Ireland Could Sell Banks To Middle Eastern Wealth Funds

[interestrateripoff]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/8195085/Ireland-could-sell-banks-to-Middle-Eastern-wealth-funds.html

Former Irish prime minister John Bruton has travelled to the Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar, to sound out their interest in buying one of Ireland's troubled banks.

According to The National, an Abu Dhabi-based newspaper, Mr Bruton has met with sovereign wealth funds in the Gulf in an attempt to attract billions of pounds of badly-needed outside investment.

"The message was 'our banks are for sale to any investors, foreign or local'," said a Gulf-based executive quoted by The National.

Mr Bruton told the local press that he was not representing Ireland in an official capacity and was in the region to discuss general investment opportunities.

"We are not here to facilitate the sale of any assets or start any negotiations. That is the government's decision and role, but obviously discussions have taken place about the Irish economy generally. The central bank has clearly said asset sales are being studied," said Mr Bruton.

Irish officials are already understood to have made contact with several large financial institutions as they hunt for "strategic partners" for their banks.

So anyone fancy buying a lump of 5h1t?

[non frog]

Sovereign wealth funds of ultra orthodox Islamic counties to buy western banks making money from usury?

Oh - sorry its the Telegraph

[ralphmalph]

Sovereign wealth funds of ultra orthodox Islamic counties to buy western banks making money from usury?

Oh - sorry its the Telegraph

Did not the SWF of Qatar invest in Barcalys?

Is not some saudi Prince the largest shareholder in CitiBank?

[SarahBell]

Are they employing "Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler" to do the sale?

[Brett]

Sovereign wealth funds of ultra orthodox Islamic counties to buy western banks making money from usury?

Oh - sorry its the Telegraph

The likes of Qatar and Saudi Arabia are western allies at the ruling family level, which is the only thing that counts.

[anonguest]

The likes of Qatar and Saudi Arabia are western allies at the ruling family level, which is the only thing that counts.

I could be wrong but..... I believe/have been led to understand that the Islamic banking principles forbidding ursury (and I believe that strict Judaism teachings/strictures operate on a similar principle) only apply to fellow Muslims. There is deemed nothing wrong in applying ursury to non-believers (the infidel). So muslim SWFs buying western banks would not be violating their religious beliefs.

I stand ready to be corrected/educated if wrong.

[Brett]

I could be wrong but..... I believe/have been led to understand that the Islamic banking principles forbidding ursury (and I believe that strict Judaism teachings/strictures operate on a similar principle) only apply to fellow Muslims. There is deemed nothing wrong in applying ursury to non-believers (the infidel). So muslim SWFs buying western banks would not be violating their religious beliefs.

I stand ready to be corrected/educated if wrong.

I agree with you. But how do we even know that the ruling families in Arab countries believe themselves to be Muslims? They have an elitest mindset and maybe there is some overlap with Islam which they can play along with, so the citizens of those countries believe their rulers to be their own type of people.

In summary, I don't see any reason why they would refrain from buying stakes in these banks if they wanted to. Quite why they'd want to buy an Irish bank I don't know. But if the numbers made sense, why not?

Edited December 12, 2010 by Brett

[non frog]

I could be wrong but..... I believe/have been led to understand that the Islamic banking principles forbidding ursury (and I believe that strict Judaism teachings/strictures operate on a similar principle) only apply to fellow Muslims. There is deemed nothing wrong in applying ursury to non-believers (the infidel). So muslim SWFs buying western banks would not be violating their religious beliefs.

I stand ready to be corrected/educated if wrong.

I did some stuff for Abu Dhabi bank and they are forbidden to charge usury by their banking charter. (Its a load of cr@p as they charge a "fee" which is the same as the current rate of interest but they are after all a bank and all that that implies...)

It was my understanding from the research that the ultra orthodox Islamic principles totally forbid usury - it is a sin on a par with adultery. The Saudis are Wahhabi which is pretty much up there in the stakes of mentally ill religious nutjobs. Their ruling class of course visit the west where they drink alcohol and buy prostitutes and so on, but in their own country they are well behaved and the press dare not point out their hypocrisy (at least if they want all their limbs in place). I cannot imagine the average citizen of Saudi being happy that their government has bought a non-Islamic bank. Even in the more moderate UAE there was considerable debate about the "fees" and whether or not they were un-Islamic.

Christianity bars usury also but that would be too difficult to enforce in countries where the church and state are separate (if only in let's pretend world) like the USA. Besides its bad for business. Turkish banks charge and offer interest for that reason also despite it being predominantly Muslim but having a secular government.

Islamic funds buy and sell shares during the period that they do not pay dividends as dividends are considered usury. Islamic fund managers make money by capital growth only.

That's my best understanding of things (I'm no expert on Islamic finance I admit) so I too am happy to be educated.

Individual investors may, of course, justify their actions to Allah when they meet him