As reported in a recent report, the Indonesian parliament passed a Shariah or Islamic banking bill into law on June 17, 2008 to provide legal base for operating the Shariah banking industry in Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country of the world.
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Islamic banking is witnessing a strong continuous growth at a rate of about 35% across the globe, with assets of financial institutions reaching a phenomenal $600 Billion in 2007, as reported by Arab News. Furthermore, the number of operating Islamic banks reached nearly 470 in 2007, a significant increase from the 276 banks operating in 2005.
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The insurance industry, perhaps more than any other sector, is focused on understanding and mitigating global warming, and for good reason: a changing environment could amplify risks, resulting in lower underwriting profits. Yet despite their heightened interest in climate change, few insurers are wholly committed to building a green IT environment.
The operational success of property and casualty insurers (non-life or general insurers) is correlated to the weather. Foreseeing these risks, insurers have enacted premium increases in catastrophe-prone regions, while others have simply stopped writing policies in these markets. However, both of these approaches are insufficient: regulators have tempered rate increases, and while exiting the market may protect against future losses, it diminishes an insurer’s ability to cross-sell other, safer products. Read more…
Swiss wealth manager Julius Baer is targeting the disaffected bankers and high net worth clients of the industry leaders, whose brands have been damaged recently by poor performance and questions over their financial strength. This strategy is a wise one, particularly in Switzerland, where wealthy clients are very brand/image conscious.
Julius Baer, Switzerland’s third largest private bank, is keen to snap up disaffected HNWs and bankers from some of the largest private bankers, capitalizing on the recent damage to their competitors’ reputations. Read more…
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) says that the majority of banking customers are not aware of the charges and interest rates paid on their current account and are therefore unaware if they are receiving a good deal from their bank, leading to an uncompetitive market. As a result, just six percent of consumers changed their current account in the last year, the OFT claims. However, it may be that the majority of customers are simply happy with their bank and see no reason to change.
OFT’s claim that the availability of information is poor is contestable. Banks do not hide information about insufficient-funds charges from their customers and rates of interest are often the central feature of advertisements for retail banks. It might actually be suggested that consumers consider their own banking habits and pick a current account with this information in mind.
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