Australian Muslims will be able to stash their cash with today’s (Tuesday) launch of Crescent Wealth’s first Islamic cash management trust, which hopes to attract up to $100 million during the next few years.
Managing director Talal Yassine said he expected much of the money to come from Australian mosques. “Islamic Australians and institutions have had little choice so far but to put their cash reserves in non-compliant cash trusts,” he said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The total assets of Indonesia’s sharia banks increased by 50 percent to Rp 158.8 trillion (US$16.99 billion) as of March from Rp 101.2 trillion in the same period last year, according to a senior Bank Indonesia official.
Edy Setiadi, the director for sharia banking at the central bank, said that the annual growth of the Islamic banks in Indonesia averaged 40.2 percent over the past five years………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Boasting a 20 per cent market share, which the country’s Central Bank wants to double within the next five years, its Islamic banks are spoiled with a supportive Government, advanced Islamic capital market and a ready-made consumer market from the country’s majority-Muslim population. Malaysia’s population, however, seem a bit nonplussed by the concept.
“Why would I go to an Islamic bank?” chuckled one local, who I met while photographing some Islamic bank branches. “I’m a Muslim, but it is not un-Islamic to use a conventional bank – we all used conventional banks until recently when Islamic banks came along – they can’t say Muslims have to use Islamic banks, I’ve never heard anyone say banks are un-Islamic!”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The existence of healthy competition in the local Islamic banking sector – not just among Malaysian players but also between international Islamic banks operating here – proves to be the right push for growth for industry peers.
According to Ernst & Young Malaysia’s (E&Y) director of Assurance Services, Syarizal Rahim, competition for market share has indeed provided the incentive for local players to continue developing more innovative products that would appeal to the greater population………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Fifteen years ago, Muslims wishing to take out a mortgage, use a credit card or deposit money into a current account would have been hard pushed to do so and stay compliant with Shariah law. With few Islamic banks around - and a limited range of Shariah products - banking as a Muslim invariably involved compromising either your faith or your financial needs.
Today, in many markets, such compromise is no longer necessary. Islamic banking is becoming a part of the mainstream, widely available across financial products and geographies………………………………………..Full Article: Source

ZamZam, the under formation Islamic bank officially announced that it failed to launch its operation of interest free banking. The board of directors of the bank told shareholders, the full Islamic banking operation will not be visible due to the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) directive that was ratified in September 2011, barring Islamic banking.
On the first extra ordinary meeting held at the Addis Ababa Exhibition Center on Saturday, June 2 the board offered three options for the share holders; undertaking Islamic banking injecting their capital on other banks and open a window, dissolving the bank and disburse back the raised capital or involve on other investment sector with the collected money………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd (Bank Islam) launched its Islamic Dual Currency Investment-i (DCI-i), a deposit product that is expected to earn higher returns than regular foreign currency deposits.
Bank Islam’s DCI-i is a fixed deposit product linked to the performance of a pair of foreign currencies based on the concept of Wakalah-lil-Istithmar – an agency contract for investment – that meets both local and international syariah standards………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Standard Chartered Private Bank Monday announced its forthcoming launch of a comprehensive suite of Islamic financial solutions for its clients.
The solutions range from fiduciary deposits, property financing, equities and discretionary services, mutual funds (including Exchange-Traded Funds), Islamic bonds (Sukuks), to third-party structured products………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Participants in a consultative workshop Monday sought increased support and cooperation from the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) in areas of infrastructure, agriculture and rural uplift, human resource development and also in having access to various modes of Islamic financial products and services for boosting private sector investment in Bangladesh.
They made strong pleas for extension of IDB’s support for reclamation of coastal land, rehabilitation of age-old power generation units, expansion of new capacity in power sector,……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Gulf International Services (GIS) has entered into an Islamic finance agreement with four entities for $170mn (QR619mn) to part fund its expansion drive.
The funds would be partly used for completing the acquisition of Amwaj Catering Company (from Qatar Petroleum) and partly partake in another subsidiary Gulf Drilling International’s capital increase, said a GIS spokesman in a communiqué to the Qatar Exchange………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Bahrain-based Islamic investment bank, International Investment Bank (IIB), has swung back into the black at end of the first quarter with reporting net income of $1.7 million at end of Q1 2012 compared with a net loss of $1.3 million in the same period last year.
Total income for the first quarter was $3.2 million compared to $0.9 million a year earlier, mainly derived from investment banking fees and profit earned on funds placed with financial institutions………………………………………..Full Article: Source

“NBK’s capital strength, strong asset quality and good liquidity should enable it to deploy its balance sheet quickly to capture growth”, said Deutsche Bank in its initiation of coverage on National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) with a Hold recommendation.
The report stressed that, “NBK is outstanding in the domestic context, with leading market shares, strong asset quality and coverage ratios. NBK has also stellar reputation amongst its clients and competitors alike.” ……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Ladies’ financial services are a priority for the bank as women’s earnings rise and they prove to be more responsible borrowers than men, according RHB Islamic Bank’s Chief Executive Officer
Tuan Haji Abdul Rani, Chief Executive Officer of RHB Islamic Bank revealed to Islamic Business & Finance that ladies’ banking is a priority for the bank.
“Women are the future,” he said. “In Malaysia, about 70 per cent of graduates are women; 60 per cent of this bank’s staff are women… Our records show that the default rate [on loans] for women is very low, and so we give them a special rate.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The chairman of a leading Russian bank has lashed out at the United States for imposing sanction on Iran, stressing that the U.S. sanctions against the Iranian banking sector violate international laws.
The U.S. financial and economic sanctions against Iran violate the charter of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which demands free trade between all member states, Chairman of Russian Vneshtorgbank (VTB) Andrei Kostin said in an interview with the Russian TV channel RBK on Friday………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Islamic finance is usually described as an infant market with domestic focus and supported by the government, hence, much like a baby reliant upon it parents in a home environment of nutrition, nurturing, and natural growth.
Obviously, deposit taking Islamic banks cannot and will not contribute much to the development of the Islamic equity capital market (iECM). They have been the growth locomotive for Islamic finance, but at a price of debt capital market bias?……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The World Bank and Al Baraka Banking Group have reached an agreement to launch joint programmes under a new Islamic finance initiatives. These initiatives are aimed at fostering sustainable development of Islamic economics and finance, through the design and delivery of activities.
These include identifying and disseminating sound practices in the Islamic financial services industry, including sound practices relating to the regulatory and supervisory environment, institutional infrastructure, corporate governance, business practices, and market development and encouraging research and promoting awareness of appropriate risk management framework for Islamic banks in particular and the Islamic finance industry in general………………………………………..Full Article: Source

DIFC Investments (DIFCI) has secured a loan of a $1.035bn from a syndicate of banks to help pay off an Islamic bond that matures on 13th June 2012. The investment unit of Dubai’s financial free zone agreed the deal with a group of mainly local banks backed by the group’s property portfolio.
The transaction is a dual tranche Islamic facility and includes both Commodity Murabaha and Ijarah tranches. The Mandated Lead Arrangers and Bookrunners of the $1.035bn dual tranche five - year Islamic Facility are Emirates NBD, Standard Chartered Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank and Noor Islamic Bank. (Press Release)

National Bonds Corporation PJSC has highlighted the increased interest in the savings scheme from customers living abroad. The region’s leading Shariah compliant savings scheme now has bondholders from 110 different countries loyal to the scheme residing outside the UAE.
National Bonds has witnessed a 14% increase in the number of bondholders living outside the UAE and a 40% increase in the amount of funds they are saving. The increased popularity of the scheme has been complemented by the introduction of a range of mechanisms for the purchase of bonds from outside the country during the past few years, including bank transfers and credit card purchases for GCC residents. (Press Release)

Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Bhd will focus on its core markets in Malaysia and Indonesia but does not rule out the possibility of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in a bid to have a stronger foothold and a bigger market share in the takaful business.
Goup managing director Datuk Mohamed Hassan Kamil (pic) told StarBiz the company was now concentrating its efforts in growing the Malaysian and Indonesian market organically………………………………………..Full Article: Source