From Cpifinancial.net: The global Islamic bond market, recovering from the international financial crisis, is expected to chart stronger growth in 2010, buoyed by higher demand for low-risk sovereign debt in the oil-rich Gulf region.
Sukuk, or Islamic bond, issuance was seven-times higher to $8.086 billion in the fourth quarter than a year earlier when just $949 million sukuk were sold, according to Zawya.com’s Sukuk Monitor service………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Arabnews.com: In the last three months, the sukuk market in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries has shown a remarkable turnaround from the difficult days of early 2009.
The GCC market has effectively been playing catch up to developments in the sukuk market in Asia during 2009, where Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan have led the sector into recovery with a string of issuances starting in February 2009, largely government local currency sukuk and a number of sovereign international sukuk………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Business24-7.ae: Amid the global financial crisis there is a section of people who strongly believe this crisis is the result of unethical financing and could have been averted. Dr Hussain Hamed Hassan, a well-known Shariah scholar, argues that Islamic finance is the universal remedy for this sort of crisis.
“Trading in debt is wrong as money is not a commodity to be traded, rather it should be only used for investments,” says Dr Hussain………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Bisnis.com: The government scheduled double issuance of government retail sharia bond (sukuk) this year to optimize absorption of other finance instruments.

Rahmat Waluyanto, Director General of Debt Management, said the authority targets State Budget financing from the retail sukuk worth DIR3 trillion with once issuance on February 10………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Muslims.net: The first and and only Islamic bank in the Philippines, the Al-Amanah Islamic Bank, began its operations in 1973 and was recently bought by the Development Bank of the Philippines.

What sets this bank apart from the traditional banks in the country? Similar to any Islamic bank, it religiously abides by the Shariah, zeroing in on its transaction rules. Most people bridge this type of banking to the concepts of prohibited interests (usury) and profit sharing………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Arabnews.com: The Islamic financial system gained additional popularity in 2009, thanks to the relative immunity it enjoyed from the fallout of the financial crisis.

The widely perceived viewpoint that Shariah-compliant financial institutions had passed the global credit crisis nearly unscathed is presenting the Islamic financial industry to many non-Muslim investors in the world as a safe haven from speculative excesses………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Bernama: Malaysia’s Islamic finance will emerge tops, globally, as there was high demand for sukuk bonds, said Professor of Finance at Bond University, Dr Mohamed Ariff.

“Islamic banking in Malaysia will go even further than where it is today,” he told reporters after presenting a public lecture on “IMF Bank-Restructuring During The Asian Financial Crisis: Examining the Success in the East Asian Countries” here on Friday………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Kuwaittimes.net: The Bank of Kuwait and the Middle East (BKME) has converted to an Islamic bank and changed its name to Al-Ahli United. The Bank will start transactions according to the new system by the beginning of the second half of 2010.
This announcement was made during the 43rd ordinary and the 22nd extraordinary general assembly meetings held yesterday at the BKME headquarters. This decision is a historical event for the Bank of Kuwait and the Middle East, which in 1941, was the first bank established in Kuwait………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Menafn.com: Saudi Arabia’s central bank said that banks have increased their oversees investments by more than $11.97 billion through most of 2009, to counterbalance the ailing domestic credit and the absence of government bonds.

However, their foreign liabilities plunged by $1.06 billion in the same period and most of the drop was in dues to foreign banks and to other parties, according to figures by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA)………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Cpifinancial.net: New headquarters of Sharjah Islamic Bank (SIB) officially opened by H.H. Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qassimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah; expansion plans detailed.
The opening of the new headquarters (four times the size of the bank’s previous head office) forms part of Sharjah Islamic Bank’s expansion strategy………………………………….Full Article: Source

Swicorp , Banque Extérieure d’Algérie (BEA ), Algeria’s largest bank, and Banco Espirito Santo (BES), portugal’s third largest bank, today announced a new partnership in the Algerian leasing sector and the formation of Ijar Leasing Algérie , (”Ijar”) a new Algerian leasing company to be headquartered in Algiers.

The binding shareholder agreement was officially signed by Nabil Triki, Managing Director at Swicorp , Mohamed Loukal, BEA ’s CEO, and Antonio Souto, BES board member, in the presence of Mr. Hadji Baba Ammi, Algeria’s Treasurer………………………………….Full Press Release: Source

From Ameinfo.com: HSBC bank, the paying agent for Amlak has said the Islamic mortgage lender will make the next repayment on its $100m Sukuk on schedule on January 18.
The Sukuk pays 120 basis points above the London interbank offered rate (Libor) and is listed on the Dubai Financial Market. It has a tenor of 5 years and is due to mature in July 2010………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Business24-7.ae: Almost 70 per cent of Turkey’s equities are owned by foreign investors. The GCC (Gulf Co-operation Council) has less than a five per cent share of these, holds huge potential, observed Hakan Ferhatoglu, Chairman of Ata Invest, a Turkish investment banking firm.
Based at DIFC since 2006, Ata Invest is the first and only Turkish investment banking/capital markets advisory firm in the GCC………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Gulf-times.com: Qatar’s economy grew 11% in 2009, mainly due to its natural gas sector, Deputy Prime Minister HE Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah was quoted as saying yesterday.

Qatar, the world’s largest natural gas exporter, is set to outperform key players in the world’s top oil producing region – Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – in coming years due to massive expansion of its gas facilities………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Tradearabia.com: Samba Financial Group, Saudi Arabia’s second largest lender by market value, said its net profit inched up 1.1 percent in the fourth quarter, but was still below the most conservative of analysts’ forecasts.

Samba made 835 million riyals ($222.7 million) in the three months to December 31, up from 826 million riyals a year earlier, the bank said in a statement on the bourse website………………………………….Full Article: Source

To many of us 2008 seems the year of abject failures and abysmal performance. Surprisingly, the Sukuk market wasn’t so bad, with originations 12% greater than in 2006 (even if they were down 53% from 2007). Emerging markets, the heart of the Islamic market space, were still active, thanks to strong ongoing business and attractive oil prices for most of 2008.
The Islamic space benefitted from a migration of talent and attention from the western markets to the emerging and Islamic markets………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Arabnews.com: Prince Mohammed Al-Faisal has instituted an award for the best research paper on Islamic economics. The competition is open to all Saudi and resident students. The prize money is SR100,000 and will be awarded every year.

Announcing the award at a meeting held at the Prince Sultan College for Tourism and Business-Jeddah, which will supervise the research studies, Prince Amr Mohammed Al-Faisal said all entries should reach the organizers by Jumada Al-Thani, which corresponds to June 29………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Gulfnews.com: Many advisers ask clients to invest in emerging markets and US bonds. But, being an Emirati, can I invest directly into those markets and bonds, and how to go about investing in these places and asset classes?

Answer: As an Emirati you are able to invest in any way you choose all over the world, including in the emerging markets of India, China, Brazil, Russia etc. However, being an Emirati means you are also a Muslim, and so your choice of investments will be limited to those that are Sharia-compliant………………………………….Full Article: Source

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (DTT) CEO Jim Quigley begins a visit to the Middle East on January 9th accompanied by Robert Kimmitt, former U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary and currently the Chairman of the Deloitte Center for Cross Border Investment.
Mr. Quigley’s schedule includes meetings with officials and leading companies in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates………………………………….Full Press Release: Source

Noor Takaful, the Islamic Insurance provider, today launched its suite of Individual Family products with flexible protection, investment, and savings takaful plans to cater to the national and expatriate residents of the UAE.
The introduction of the new products coincides with the first anniversary of the company’s inauguration and demonstrates its commitment to innovatively meeting the unique needs of the UAE market………………………………….Full Press Release: Source

From Islamonline.net: This paper tries to determine the primary cause or causes of the financial crises that have plagued almost every country around the world over the last three decades. Of particular significance are the 1998 LTCM breakdown and the prevailing subprime mortgage crisis in the United States which is more severe than any in the past and has had devastating spillover effects worldwide.

It argues that one of the major causes of these crises is the lack of adequate market discipline in the financial system………………………………….Full Article: Source