From Saudigazette.com.sa: Dubai’s government said Wednesday it is creating a “Financial Support Fund” charged with managing and distributing $20 billion worth of state funds to cash-strapped companies in the emirate.
In a statement announcing the fund, Finance Department Director General Abdulrahman Al-Saleh said the payouts will be provided to government-linked companies as loans based on their projects’ “strategic and developmental importance” to the city-state………Full Article: Source

From Gulfnews.com: The Support Fund’s board will be responsible for establishing general policy for the Fund and its subsidiaries and defining its projects and programmes, obtaining loans and financing, establishing institutions, companies, commercial projects and subsidiaries and buying and selling assets and equities.

It will also be responsible for recommending criteria for applicants requesting loans and proposing suitable applicants in the form of strategic projects or companies and recommending them to the Supreme Fiscal Committee (SFC)………Full Article: Source

From Thenational.ae: Dubai is preparing to borrow a second US$10 billion (Dh36.73bn) to help government-related companies hit by the global recession, and yesterday announced it had set up an independent agency to manage the funds.

Dubai’s Department of Finance said Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, had issued a decree establishing the Dubai Financial Support Fund to administer the proceeds of Dubai’s $20bn bond programme………Full Article: Source

From Gulfnews.com: The Ras Al Khaimah Government on Wednesday completed the formal documentation for its landmark $400 million (Dh1.46 billion) sukuk (Islamic bond) issue, with Standard Chartered Bank, BNP Paribas and Liquidity House acting as joint bookrunners.

This issuance is both the first dollar sukuk issued by a sovereign and by an emirate in the UAE………Full Article: Source

From Middleeastevents.com: Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone (RAK FTZ) posted a 14.5% increase in revenue in the second quarter of 2009, compared to the same period in 2008.

New company registrations for April to June 2009 climbed to 554, a marked 14.7% increase from last year’s registration and a further 13.6% increase compared to the first quarter of this year………Full Article: Source

Islamic real estate financing manual is an operational and strategic guide for Islamic real estate investments.
It has been designed in collaboration with Shari’a scholars, Islamic finance specialists and Islamic banks………Full Article: Source

Islamic derivatives manual is an operational and strategic guide for Islamic derivatives.
It has been designed in collaboration with Shari’a scholars, Islamic finance specialists and Islamic banks………Full Article: Source

Islamic investment banking manual is an operational and strategic guide for Islamic investment banking.
It has been designed in collaboration with Shari’a scholars, Islamic finance specialists and Islamic banks………Full Article: Source

Islamic banking operations manual is an operational level module designed for Islamic Banks to implement procedures for governing sources and utilization of funds.
It discusses various sources of funds including paidup capital and reserves, Islamic debt instruments, inter-bank borrowings and deposits/investment accounts in the light of Islamic principles………Full Article: Source

From Reuters: Corporate defaults in Malaysia, Southeast Asia’s largest bond market, could hit the highest level this year since the 1997 financial crisis as firms struggle to repay borrowings, a rating agency said.

RAM Ratings, which says it rates about three quarters of corporate bonds in Malaysia worth 160 billion ringgit ($45.11 billion), said 4.8 percent of the issuers it rates could default in 2009 in the worse-case scenario, including Islamic bonds or sukuk………Full Article: Source

From Tradearabia.com: The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) has announced that the monthly issue of the short-term Islamic leasing bonds, Sukuk Al Ijara, has been oversubscribed by 200 per cent.

Subscriptions worth BD10 million were received for the BD5 million issue, which carries a maturity of 182 days………Full Article: Source

From Reuters: Mauritius plans to offer sharia-compliant short-term liquidity tools within months as the Indian Ocean island seeks to become a new player in Islamic financing, the central bank governor said on Wednesday.

Mauritius, best known as a luxury-holiday destination, has developed its offshore banking sector in recent years and now wants to tap into the $1 trillion Islamic finance industry, seen as a major area of potential growth………Full Article: Source

From Gulf-times.com: QIC is getting into full-scale Islamic insurance by establishing a joint venture – Damman - in association with QIB and other strategic partners.
The QR200mn closed shareholding company is under formation, QIC deputy CEO Ali al-Mannai told Gulf Times yesterday………Full Article: Source

From Maktoob.com: The exposure of 30 Gulf banks to troubled Saudi conglomerates Saad Group and Al-Gosaibi create “significant credit risks for these banks” as the exposure is “significant but manageable”, ratings agency Standard and Poor’s said on Wednesday.

S&P conducted a survey of banks in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and reported that exposure to the two Saudi groups is as high as 20 percent of the adjusted total equity of some banks………Full Article: Source

From Saudigazette.com.sa: Two large Saudi banks sharply increased provisions for loan losses during the second quarter, official data showed on Wednesday, amid concerns over the solvency of some debt-laden private Saudi firms.
Banque Saudi Fransi booked SR120 million ($32 million) in provisions for loan losses during the second quarter, according to data released on the Saudi stock exchange………Full Article: Source

From Reuters: National Bank of Kuwait bought a 13.2 percent stake in Boubyan Bank for $295 million in an auction on Wednesday, becoming the largest shareholder in the Islamic lender.

Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), the Gulf Arab state’s sovereign wealth fund, was selling its 19.8 percent stake in Boubyan, or 231 million shares, in an auction in which Securities Group Co also competed………Full Article: Source

From Bernama: Prudential Fund Management Bhd (PFMB) expects the size of its shariah asset funds to register 30 percent growth for the rest of the year as in the first half of 2009.

Its syariah investment director, Zulkifli Ishak, said the growth would be contributed by its offshore mandates amid improving market and growing confidence in the Islamic finance industry………Full Article: Source

From Microfinancefocus.com: The Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD), an affiliate of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), has approved two microfinance projects, one each in Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan worth $15 million, said a statement by the bank.
The approval came following the meeting of the board of directors of the ISFD at the IDB headquarters in Jeddah on Tuesday. The ISFD was established after the Makkah Extraordinary Islamic Summit in 2005………Full Article: Source