In Sakak transactions (enforcing Islamic Shariya laws which prohits interest), trade settlement amount forms part of the amount which the buyer would have to incur on settlement date. This may be calculated by use of the following formulae:
Nominal amount x Bond percentage price + (nominal amount x coupon rate/360) x days accrued. The following conditionalties however, could be enforced:
the traded nominal value would be in multiples of the Bond face value; the bond percentage price needs to be analyzed, the coupon rate that is the annual return percentage and the accrual in terms of days between the last coupon date and the trade settlement date also needs to be calculated.
It would now be necessary to take an example to determine the settlement amount.
Illustration 1
“An investors bought a sakk/bond at a price of %101.000, for a nominal amount value of 50,000 S.R, coupon rate is %5.5, the last coupon date is 15/10/2008 , the settlement date of the deal is 31/12/2008 (no. of days = 77)” (About Sukuk & Bonds).
Applying the formula, which is as follows the settlement price, could be determined as follows:
- Nominal amount x Bond percentage price + (nominal amount x coupon rate/360) x days accrued.
- Or 50,000 x101.000% + (50,000 x 5.5%/360 x 77)
- = 50,500 + 588.19
- = 51,088.19.
However there is also an aspect of commission the minimum of which is 500SR.
Investments in US Bonds
Coming to US bond, it is proposed to take this example:
$ 50,000 bond purchased at premium of 5% and interest to be repaid bond whose par value is $100 but has a current yield of 5.21% because the bond is priced at $95.92. The bond matures in 30 months and pays a semi-annual coupon of 5%.
First stage: Determination of Cash flows: Every half year, there would be a coupon payment of $2.50 (0.025 x 100) and there would be 5 payments of $ 2.50 plus also the future value of $ 100.
Second stage: The interests would have to be found out through application of this formula:
It is necessary that in an exercise of this kind, the nexus between bond price and yield is determined. In this case it is seen that the bond is prices at a discount (lower than par) and thus we could infer that annual interest would be higher than coupon rate of 5%.(Advanced Bond Concepts: Yield and Bond Price).
Through trial applications it could be evidenced that when bond prices are $ 95.92, the interest rates would be ranging between 6-7%, 6.8% to be precise as seen from the below table.
Conclusions drawn from above comparative study
If we were to compare Sukuk with the US Bond investments, the following become evident:
- The US Bond provides 5 half yearly interest payments since the interests are calculated and disbursed every half year.
- The settlement of Sukuk bonds is at $ 51,088.19, or rent received of $588.19.
- In the second case of US investments, the settlement works out to $ 3400 which is higher than that of the Sukuk investments.
- The element of ownership in assets, evident in Sukuk is not present in US Stock, which attaches no proprietary interests or voting rights to holders of stock.
Thus, based on the above, the US Bond alternative may be preferred because of higher returns it fetches and lower risks.
Works Cited
About Sukuk & Bonds. Saudi Stock Exchange. Web.
Advanced Bond Concepts: Yield and Bond Price. Investopedia. 2010. Web.