Transparent independent benchmark to price, measure market accountability and performance
Dubai, United Arab Emirates, September 18, 2012 - Thomson Reuters, the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, today announced the launch of the Thomson Reuters Global Sukuk Index, an independent and transparent benchmark for investors seeking exposure to sukuk (Shariah-compliant) fixed-income investments, to be used to monitor the performance of the sukuk market. The announcement of the launch of the index was made today at the Global Islamic Finance Forum (GIFF) 2012 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The US$1.2 trillion Islamic finance industry is currently growing at more than 15% per annum, and it is led by the Islamic debt capital market, which is primarily composed of Sukuk. It is frequently the topic of conversation by regulators, international lending agencies, bankers, and asset managers in the G-20 countries as well as the 57 Muslim countries for raising funds. The Thomson Reuters Global Sukuk Index will attempt to bridge the challenge of information asymmetry in the global sukuk market.
"These are unprecedented times for the $214 billion sukuk market; there have been defaults, restructuring, maturing, rollovers, corporate issuers, launch of sukuk funds, announcement of secondary market platforms (Saudi Arabia), innovative issuance (Khazana's Renminbi) sovereigns declaring issuance (South Africa), and the growing development of the Islamic debt capital market to compliment the bank financing model," said Rushdi Siddiqui, global head of Islamic finance, Thomson Reuters. "The common denominator of need here is an independent benchmark, including independent pricing, to measure accountability and performance. We spoke to customers and listened to their feedback about sukuk data collection, methodology and pricing. We quickly realized that there is a need for an independent entity such as Thomson Reuters to provide impartial data to inspire confidence and trust for investors."
In addition to being primarily used as a benchmark for investors seeking exposure to Shariah-compliant fixed-income investments, the Global Sukuk Index may serve to increase secondary market trading in this growing asset class and facilitate cross-market relative value trading among different asset classes. The index will initially include a composite and investment grade indices. Year to date performance for the Thomson Reuters Global Sukuk index is as follows when compared with JP Morgan EM index and DJI.
