From Glgroup.com: The rules of conventional insurance have many issues contradicting the rules of Islamic Economy that caused them to be unacceptable by the absolute majority of Muslims.
This resulted in the creation of a new industry; Takaful, so described as a Sharia-compliant cooperative insurance. Yet, huge skepticism still exists among the masses because the insurance industry has not addressed the roots of the problem in the most appropriate way. This analysis gives insight into these roots……….Full Article: Source

From Africasia.com: Islamic banking, once regarded as an exotic but not very practical system and consigned to the outer fringes of the global industry, is now moving steadily into conventional banking and attracting attention from its non-traditional base.
The fact that it eschews charging interest on loans has made it appear the perfect antidote to the excessive greed that characterised conventional banking and led to the current financial crisis……….Full Article: Source

From Business24-7.ae: Qatar’s Islamic banking sector is expected to record high growth supported by expansion in Islamic banking and the country’s economic growth, HC Securities and Investment said in a report.

Downside risks due to exposure in real estate are mitigated in case of Qatar due to slew of initiatives by the government, said the researchers in the report……….Full Article: Source

From Thenational.ae: Bank rise to lift the Dubai and Abu Dhabi benchmarks as investors buy financial stocks after quarterly results were broadly in line with expectations.

“UAE bank results have been positive, with lenders’ capital adequacy ratios increasing, which shows stability is improving,” says Wadah al-Taha, a Dubai-based financial analyst……….Full Article: Source

From Reuters: Investcorp, an investment house listed in Bahrain and London, said on Monday it raised over $500 million from regional investors through a preferential share issue to reduce its debt.

Bahrain-based Islamic investment house Arcapita in a similar capital hike has raised $325 million out of a targeted $400 million, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s said in June……….Full Article: Source

From Tradearabia.com: Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB), the third-largest lender in the emirate by market value, has launched a new investment fund aimed at raising around $100 million in its first year, the fund’s manager said on Monday.

The special investment fund - ADCB Funds FCP which is based in Luxembourg - hopes to lure global institutional and private investors to the United Arab Emirates market, said Mark Friedenthal, head of fund management at ADCB……….Full Article: Source

From Thestar.com.my: High-quality sukuk such as triple A rates and double A rates seem to be in demand now among investors, according to Bank Rakyat Malaysia & International Islamic University Malaysia syariah advisor Prof Datuk Mohd Azmi Omar.

“However, the complicated structure of sukuk issuance will be costly and issuers need to consider the cost factor to be attractive,” he said, adding that sukuk issuance must also be syariah compliance……….Full Article: Source

From Bernama: Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today called on local and foreign Islamic finance consultants and advisors to spearhead the enrichment and dissemination of Syariah knowledge.

This could help strengthen Malaysia’s status as an international Islamic financial hub, he said at a luncheon before launching the Abdul Rahman Saad and Associates (ARSA) brand here……….Full Article: Source

From Zawya.com: The Kuala Lumpur-based International Center for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF), an educational trust which has university status under Malaysian law, has ambitions of becoming the Islamic finance educational equivalent of INSEAD in France and Harvard Business School in the US.

INCEIF is effectively the training arm of Bank Negara Malaysia, the central bank. Since its establishment in 2006, it has spearheaded the human capital challenge not only of the Islamic finance industry in Malaysia but also globally, for INCEIF graduates come from all over the world and include both Muslims and non-Muslims……….Full Article: Source

From Bernama: Maybank Investment Bank Bhd is in talks with several government-linked companies (GLCs) to refinance their bonds to sukuk, chief executive officer Mohammed Rashdan Mohd Yusof said Monday.

“We are looking at a few (GLCs). I can’t mention their names. There are also non-GLCs. We have a significant amount of deals in the pipeline,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the 2009 IFN Issuers and Investors Asia Forum here……….Full Article: Source

From Btimes.com.my: The country’s oldest Islamic bank, Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd, is “actively” looking for a potential merger partner to expand in the region as competition heats up at home, its chief said.
“We are actively looking, but so far there’s nothing concrete to announce,” managing director Datuk Zukri Samat said. The bank will consider both local and regional merger targets, he said……….Full Article: Source

From Khaleejtimes.com: Ali bin Za’al Al Mansouri has assumed charimanship of Abu Dhabi based Methaq Takaful Insurance Company, a Shariah-compliant company listed on Abu Dhabi Exchange. He has replaced Dr. Abdul Latif Al Shamsi, who resigned last week.

Samer Mohammed Kanan was also appointed as the managing director……….Full Article: Source

From Arabianbusiness.com: Islamic lender Ajman Bank , which scaled back its expansion plans due to the financial crisis, expects to break even by the fourth quarter, a top official said.

The lender, which began operations at the start of 2009, aims to open 10 new branches next year, acting Chief Executive Ali E. Al Shaqoosh Al Mueen said on Monday……….Full Article: Source

From Markaz.com: Kuwait Financial Centre S.A.K. “Markaz”, one of the Middle East’s leading investment banking and asset management companies, reported its financial results for the first half ending 30 June 2009.
Net profit reached KD 2.2 million, or earnings per share of 5 fils compared with KD 9.1 million in net profit and an EPS of 20 fils for the same period last year……….Full Article: Source

From Cpifinancial.net: The Securities House, a Shari’ah-compliant investment company listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange is to bring together its London based subsidiary companies Gatehouse Bank plc and GSH UK into one organisation under the Gatehouse Bank brand.

A press release said that the combined organisation will benefit from the strength of Gatehouse Bank in capital markets services and GSH UK’s skills in asset and fund management, “creating an even stronger business with which to approach the growing opportunities in Shari’ah-compliant financial markets, both in London and worldwide.” ………Full Article: Source

From Tradearabia.com: Bahrain-based Islamic mortgage provider Sakana Holistic Housing Solutions and RMK Projects held an Open Day for owners of ‘Nasmah’ Freehold residential Tower, during which two furnished model apartments were put on display.

Ishaq Al Kooheji, president and CEO of RMK Projects and R Lakshmanan, chief executive officer of Sakana, provided latest information about the project to customers and members of the media. Sakana advisers answered queries relating to the project and mortgage finance……….Full Article: Source

From Arabnews.com: A group of Saudi-based investors, including the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), will launch later this year a seven-year plan worth $1 billion in Africa to reduce dependency on rice imports and supply the Middle East region.

The so-called 7X7 project aims at developing and planting 700,000 hectares of farm land to produce within seven years 7 million tons of rice, said Salim Lalani, head of investments at Foras International Investment Company, one of the partners in the project……….Full Article: Source

From Gulf-times.com: Doha Insurance is optimistic about ‘better performance’ in the engineering portfolio as the government’s commitment to major projects in Qatar raises the prospects for good underwriting income.
Doha Insurance assistant general manager (technical division) Mahmoud al-Nasir said the global economic slowdown had impacted the engineering portfolio in core insurance operations, affecting the underwriter’s bottomline……….Full Article: Source

From Kuwaittimes.net: Global Capital Management Limited, alternative investment funds arm of Global Investment House “Global” announced yesterday that Global MENA Ijarah Real Estate Fund has declared a cash distribution of 6.5% making it a third quarterly dividend distribution to its investor.

Shailesh Dash, Managing Partner at Global Capital Management Limited said “Global MENA Ijarah Real Estate Fund which was launched as a close ended fund called for 40% of its committed capital in 2008. The capital was invested in two projects situated in Dubai and Kuwait”……….Full Article: Source

From Thestar.com.my: Foreign companies seeking listing on Bursa Malaysia will be given fast-track approval to keep the stock market vibrant, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said yesterday.

Bursa Malaysia and the Securi-ties Commission would facilitate the listing exercises of these companies, he added……….Full Article: Source

From Mac.com: Nowadays there are a plethora of financial institutions, Islamic and non-Islamic, who belatedly seem to have woken up to the “virtue” of Islamic finance.
When a local Islamic society organised a representative of one of the major global banks to come and talk to us about this subject matter and in particular home financing, I thought I’ll tear myself away from my other distractions and go along to see what it was all about. As free food was on offer it did not take much persuasion……….Full Article: Source