From Thenational.ae: Until the Kuwaiti firm Investment Dar said it had defaulted on a US$100 million (Dh367.2m) Islamic bond, the sukuk market had been largely untested.

The market has had strong growth over the past seven years, with the value of sukuk issued rising from nothing in 2002 to an estimated $90 billion today…….Full Article: Source

From Thestar.com.my: The outlook for Islamic finance remains strong despite the deepening economic slowdown, scarce liquidity, pronounced stock market declines and plummeting real estate prices.

Standard & Poor’s Rating Services (S&P) credit analyst Mohamed Damak said in a recent report that “the outlook for asset-backed sukuk is positive despite the doubts raised by the disruption in global financial markets and in structured finance.”……Full Article: Source

From Ameinfo.com: Qatar’s Ezdan Real Estate plans to list an Islamic real estate investment trust in Malaysia, but did not say when the listing might take place.
Assets in the proposed trust will probably be based in Qatar and the company has named Maybank Investment Bank as its listing adviser…….Full Article: Source

From Gulfnews.com: Deteriorating asset quality and an increase in non-performing, or bad loans, will be the key challenges regional banks will have to overcome, according to a senior analyst at credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s.

“Our view is that asset quality deterioration will continue. There’s always a time lag effect between the slowdown in the economy and the appearance of the non performing loans [NPLs]. So for the next few quarters, we will continue to see some negative news in the corporate sector,” Emmanuel Volland, senior director for financial services said…….Full Article: Source

From Gulfnews.com: Qatar’s largest investment bank QInvest has acquired a 44-per-cent stake in the UK institutional brokerage and investment banking firm Panmure Gordon.

It will become the largest shareholder in the company. Egypt based investment bank EFG Hermes is another regional shareholder, with a 9.6 per cent stake…….Full Article: Source

From Defimedia.info: In preparation for the integration of Islamic Capital Markets, the Bank of Mauritius intends to develop a structure that will deal with commodity markets that are Shariah compliant.

The Bank is confident that this new form of banking will help to strengthen the country’s financial sector by tapping into the Gulf financial markets, says BOM Governor, Rundheersing Bheenick…….Full Article: Source

From Reuters: Kuwait’s Islamic firm Investment Dar, which owns stakes in companies including carmaker Aston Martin, may consider a capital hike as part of a restructuring plan, a company executive said.

“All options are open, the decision is between the shareholders and the company’s banks and investors represented by the steering committee and its advisors,” Amr Abou El Seoud, Dar’s senior executive vice president, told Reuters on Sunday…….Full Article: Source

From Ameinfo.com: The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has extended a development loan worth €100m to Syria, to be used to finance a power plant expansion project in the country.
Syrian Minister of Finance, Mohammad al-Hussein, said that since it was established bank has funded 30 development projects in Syria, at a total cost of $740m…….Full Article: Source

From Tradearabia.com: Saudi Jabal Omar Development Company said on Sunday it had appointed an affiliate of the world’s largest Islamic lender, Al-Rajhi Bank, to help it secure financing worth a previously estimated $3.31 billion.

Al-Rajhi Financial Services Company is to provide ‘financial advisory and arrange the necessary financing through diverse Islamic Sharia-compliant instruments’ for the Jabal Omar project in the holy city of Mecca, Jabal Omar said in a statement posted on the bourse’s website…….Full Article: Source

From Arabnews.com: The Islamic Research and Training Institute has announced that Zubair Hassan, an Indian national who currently lectures at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) in Kuala Lumpur, has been awarded the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) prize for 1430 AH (2009) in Islamic economics.

Hassan, who was selected in recognition of his contribution to Islamic economics, will be awarded $40,000, a citation and a badge with the IDB’s insignia at the 34th IDB Board of Governors’ annual meeting in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, on June 2-3…….Full Article: Source

From Tradearabia.com: Jordan Islamic Bank achieved a net profit of 8.09 million Jordanian dinars ($11.41 million) in the first quarter, reflecting an increase of three per cent.

Total assets of the bank, a subsidiary of Albaraka Banking Group (ABG), increased by 10 per cent, liquid assets by 6.5 per cent, finance by 15 per cent, deposits by 10 per cent and shareholders equity by 20 per cent at the end of March compared to the same period last year…….Full Article: Source

From Thepeninsulaqatar.com: International Islamic has been selected the “Best Straight Through Processing Bank in Qatar” by Wachovia Bank, part of the US-based Wells Fargo & Company for its excellence in formatting of payments in 2008.

This is the fourth time that International Islamic has won the prestigious award. Wells & Fargo is one of the largest diversified financial services company in the world providing banking, insurance, investments, mortgage and consumer finance…….Full Article: Source

From Dailymirror.lk: The sukuk market provides an avenue to channel excess funds and savings from resource-surplus countries, such as oil-rich Gulf nations, to the Asian region - given the latter’s massive infrastructure and other commercial funding requirements.

There are still funding and investing opportunities, especially in real estate, financial services and infrastructure (power, oil and gas, and roads)…….Full Article: Source

From Zawya: In these times of financial turbulence, Shariah-compliant banking and finance is being endorsed for its stability and is evolving as the best choice on the road to economic recovery.

According to Imtiazz Sarfaraz Khan, Head of Retail Banking and Finance Department at Abu Dhabi National Islamic Finance, Shariah-compliant finance has always been an appropriate and relatively risk-free route for financial dealings but was downplayed for quite some time mainly due to political considerations across the globe…….Full Article: Source

From Todayszaman.com: The last few months witnessed the most remarkable period of global financial market turmoil followed by the most astounding government intervention in the world since the Great Depression.

There were unprecedented coordinated actions by central banks around the world to cut interest rates, guarantee bank deposits and raise guarantee limits in a bid to address the financial market turmoil…….Full Article: Source

From Economic Times: When after a short recession in the US at the beginning of the decade the price of oil began its upward climb, few could have predicted just how far it would go.
In 2008, a barrel was fetching just short of $150. Average prices for 2007 were not far short in real terms of the all-time high during the Pennsylvanian oil boom of the 1860s, or the period after the Iranian revolution of 1979…….Full Article: Source

From Tradearabia.com: Only 40 workers in Bahrain have been laid off in the first four months of the year due to the global credit crunch, it was claimed.

This is compared to 54 people laid off during the same period last year, according to Labour Ministry statistics…….Full Article: Source