From France24.com: French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde is leading a governmental drive to attract investment from Muslim countries, in a bid to turn Paris into the European capital of Islamic finance and help France battle the credit crisis.
The French government announced on Wednesday that within the next two weeks it will be pushing through new tax legislation to make it easier for French firms to attract Islamic financing as the country battles the global credit crunch………………..Full Article: Source

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From Indiatimes.com: The country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) and the largest insurance company Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) are looking to launch Islamic products, senior officials at the two firms said.

While SBI officials have been meeting top experts in the field over the past few days, LIC has set up a team looking into such products. However, a Reserve Bank of India study has recently concluded that Islamic banking may not be feasible in the current regulatory framework in the country………………..Full Article: Source

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From Reuters: UK-listed Islamic bank European Islamic Investment Bank (EIIB) has signed a deal with Standard Chartered Bank to hedge foreign exchange risk.

Standard Chartered said in a statement on Thursday originally issued in Singapore that the Sharia-compliant structured foreign exchange hedging deal was its first in Europe………………..Full Article: Source

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From Thepeninsulaqatar.com: Unicorn plans to spend $1bn on acquiring other institutions in the Gulf, Europe and Asia and has raised about $220m of capital to this end. It is preparing to launch a sukuk, or Islamic bond, in Saudi Arabia in the fourth quarter .

Details of the latest sukuk have yet to be worked out, says Mr Refai, though he was reported in April as saying that the bank was planning a $425m sharia -compliant bond to fund its expansion plans………………..Full Article: Source

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Unicorn Investment Bank (Unicorn), the Bahrain-based financial services group, has been named the Best Investment Bank in Bahrain by international business magazine, Global Finance. The award was presented to Unicorn at a ceremony held on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meetings currently being held in Istanbul.

Global Finance editors, with input from industry experts, used a series of criteria to arrive at their selections. These included market share, number and size of deals, service and advice, structuring capabilities, distribution network, efforts to address market conditions, innovation, pricing, and after-market performance of underwritings………………..Full Press Release: Source

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From Euromoney.com: Al Baraka Banking Group already has a network across 12 markets in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, but this pioneer of Islamic mass-market banking is accelerating its expansion at a difficult time.

In October, for example, the bank’s new Syrian subsidiary hopes to raise $35 million on the Damascus stock market and bring its total capital to $100 million………………..Full Article: Source

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From Thepeninsulaqatar.com: Qatari banks hosted a reception on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Istanbul, Turkey recently.

The reception held on October 4 brought together chairpersons, board members and senior management of GCC, Middle East and international financial institutions, as well as senior officials representing regulatory authorities from various countries of the world……………….Full Article: Source

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From Memri.org: Islamic banking has expanded at a considerable pace since the inception of the first Islamic banking institution in Malaysia three decades ago, and it is no longer restricted to banks owned or operated by Muslims.
A number of multinational banks, particularly on the European continent, have opened their own branches or windows dedicated to practicing Islamic banking………………..Full Article: Source

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From Bloomberg: Amlak Finance PJSC and Tamweel PJSC, the United Arab Emirates mortgage lenders being reorganized by the federal government, may be merged into a new Islamic bank, the country’s economy minister said.

“The final proposal is to have an Islamic bank that operates like any other Islamic lender but with a bigger focus on property finance,” Sultan Bin Saeed al-Mansouri told Dubai Television today. “The federal government will have a capital contribution.” ……………….Full Article: Source

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From Thepeninsulaqatar.com: Qatar National Bank (QNB)’s net profit for the nine months ended September 30 exceeded QR3.1bn, showing 4.1 percent increase over the corresponding period last year, the bank said here, yesterday.

Announcing the bank’s results, QNB Chairman H E Yousef Hussein Kamal said the results demonstrate QNB’s ability to consistently deliver sustained growth to its shareholders………………..Full Article: Source

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From Maktoob.com: Dubai Group’s stake in Malaysia’s Bank Islam has dropped to 30 percent from 40 percent after another shareholder, pilgrim fund Tabung Haji, snapped up the Dubai entity’s portion of convertible preference shares the bank had offered.

Bank Islam had said on Oct. 1 that Dubai Group had not accepted its April offer to buy preference shares, part of the oldest Malaysian Sharia-compliant bank’s exercise to raise 540 million ringgit ($158 million) to boost its capital base………………..Full Article: Source

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From Reuters: Malaysia’s state-run pilgrim fund will double its stake in Bank Islam to about 20 percent after taking up preference shares alloted to another shareholder, Dubai Group, the Business Times reported on Thursday, citing sources.

The sources said it meant Bank Islam, Malaysia’s No 2 sharia bank, had managed to raise 540 million ringgit ($158 million) to strengthen its Tier 1 capital — an exercise that stalled after Dubai Group refused the initial offer last week………………..Full Article: Source

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From Gulf-daily-news.com: Cairo-based investment bank EFG-Hermes shifted exposure on its Middle East Focus List away from Egypt and towards Saudi Arabia, saying a neutral stance was now right for the local market due to its recent strength.

Egypt’s benchmark stock index was trading at around 6,693 points in mid-session trade yesterday, nearly doubling in value since a year low of 3,380 hit in February. The Hermes index has also soared in value this year………………..Full Article: Source

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From Reuters: Strong demand for Kuwait Projects Co’s $500 million bond this week will encourage more Kuwaiti issuers, and showed fixed-income investors were diversifying within the region, one of the arrangers said.

The bond, the first out of Kuwait in 2009 and the first international bond issued by a Gulf Arab private sector company this year, was seen as a significant indicator of investor appetite………………..Full Article: Source

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From Thestar.com.my: Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) plans to issue RM1bil to RM2bil of government-guaranteed Islamic bonds to fund its expansion, a source familiar with the deal said yesterday.

The paper will have maturities of up to 10 years, said the source, who asked not to be identified as the deal has not been publicly announced………………..Full Article: Source

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From Saudigazette.com.sa: The three major international rating agencies - FitchRatings, Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s - assigned the highest credit ratings to the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) $1.5 billion Sukuk program.
FitchRatings released on Sept. 21, 2009 its rating of AAA to IDB $1.5 billion MTN program and $850 million Sukuk issue,……………….Full Article: Source

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From Bernama: RAM Ratings has reaffirmed the ratings of Project Lintasan Shah Alam’s (PLSA) RM330 million Sukuk Ijarah and RM415 million Sukuk Mudarabah with a stable outlook.

PLSA is the concessionaire for the 14.7 km Lebuhraya Kemuning-Shah Alam (LKSA) in Selangor, which is under construction and slated for completion by the end of this year………………..Full Article: Source

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From Cpifinancial.net: RAM Ratings said it has assigned respective preliminary long- and short-term ratings of AAA (stable outlook) and P1 to Pengurusan Air SPV’s proposed Islamic Medium-Term Notes Programme of up to MYR 20 billion ($5.8 billion) in nominal value and proposed Islamic Commercial Papers Programme of up to MYR 20 billion in nominal value; both facilities have a combined limit of MYR 20 billion in nominal value.

The company is a special-purpose vehicle set up as a wholly owned subsidiary of Pengurusan Aset Air Berhad (PAAB), to undertake the financing of the latter’s acquisition of water assets and their accompanying liabilities in Malaysia and Labuan………………..Full Article: Source

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From Maktoob.com: Dubai World and its financial advisors Rothschild and Deutsche Bank AG (DB) are close to a deal with banks on easing part of the conglomerate’s $20 billion debt burden, according to people familiar with the matter.

A plan to repay, or extend part of a $3.52 billion Islamic bond due in December for its troubled real estate unit Nakheel is at an advanced stage of discussion, the people said………………..Full Article: Source

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From Arabfinance.com: Dubai’s $80 billion of state-related debt is “reasonable,” given the economy’s size and growth rate, and HSBC Holdings Plc will lend to companies facing funding problems, the bank’s Middle East chairman said.

“If you believe the Middle East story, you have to believe the Dubai story,” HSBC Bank Middle East Ltd. Chairman Youssef Nasr said in an interview yesterday. “Temporary mismatches in supply and demand” in the property market need to be addressed, he said………………..Full Article: Source

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From Bernama: Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Bhd will spend RM15 million on rebranding to grow its market share to 50 per cent.

In a statement, Takaful Malaysia said the exercise would include a modern, young and energetic “look” for its logo, physical creative refurbishments of its branches and a refreshing look for its outdoor billboards and signages………………..Full Article: Source

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From Tradearabia.com: Buruj Cooperative Insurance’s initial public offering (IPO) has been subscribed by 702 per cent of total offered shares, since it was launched on October 3. The offer closes tomorrow (October 9).

In the first four days, the value of subscriptions amounted to SR365.17 million with the number of subscribers reaching 127,936, revealed Marcus Andrade, the chief of Al Rajhi Capital, who announced the IPO subscription results as the lead manager for the issue………………..Full Article: Source

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From Aawsat.com: The “good loan” [al-Qard al-Hassan] is one of the gateways to social responsibility that Islam legislated, encourages and rewards. The “good loan” is mentioned in the Holy Quran on numerous occasions; “Who is it that will offer of Allah a good loan, so He will multiply it to him manifold, and Allah straitens and amplifies, and you shall be returned to Him” [Surat al Baqara, Verse 245].

“Allah did aforetime take a covenant from the Children of Israel, and we appointed twelve captains among them. And Allah said: I am with you: if ye (but) establish regular prayers, practice regular charity, believe in my messengers, honor and assist them, and loan to Allah a good loan, verily I will wipe out from you your evils, and admit you to gardens with rivers flowing beneath; but if any of you, after this, resisteth faith, he hath truly wandered from the path or rectitude” [Surat al Maeda, Verse12]………………..Full Article: Source

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From UPI: The world’s Muslim population stands at 1.57 billion, or 23 percent of the total population of 6.8 billion, a study released in Washington indicated.

The Pew Research Center Forum on Religion & Public Life said its study was based on demographic data from 232 countries and territories. The study found Muslims inhabit all five continents but more than 60 percent of them are in Asia, and another 20 percent are in the Middle East and North Africa………………..Full Article: Source

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