Gazprom looking to get in on Islamic finance market

Two of Russia’s largest banks are looking to become the country’s first institutions to offer Islamic-compliant financial products, the Moscow Times reports: VTB, Russia’s second-largest bank, aims this year to raise about $200 million selling sukuk, debt that complies with Islam’s ban on interest, Herbert Moos, the lender’s deputy chairman, said in an interview Wednesday. Gazprombank, the lending arm of gas ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.

Two of Russia's largest banks are looking to become the country's first institutions to offer Islamic-compliant financial products, the Moscow Times reports:

Two of Russia’s largest banks are looking to become the country’s first institutions to offer Islamic-compliant financial products, the Moscow Times reports:

VTB, Russia’s second-largest bank, aims this year to raise about $200 million selling sukuk, debt that complies with Islam’s ban on interest, Herbert Moos, the lender’s deputy chairman, said in an interview Wednesday. Gazprombank, the lending arm of gas export monopoly Gazprom, is in talks with at least 10 Moscow-based companies on arranging a sale and will meet investors in the Persian Gulf in September, said Alexander Kazakov, director of structured and syndicated finance.

"We’ll probably see an issue in dollars, ranging from $100 million to $200 million" by the end of the year, Kazakov said in an interview this week. "We’ve been talking to Russian companies from various sectors, including metals, food, oil and gas."

Global sales of sukuk are up 20 percent this year.

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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