2020: A STRONG YEAR FOR SUKUK

Since being brought to market 30 years ago, Sukuk have enjoyed continued growth within Islamic finance, and have proved resilient to the impact of COVID-19. Find out how a new app from Refinitiv Eikon enables investors to keep up to date with the market by providing comprehensive content and data.

The first Sukuk was brought to market in 1990. Today, the total issuance is more than $1.35trn, around 90 percent of which were issued in the past 10 years and 55 percent in the past five.

In 2020, the market has proved resilient to the impact of COVID-19. In the first nine months of the year, issuance reached a total of $130.5bn, compared with $127.3bn for the same period in 2019.

Sukuk have come a long way since the world’s first was brought to market in 1990.

Today, total issuance surpasses $1.35 trillion, and over 15,000 have been issued by a variety of corporate, sovereign and quasi-sovereign bodies across 31 countries.

Around 90 percent were issued in the past 10 years, and 55 percent in the past five. Their growth and development was further accelerated when several non-Muslim countries issued their debut Sukuk, including Hong Kong, Luxembourg, South Africa, Senegal, and the United Kingdom.

Sukuk is an Arabic word that means ‘certificates’. In finance, it stands for bonds that are structured in a Shariah-compliant manner. In other terms, it is a form of bonds that is accepted by Islamic finance investors and issuers.

They come in various structures such as Ijara, Murabaha, Modarabah, and many other forms. Sukuk investment also takes into account that the raised funds are invested in areas that do not contradict Islamic laws.

The impact of COVID-19

In 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the market has proved resilient. According to the Refinitiv Islamic Finance research team, in the first nine months of the year, issuance was a total of $130.5bn, compared with $127.3bn for the same period in 2019.

The growth has been further supported by innovations such as the introduction of green, blockchain and inflation-linked Sukuk.

Sukuk remains the most sought-after asset class in the Islamic finance industry. On Refinitiv Eikon, Sukuk content is the most accessed Islamic finance asset class. Almost 2,000 unique users access the data every month.

Source: Refinitiv 

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