk issuance | Whitepaper
Islamic finance in Luxembourg
This has accelerated the growth of Sharia’a-compliant entities investing in a wide range of sectors such as equities, real estate, private equity, infrastructure, etc.
Worldwide, there are more than 800 Sharia’a-compliant investment funds and their number is growing. These Sharia’a-compliant investment vehicles manage assets of US$1.5 trillion (regulated and non-regulated funds). It is clear that Luxembourg is a key player in this sector.
Islamic financial products differ from conventional financial products due to prohibitions on interest, gambling, uncertainty, short selling and trading in products deemed incompatible with Sharia’a law (e.g. alcoholic drinks, weapons, adult entertainment).
Under Sharia’a principles, an investor is a business partner seeking to obtain profits from underlying assets or businesses (but is generally exposed to the losses as well) and can never be a creditor expecting a fixed interest return on loans.
Luxembourg has become a domicile of choice for Islamic finance in Europe, with a history of innovation in this field. For example, Europe’s first Islamic financial institution was licensed in Luxembourg, and carried out operations from 1978 to the 1990s. In 1983, Luxembourg was the first European country to host a Sharia’a-compliant insurance company (Takaful).
Luxembourg’s stock market was the first in Europe to list a Sukuk in 2002, and since that date, 16 Sukuk have been listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.
In 2009, Luxembourg’s central bank was the first European entity to become a member of the Malaysia based Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB), the prudential/supervisory standard-setting body for Islamic financial institutions. More recently, in May 2011, the Central Bank of Luxembourg hosted the annual IFSB board meeting in Luxembourg.
On 25 October 2010, the Central Bank of Luxembourg was one of the 14 founding members of the International Islamic Liquidity Management Company (IILM Co), which is headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The idea behind this institution is to create and issue short-term Sharia’a-compliant financial instruments that will facilitate effective cross-border Islamic liquidity management. The founding members are the central banks or monetary authorities of Indonesia, Iran, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mauritius, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, along with two multilateral institutions, the Islamic Development Bank and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector.
Page Last Updated