Bahrain Islamic Bank and Al Salam Bank said on Thursday that merger talks between both lenders to form a banking giant collapsed due to disagreement on pricing. Both banks had said in July they initiated talks to form the Gulf Arab state’s largest Islamic lender with assets of 1.7 billion dinars ($4.5 billion).
“Bahrain based Islamic retail banks, Bahrain Islamic Bank and Al Salam Bank mutually agreed to end merger talks after they were unable to each agreement on the exchange ration for the shares,” the banks said in a statement on the Bahrain bourse. ……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Bank Negara Malaysia said that only licensed financial institutions and money changers are allowed to conduct foreign currency trading.
This statement came about after the National Fatwa Council’s ruling on Wednesday that forex trading is forbidden for Muslims. The Council’s statement on it being permissible among banks and money changers was not prominently mentioned in the media, which created some confusion among the public………………………………………..Full Article: Source

International law firm Clifford Chance’s Dubai office recently advised on the issuance of new Islamic bonds, or sukuk, worth $5 billion. The transactions, which came out of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in January, highlight a shift in recent months towards sukuk from conventional bonds.
Dubai-based Clifford Chance partner Debashis Dey led the team on Emirates Islamic Bank’s $1 billion trust certificate issuance programme. Associates Xuan Jin and Alekhya Prakash also worked on the deal………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Maxis Bhd is proposing to issue Islamic medium-term notes with a nominal value of up to RM2.45bil based on the sukuk musharakah principle for capital expenditure and working capital purposes.
The proposed unrated sukuk, which would have a tenure of up to 30 years from the date of first issue, would also be used for general funding requirements as well as general corporate purposes of the company and its subsidiaries………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Emirates NBD is planning to issue a Swiss franc-denominated bond, four sources said. The lender has appointed banks for the issue, one banking source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Its Islamic subsidiary, Emirates Islamic Bank, reopened Gulf bond markets this year with a $500 million Islamic bond, or sukuk, in January, which carried a profit rate of 4.72 per cent………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Abu Dhabi gave Dubai’s largest lender, Emirates NBD, a liquidity injection to help it absorb struggling Islamic lender Dubai Bank, ENBD’s chief financial officer said on Wednesday.
In October, Emirates NBD was ordered by Dubai’s ruler to takeover Dubai Bank which was rescued by the emirate’s government earlier in 2011. “We received a liquidity injection from the UAE ministry of finance,” Surya Subramanian said on a conference call after the bank’s fourth quarter results. “The Dubai Bank acquisition had the support of both Dubai and Abu Dhabi governments.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Kuwait Finance House (KFH) , the country’s largest Islamic bank, said on Wednesday its profit fell by 24 percent in 2011, as the lender put aside money to meet investment losses.
Profit for the year fell to 80.3 million dinars ($289 million) from 106 million dinars in 2010, the lender said in a statement. The bank made 9.6 million Kuwait dinars in the fourth quarter last year, based on Reuters calculations, compared with an estimated profit of 20 million for the period………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Qatar’s Supreme Council for Economic Affairs and Investment is considering a proposal to establish a $1 billion company to invest in small capital projects abroad, Qatar’s state news agency said.
The question of bringing state energy company Qatar Petroleum under the council’s authority was also being considered, the agency said, citing Finance Minister Yousef Kamal………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Saturna Capital Corporation, a U.S. investment management company and parent company to Kuala Lumpur-based Saturna Sdn. Bhd., has been named “Best Asset Management Company (Americas)” by Islamic Finance News based on results of its 2011 Islamic Investor Poll. Over 200 of the Islamic investment industry’s leading players, consisting of institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds, high net worth individuals, and insurance companies, cast votes in 11 asset management categories.

Saturna Capital received the award during the IFN Awards ceremony held in Kuala Lumpur on February 15. “We would like to thank our peers in the Islamic finance industry who have honored us with this prestigious recognition,” said Monem Salam, president of Saturna Sdn. Bhd. and deputy portfolio manager of the U.S.-based, Amana Mutual Funds managed according to Islamic guidelines. (Press Release)

Nigeria’s huge developmental needs make it imperative to borrow to finance infrastructure and other developmental projects, with an aim to improving the lives of citizens analysts say, although skepticism abounds among the populace about the ability to deploy such funds effectively.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan only yesterday sought the approval of the Senate to borrow $7.905 billion from the World Bank, Africa Development Bank (ADB), Islamic Development Bank (IDB), and Exim Bank of China, informing that the money would be used to finance a number of projects designed to create employment opportunities, with a view to growing the economy………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The moderate Islamists of the Muslim Brotherhood have won much ground but look far from comfortable in power. A flush of green is spreading across the Arab world, but not because its vast deserts are shrinking. Green is the colour of Islam and Islamist movements have reaped the biggest harvest of the Arab spring. Not all stripes of Koran-led politics have flourished equally.
In the Sunni Muslim heartlands stretching from the Atlantic to the Persian Gulf, neither violent extremists in the mould of al-Qaeda, nor proponents of Iranian-style theocracy, nor woolly Islamist liberals have fared especially well………………………………………..Full Article: Source