From Bi-me.com: Economic growth in the Middle East and North Africa will remain below its average rate of 4.5% until 2011 as lower oil prices and weaker European export markets hurt growth, the World Bank said.

Economic expansion in the region will slow to 1.6% this year from 5.6% last year, the World Bank said in its regional outlook released today……..Full Article: Source

From Reuters: Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), the Gulf state’s sovereign wealth fund, will offer its stake in Islamic lender Boubyan Bank in a public auction in July, a state-controlled firm said on Monday.

KIA has set a minimum price of 550 fils ($1.91) per share for the auction on July 22, Kuwait Investment Co, a unit of KIA, said in a statement obtained by Reuters on Monday……..Full Article: Source

From Reuters: Former Dubai Department of Finance director-general Nasser al-Shaikh resigned from three more companies on Monday linked to Dubai’s government, including Dubai Islamic Bank, a day after leaving its affiliate Deyaar.

Officials and statements from Dubai Islamic, National Bonds, and education provider Taaleem confirmed Shaikh’s resignations just a month after he was replaced as head of Dubai’s Department of Finance. Shaikh declined to comment……..Full Article: Source

From Reuters: Malaysian CIMB-Principal Islamic Asset Management will launch its first Islamic global equity fund domiciled in Europe, targeting central banks and insurers, its chief executive said on Monday.

Datuk Noripah Kamso told Reuters the Dublin-domiciled fund would be launched by the end of the year. “We are focusing a lot more on Islamic asset management,” Kamso said……..Full Article: Source

From Hurriyet.com.tr: Investors from the Gulf state of Qatar and neighboring Syria may set up an Islamic bank in Turkey, according to a story in The Peninsula, an English-language daily published in Qatar.

A delegation of Qatari and Syrian investors, led by Sheikh Khalid bin Abdullah bin Thani Al Thani, visited Ankara recently to discuss plans to set up the Islamic bank, called a “participation bank” in Turkey, the newspaper reported over the weekend……..Full Article: Source

From Gazeta.kz: The deputies of the Senate of Parliament of Kazakhstan at the plenary session today passed the Law on Agreement Ratification between the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Government of the United Arab Emirates on opening of the Islamic Bank in Kazakhstan.

The agreement between the government of Kazakhstan and the government of the United Arab Emirates on opening in Kazakhstan of the Islamic Bank was signed on June 11, 2009 in Astana……..Full Article: Source

From Lse.co.uk: Bahrain plans an Islamic bond issue of about $530.5 million in its local currency to cover its budget deficit, the Gulf Arab kingdom’s central bank governor was quoted on Monday as saying.

The planned sovereign Islamic bond would be the first government sukuk to be issued in dinars, and would come at the ‘appropriate time’, Rasheed al-Maraj told the daily Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in an interview……..Full Article: Source

From Arabianbusiness.com: Bahrain’s mortgage market could double to about BD700 million ($1.9 billion) in the next few years, according to a mortgage expert.

R Lakshmanan, CEO of Sakana Holistic Housing Solutions, admitted that the number of mortgage approvals in the first three months of the year had slowed, and could dip further……..Full Article: Source

From Thestar.com.my: Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Bhd (STMB) targets a 10% increase in customer base from 400,000 currently for its financial year ending June 30, 2010 with the launch of its latest initiative – Takaful myDesk – with Lembaga Tabung Haji (LTH).

Takaful myDesk is a one-stop centre for customers to carry their takaful transactions for all general and family-related takaful products at various LTH branches……..Full Article: Source

From Arabianbusiness.com: Islamic insurers look set to have been the best investment among stocks in the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) General Index during the first half of the year.

At Sunday’s close, Dar Takaful and Takaful Emarat Insurance were up 137.4 percent and 91.2 percent, respectively, since the beginning of the year……..Full Article: Source

From Gulf-daily-news.com: The Bahrain Association of Banks (BAB) is to have a national pavilion for the first time at this year’s World Islamic Banking Conference (WIBC) in the kingdom.

The pavilion, supported by the Economic Development Board, will host a selection of member banks, showcasing the strength and depth of Islamic financial institutions in Bahrain……..Full Article: Source

From Bi-me.com: Two leading Islamic finance industry service providers, DinarStandard and Dar Al Istithmar, today announced that they have begun gathering data for a first-of-its-kind corporate social responsibility (CSR) survey of Islamic finance Institutions.

The objective of the survey is to benchmark Islamic finance Institutions on their social responsibility efforts. …….Full Article: Source

From Ameinfo.com: Ajman Bank, the Emirate’s first Islamic commercial bank yesterday signed an agreement with Ajman Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The signing signifies the beginning of a long-term collaboration between the two parties, which will form the foundation of an institutional framework through which ideas, strategies and services can be exchanged, intended to foster sustainable development within the business community in Ajman…….Full Article: Source

From Tradearabia.com: Dubai Islamic Bank has no exposure to two troubled Saudi conglomerates, a spokesman said on Monday.

“Dubai Islamic Bank has confirmed that it has no exposure to either party,” a spokesman for the bank said when asked about its business with Saad Group and Ahmad Hamad Al Gosaibi Group & Brothers……..Full Article: Source

From Gulfnews.com: Emirates NBD, the Gulf region’s biggest bank by assets, sees earnings under pressure from non-performing loans during the economic crisis, the group’s chief financial officer said on Monday.

“As we go through the year, we will see the materialisation of non-performing loans,” chief financial officer Sanjay Uppal said……..Full Article: Source

From Albawaba.com: Dubai Export Development Corporation (EDC), in association with the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade), has started the ‘Islamic Financial Services Mission’, a government initiative of introducing Islamic financial products and services from the UAE to Australia in line with the current changes and trends happening in the financial systems across various countries worldwide.

Islamic banking, one of the recent segments in global financial services with the first bank being established in 1975, has grown remarkably fast and today accounts for over US$700 billion assets provided by more than 300 financial institutions across 75 countries……..Full Article: Source

From Arabnews.com: The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and four European states, which are members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), signed a free trade agreement (FTA) in Norway yesterday.
On behalf of the GCC, Abdul Rahman Al-Attiyah, GCC secretary general, signed the FTA, while the ministers of trade and economy from Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein signed the accord on behalf of EFTA……..Full Article: Source

From Ameinfo.com: Emaar Properties has partnered with Standard Chartered Bank to extend two easy home finance packages for all its projects in Dubai that will be delivered in the next nine months.
Standard Chartered Bank will offer two mortgage products - the Asset Back Lending (ABL) Product and Standard Mortgage Product (SMP)……..Full Article: Source

From Cpifinancial.net: VTB, the second largest Russian financial institution, has launched its operations in the Gulf and wider MENA region with the opening of its office in Dubai.

Licensed by the DIFC in May 2009, VTB Capital said that the Dubai office is the main hub for the planned expansion of its investment business across the region, in line with the bank’s international growth strategy targeting “key markets in MENA, Europe and the Far East……..Full Article: Source

From Tradearabia.com: The Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD), the investment arm of the government of Dubai, has signed a membership accession with the Long-Term Investors Club.

The signing ceremony was held on the sidelines of the Paris Conference for Long-Term Value & Economic Stability, which took place today (June 22) in the French capital……..Full Article: Source

From Gulfnews.com: Dubai-based investment bank Shuaa Capital said yesterday regulators should refrain from intervening in a $409 million (Dh1.5 billion) bond conversion dispute it has with Dubai Banking Group as it was a “legal” matter.

In a letter to the United Arab Emirates bourse watchdog Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority (ESCA) posted on the Dubai bourse website, Shuaa pointed to several questions which “required very careful consideration” and had to be addressed as “matters of law and public policy”……..Full Article: Source

From Ameinfo.com: Emirates Islamic Bank, one of the leading Islamic institutions in the region, has launched another convenient service for its customers i.e. that of making credit card payments.
Two of the UAE’s largest and most prominent money exchange companies, Al Ansari and UAE Exchange have joined hands with Emirates Islamic Bank to provide customers with further venues to make their EIB credit card payments……..Full Article: Source

From Gulf-daily-news.com: The UAE is ready to spend $136 million to fund the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) if its bid to host the agency’s headquarters is successful, a senior official said yesterday.

The UAE wants to place itself at the forefront of developments that may shape the future energy industry and hosting IRENA was part of that plan, Sultan Al Jaber, chief executive of Abu Dhabi’s state-owned green energy initiative Masdar, said……..Full Article: Source

From Tradearabia.com: A member of a ruling family in the United Arab Emirates has bought a majority stake in an English Premier League soccer club, the official WAM news agency reported on Sunday.

WAM did not name the club but said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saqr Al-Qassimi has bought 60 percent of it, adding that details would be announced in a few days……..Full Article: Source

From Guardian: Nicolas Sarkozy today took a hard line in France’s latest row over Islamic dress, saying full veils and face coverings were a sign of women’s debasement and “not welcome” on French soil.

More than 50 MPs, mostly from the president’s centre-right UMP party, last week backed calls for a parliamentary inquiry to debate whether Muslim women who wear full-body religious veils with only their eyes visible posed a threat to the republic’s secular values and gender equality……..Full Article: Source