From Arabnews.com: H. Abdur Raqeeb, convener of the National Committee on Islamic Banking, met with Salman Khursheed, Indian minister of state for minority and corporate affairs, in New Delhi recently and discussed prospects of introducing the interest-free Islamic banking system in India.
“It would also help India attract the much needed funds for its infrastructure projects,” Raqeeb told the minister……..Full Article: Source

From Gulf-daily-news.com: The outlook for structured Islamic investment deals has not diminished despite the global economic downturn.
That is the view of Bahrain-based Seera Bank which recently received the deal of the year award by the Financial Times’ Banker magazine for its acquisition of UK water treatment specialist company BWA……..Full Article: Source

From Reuters: The first sukuk (Islamic bond) defaults have arrived, and no one has a clue how they’re going to shake out. Which might actually be a feature rather than a bug, going forwards.

Bondholders often have a large amount of complacency derived from the fact that an enormous amount of equity needs to be wiped out before they take any hit at all. And that complacency does the system no favors in the long term……..Full Article: Source

From Americanchronicle.com: On June 13th, Saudi Arabia’s Capital Market Authority (CMA) launched a new market for conventional and Islamic bonds, or sukuk, in a push to develop a debt market in the face of the drying credit and restricted liquidity attributed to the global financial meltdown.
The introduction of the Saudi Arabian sukuk market parallels the emerging demand among Muslim countries for Shari’a- compliant products, as witnessed in Indonesia and Bahrain among others in the GCC……..Full Article: Source

From Reuters: A new report by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) details the effects it says that terror finance laws have had on American Muslims and America’s relations with the Islamic world. You can see the report, “Blocking Faith, Freezing Charity”, here.

The report says U.S. terrorism finance laws — greatly expanded after the Sept 11 attacks by the administration of former President George W. Bush — have led to the direct closure of seven U.S.-based Muslim charities……..Full Article: Source

From Financeasia.com: How many local banks does your country have? Hong Kong has 23 licensed banks and Singapore six — run-of-the-mill numbers for countries with around seven million and five million residents apiece.

Shift gears to the Middle East. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), the financial and logistics hub of the region, has more than 50 banks……..Full Article: Source

From Reuters: Malaysian sharia banking group BIMB Holdings does not plan to sell down its 51 percent stake in Bank Islam, Group Managing Director Johan Abdullah said on Tuesday.

“Certainly no. That is a strategic investment as far as BIMB Holdings is concerned,” Johan told reporters when asked if BIMB was looking to reduce its stake in Bank Islam, the country’s No.2 sharia lender……..Full Article: Source

From Globalpensions.com: The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has revised the guidelines on exchange traded funds (ETF) to allow foreign funds from certain recognised jurisdictions to be cross-listed on Bursa Malaysia.

As a result of the revision, a fund manager can pursue secondary listing of a foreign ETF on the Bursa Malaysia, if it is from a recognised jurisdiction as stipulated in the guidelines……..Full Article: Source

From Tradearabia.com: The outlook for the reinsurance sector in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) states continues to remain positive despite the impact of the global financial crisis, said Gulf Reinsurance (Gulf Re), a Dubai-based specialist reinsurer.

Gulf Re, which recently completed its first year of operations from the Dubai International Financial Centre, is especially well positioned to capitalise upon opportunities in the regional infrastructure and energy sectors, remarked Gail Norstrom, its chief executive officer on Tuesday……..Full Article: Source

From Arabnews.com: Islamic Development Bank (IDB) President Ahmed Mohammed Ali has urged the private sector of the member countries to play an important role in developmental activities in all respects.

Addressing the IDB Group Business Forum (Thiqah), which was attended by consuls general of the IDB member countries here yesterday, …….Full Article: Source

From Gulf-daily-news.com: Bahrain’s insurance market is booming and creating new jobs in the kingdom. The market posted its strongest-ever annual growth during last year, with gross premiums surging by 34 per cent to register BD183.3m ($486.3m).

And that saw insurance companies create new jobs as the number of people employed in the industry rose from 1,224 to 1,394, of whom 62pc are Bahrainis……..Full Article: Source

From Themalaysianinsider.com: Malaysia’s stock exchange is looking to expand the Islamic capital market in Malaysia.

Bursa Malaysia plans to roll out a commodity murabaha facility to enable Islamic banks to better manage their short-term liquidity, according to Yusli Mohamed Yusoff, its chief executive……..Full Article: Source

From Reuters: Kuwaiti Islamic finance firm Investment Dar said on Tuesday that it had won a court ruling to suspend the sale of Commercial Bank of Kuwait’s stake in Boubyan Bank.

Dar, which owns half of British luxury carmaker Aston Martin, is disputing the sale of CBK’s stake in Boubyan to the National Bank of Kuwait for 120 million dinars in a deal that NBK announced on Sunday……..Full Article: Source

From Gulfnews.com: The gloves are off in a dispute between Shuaa Capital and Dubai Banking Group (DBG) - a unit of Dubai Holding - over a Dh1.5 billion ($409) convertible bond issued to Shuaa by DBG in 2007.

The bond was meant to be converted into 250 million shares on maturity, but the two companies have been quarrelling over whether the conversion into shares is mandatory or not……..Full Article: Source

From Canadianbusiness.com: As the Anglo-Saxon ex-masters of the financial universe struggle to emerge from a perfect storm of bad loans, bad bets and a deep recession, an alternative approach to business transactions is having a moment in the sun: Islamic finance, based on teachings from the Qur’an.

Some governments, including the United Kingdom and Japan, have begun trying to tap into money from the Middle East by floating debt as sukuk, or Shariah-compliant bonds……..Full Article: Source

From Aawsat.com: Saudi Arabia’s central bank sought to boost lending on Tuesday by halving the rate it pays to commercial banks for deposits, after concerns mounted about their exposure to two troubled Saudi conglomerates.

The problems at Saad Group and Ahmad Hamad al-Gosaibi & Bros Co (AHAB) highlight growing risks for the Gulf region, which has been battered by the financial crisis despite its energy exports and its savings stored in sovereign funds……..Full Article: Source

From Saudigazette.com.sa: An official from Yemen’s national security authority revealed that Hasan Hussein Bin Alwan, described as the “largest financer of Al-Qaeda” and who was arrested in the Yemeni region of Marib last Friday, had been under surveillance for six months.
Saudi national Bin Alwan reportedly raised funds from beyond Yemeni borders claiming they were destined for the construction of mosques, schools, orphanages and other charity projects……..Full Article: Source

From Gulf-daily-news.com: Bahrain’s Albaraka sees its full-year net profit at about last year’s level as it invests in its banking systems and opens new branches, and plans to list its Syrian unit before August, its chief executive said.

Albaraka, Bahrain’s largest Islamic bank by market value, is in an inward-looking phase of its development, as it consolidates the group’s operations in 12 countries, before eying new markets in Asia and Europe at a later stage……..Full Article: Source

From Reuters: Kuwaiti mobile operator Zain is renewing its $2.5 billion Islamic loan that signed in 2007, a banker close to the deal said on Tuesday.
Syndication of the two-year murabaha facility has launched to the senior phase of selldown via bookrunners Banque Saudi Fransi, Calyon and Al Rajhi Bank and is being targeted at a small number of close relationship banks including Saudi and International banks, the banker added……..Full Article: Source

Noor Islamic Bank PJSC today announced an alliance with UAE Exchange, one of the leading exchange houses in the Middle East, offering an additional card payment option for its card customers in the UAE.

Customers of Noor Islamic Bank cards will now be able to make their monthly payments at any of the 77 branches of UAE Exchange located across the country……..Full Press Release: Source

Tradex, the specialist car sales company, and Allianz Takaful have signed a cooperation agreement, which will allow Tradex to start offering Allianz Takaful’s Islamic insurance services to its clients.
The agreement was officially signed on the 1st June 2009, at the Tradex showroom in Sitra in the presence of Mr. Yaser Abdulqader Saeed, Assistant General Manager at Tradex, Mr. Yousif Ali Mohammed, Assistant Manager-Back Office Administration at Tradex, and Mr. Omar Alqassab, Relationship Manager at Allianz Takaful………Full Press Release: Source

From Dailytimes.com.pk: KASB Funds Limited and Muslim Commercial Financial Services (Pvt) Ltd (MCFSL) signed a trust deed for KASB Cash Fund.
KASB Cash Fund will be an open-ended fund allowing investors, flexibility in their investment and full or partial redemption at any point in time………Full Article: Source

From Streetcorner.com.au: Welcome to the world of Islamic Finance. Interest free loans I’m told. I wonder why no one had thought up of the idea before.
Well, according to the Federal Member for Prospect Chris Bowen MP “I think there’s great opportunities”….. but the question remains; for whom? Do Australians really want to be dealing with the unknown?……..Full Article: Source