Kazakhstan Islamic finance hits speed bump

Kazakhstan's Islamic finance ambitions appear to hit a speedbump according to an article by Alastair Marsh in FT Tilt.  The article reports that Al Hilal Bank, the country's only Islamic bank (owned by the government of Abu Dhabi) had its license suspended for having too little equity capital, which the Abu Dhabi government says has been fixed and was due to large losses in its first year.  In addition, progress on a sovereign sukuk is slow, partly because of concerns that a sukuk would be significantly more expensive than a conventional bond.