Absa of South Africa to Offer Mortgages After New Tax Law: Islamic Finance
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-01/absa-of-south-africa-to-offer-mortgages-after-new-tax-law-islamic-finance.html
Absa Islamic Banking, a unit of South Africa’s third-largest bank, plans to offer Islamic mortgages after the government introduces new tax rules next year.
The Treasury department said in August it will forgo charging tax on three Islamic structures to allow home loans. The government may sell Islamic bonds after deciding whether to make tax amendments in the middle of 2011, said Absa Islamic Managing Director Amman Muhammad, who is also a participant in the Treasury’s discussions on Islamic finance. Absa Islamic is a unit of Absa Group Ltd., which is controlled by Barclays Plc.
While its 737,000 Muslims account for just 1.5 percent of the country’s population according to CIA World Factbook, South Africa is seeking to access a growing industry with global assets of $1 trillion. Albaraka Bank Ltd., a unit of Manama, Bahrain-based Albaraka Banking Group BSC and the African nation’s only Shariah-compliant financial institution, will increase its capital next year to finance expansion, the group’s Chief Executive Officer Adnan Yousif said Oct. 31 in Kuwait.
(via Instapaper)
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