State Street Corporation STT, the world’s leading provider of financial services to institutional investors, today released its Vision Report on Islamic Finance, citing a market that is growing by as much as 20 percent a year since 2003.

This seventh paper in State Street’s series of Vision Reports estimates that total assets under management by Islamic financial institutions now exceeds $600 billion…….Full Press Release: Source

From FT Adviser: Islamic finance is broadening its appeal to non-Muslim investors and has a “key role” to play in restoring investor confidence in financial markets.

“Investors are looking for asset classes that provide some stability, so it is striking a chord with the non Muslim community,” said Rod Ringrow, senior vice president of State Street…….Full Article: Source

From Arabianmoney.net: Kuwait has more than a hundred investment companies of which around half were established over the past couple of years.

No other Gulf State has seen this type of mushrooming of investment companies which took advantage of cheap and freely available credit to make numerous investments in the GCC and overseas…….Full Article: Source

From Zawya.com: CFA Institute today announces the appointment of Usman Hayat, CFA, FRM, as director of Islamic finance and Environmental, Social, & Governance (ESG) Investing, to its Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) office.
Usman moves to London from the Asia Pacific Office in Hong Kong, bringing with him invaluable expertise in Islamic finance to the organisation’s EMEA headquarters…….Full Article: Source

From Ansamed.info: Islamic finance is coming to Spain, where it estimates it will find a potential market of two million clients.
According to financial newspaper Negocios, the Halal Institute - the centre of Islamic quality certification in Cordoba operating under the Spanish Islamic Commission - is shortly to sign an agreement with the Sa Nostra building society in the Balearic Islands for the creation of an Islamic current account…….Full Article: Source

From Maktoob.com: The Gulf Arab region is gearing up for a wave of merger and acquisition activity underpinned by excess liquidity and historically low asset valuations.

“We are seeing an unprecedented volume of M&A transactions driven by excess liquidity and historically low asset valuations,” Jeffrey Culpepper, head of MENA Investment Banking at Credit Suisse said…….Full Article: Source

From Bernama: CIMB-Principal Asset Management Bhd has obtained approval to increase the size of its CIMB Islamic Money Market Fund to 225 million units from 150 million units.

In a statement here today, CIMB-Principal said this was the second increase for the fund following its last increase on Aug 12, 2008…….Full Article: Source

From Cpifinancial.net: Crisis created opportunities for Islamic banks; principles go hand in hand with professionalism, says Al-Menaie in conference held in Singapore, attended by six Asian central banks governors.

The Chairman and Managing Director of Liquidity Management House (LMH), which is fully owned by Kuwait Finance House (KFH) Emad Al-Menaie has said that the global crisis has created great opportunities for Islamic banks, in order to prove the feasibility of the methods they follow, and how such methods eased the effects of the crisis…….Full Article: Source

From Tradearabia.com: Gulf Bank, the second largest bank in Kuwait, has recorded a net profit of KD10.6 million ($36.5 million) for the first quarter of 2009, marking a new phase for the bank, with a restored profit and confidence.

These results demonstrate a milestone achievement for the Bank, indicating a return to profitability following the losses incurred in the last quarter of 2008, the Gulf Bank said in a statement…….Full Article: Source

From Gulfnews.com: The 2009 has begun on a positive note for Oman Insurance Company (PSC) as it posted a 32 per cent growth in revenue for the first quarter of 2009, compared to the same period in 2008.
Technical profit for the quarter ending March 31, 2009 is higher by 27 per cent over the same period last year and stands at Dh109 million…….Full Article: Source

From Arabianbusiness.com: Amlak Finance, the real estate investment and home loans provider, announced on Monday that full year net profits through Dec 31 2008 slipped to AED241 million, from AED301 million in 2007.

Much of the damage was caused by an AED204 million loss in Q4 2008, mainly as a result of a drop in revenues from the previous quarters as well as a sharp fall in income from real estate investment activities, lower new mortgage originations, a significant increase in funding costs and higher general provisions on its mortgage portfolio and other investments…….Full Article: Source

From Business24-7.ae: The Dubai Gold Securities (DGS) have found most of their buyers from institutional investors in the region, senior officials involved in the region’s first Shariah compliant exchange traded fund (ETF) said.

Investment arms of HSBC and Mashreq besides investment banks like Shuaa Capital and other asset managers account for a good chunk of DGS traded so far…….Full Article: Source

From Albawaba.com: The total value of Bahraini banks’ Islamic banking assets increased by 50% in 2008 to $24.6bn (2007: $16.4bn), according to figures issued by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB).

This increase, at a time when traditional banking institutions worldwide saw widespread depreciation in their assets, is a testament to the ongoing success and resilience of the Islamic banking system…….Full Article: Source

From Menafn.com: Islamic Financial Institutions, or IFIs, in the Gulf region show resilience in the face of economic turmoil and will resume rapid growth soon, a top rating agency said.

Standard & Poor’s believes that the outlook for Islamic finance in the Gulf region this year will remain strong despite the ongoing global financial crisis…….Full Article: Source

From Bi-me.com: Standard & Poor’s today announced the release of Islamic Finance Outlook 2009, its latest annual compendium of topical research and commentaries on Islamic finance.
The new yearbook includes Standard & Poor’s latest analysis and rating methodologies on almost 40 rated Islamic debt issues and issuers, and an overview of its suite of global benchmark and investable Sharia indices…….Full Article: Source

From Business24-7.ae: Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) plans to launch an Islamic finance company with a capital of Dh200 million soon, a bank executive said.

“The Islamic banking unit in ADCB is getting ready to open the Abu Dhabi Commercial Islamic Finance Company soon,” said Mofadal Khamry, ADCB’s head of Islamic products…….Full Article: Source

The Bahrain based leading Islamic banking group, Albaraka Banking Group B.S.C (ABG) announced a net profit of $43m for the first quarter of 2009, reporting an increase of 5.1% over the net profit of the fourth quarter of 2008.

At the same time, it maintained its operating assets at the planned levels set to overcome the current conditions facing the regional and international financial markets arising from the global economic crisis…….Full Press Release: Source

From Maktoob.com: Kuwait Finance House, the country’s biggest Islamic lender, said on Wednesday it would offer 115 million dinars ($397.4 million) of new loans to companies after Kuwait enacted a $5 billion stimulus plan.

The move comes ahead of a 50-basis-point cut in Kuwait’s benchmark lending rate to 3 percent, due on Thursday…….Full Article: Source

From Gulf-times.com: The Commercialbank Plaza – Cb’s hi-tech headquarters – was inaugurated by HE the Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani at West Bay last night.
The function was attended by Commercialbank chairman HE Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Attiyah, managing director Hussein Alfardan, senior government officials and the bank’s senior executives…….Full Article: Source

From Onlinenews.com.pk: Western banking system based on interest, greed and deceit cannot assist humanity, a former military general said Wednesday.

Interest-based banks have brought more miseries to humanity than calamities, plagues and wars, said Maj-Gen (Retd) Zaheer-ul-Islam Abbasi…….Full Article: Source