Islamic Structuring & Consulting

Khalij Group boasts an Islamic structuring team with a skill-set that is rare in the modern day Islamic financial universe, which is clearly struggling for want of adequate resources and expertise on that front. This unique pool of talent and experience gives Khalij Group a cutting edge that enables its structuring team to consistently help an increasingly global client base to develop innovative Islamic financial structures. We provide our clients the benefit of end to end solutions ranging from retail banking products, real estate financing and fund management to structured investment products, capital market activity and Islamic private equity. We have also successfully assisted a number of our clients in developing effective risk management tools and solutions.

Structuring Track Record

The Structuring team at Khalij Islamic has many years of investment banking experience (both Islamic and conventional). During our time in the industry, and as a function of the various positions we have held so far, we have been responsible for numerous breakthroughs in Islamic finance. Some examples of what we have achieved in both our current and previous roles include:

Development of landmark sukuk structures.
Pioneered true Shari’a compliant “off balance sheet” structures.
Developed effective Islamic risk management solutions for global clientele.
Successfully brought to the market one of the first Islamic structured repo transactions.
Structured the first publicly distributed Islamic structured product to be issued by a non-Saudi entity in Saudi Arabia.
Developed the technology for Islamic profit rate swaps and credit default swaps.
Developed an Islamic issuance platform for the issuance of Sharia compliant securities.

These were transacted with varied clientele whose attitude toward Islamic finance ranged from extremely conservative to very liberal, as well as being based across diverse jurisdictions hence also requiring consideration of the different legal, tax and regulatory frameworks.

Khalij Islamic provides all-inclusive Shari’a Consulting services, Shari’a Monitoring services and Shari’a Compliance Review services. We focus on fully understanding the requirements of our clients while advising on Shari’a related matters. Throughout the process, Khalij Islamic adheres to applicable Shari’a standards and ensures continued quality assurance through monitoring under close supervision of our Shari’a scholars.

Shari’a Consulting

Khalij Islamic’s extensive Shari’a consulting services have supported its clients’ initiatives in developing a wide range of Islamic products.

Shari’a Monitoring

Due to the Khalij Islamic Teams’ understanding of complex Islamic financial products and instruments, it has been retained as a Shari’a monitor for a vast variety of Islamic products including Islamic funds, Shari’a-compliant structured notes, Islamic indices, Shari’a compliant ETFs, etc.
Khalij Islamic provides periodic or proactive Shari’a Monitoring, depending on the requirements and the product type, and advise clients on Purification Strategies in relation to any potential non-compliant streams of income.

Shari’a Compliance Reviews

Khalij Islamic’s risk-based Shari’a Compliance Review is focused on assisting our clients to identify Shari’a non-compliance risks, both at the overall corporate level as well as at the individual product level.
Khalij Islamic’s Shari’a Compliance Reviews include areas such as corporate governance, human capital, product development and operations and information technology and the methodology adopted has been approved by our Shari’a scholars.

The Khalij Islamic team has experience in structuring Islamic products and providing Islamic finance consulting across a variety of asset classes. Some examples of the relevant experience are set out below:

Real Estate

Shari’a advisor to a mega tower project, for a major construction group in the Middle East; part of the development in the heart of the holy city of Makkah.
Shari’a advisor on a multi million dollar project to a major conglomerate in the Middle East.
Advised on structuring, set up and monitoring of various real estate investment funds based in different jurisdictions.

Investment Products / Investment Banking

Shari’a advisor to a major European investment bank on a new range of Shari’a compliant structured notes and derivative products.
Shari’a advisor to a global Islamic index provider.
Structured and developed an Islamic issuance platform for a major European investment bank.

Asset and Fund Management

Shari’a advisor to a European finance house and developed an innovative Shari’a compliant structure for shorting strategy.
Shari’a advisor and monitor to a major European bank to set up an umbrella Islamic fund with several sub-funds.
Shari’a advisor to major financial institutions in the Middle East on structuring and monitoring of various Islamic funds (including equity, private equity, real estate and alternative investment funds).

Academic and Educational work

Conduct educational road shows in developing Islamic finance jurisdictions and “Executive Workshops” on Islamic finance for financial institutions.
Authored a series of educational booklets for a major financial institution in the Middle East.
Presentations and speaking on Islamic finance related topics at major Islamic finance seminars and conferences.