Posted on 26 April 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Bloomberg: A shortage of skilled Islamic scholars and banking officials versed in Shariah-compliant finance is hampering the industry’s ability to develop global standards, said an official at the Islamic Finance Council U.K.
“People from conventional banks need to understand Islamic finance, but Shariah scholars also need to learn more about conventional finance,” Omar Shaikh, a board member of the Glasgow-based Islamic Finance Council, said in a telephone interview in Dubai. “The industry is growing fast globally and this creates challenges associated with standardization.”………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 26 April 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Arabnews.com: Judging by the number of deals closed, funds launched and the presence of new institutions, 2010 is turning out to be a very active year for the Islamic finance market in Saudi Arabia.
The Kingdom, in terms of pool of funds, is the largest player in the global Islamic finance market, although its industry, like elsewhere, is subject to traditional bottlenecks, scarcity of human capital resources and underdeveloped market awareness…………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 26 April 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Arabnews.com: The European Union’s largest and strongest economy, Germany, is finally edging toward facilitating Islamic finance in its jurisdiction. Germany has a Muslim population of 4.3 million, the second largest Muslim population in the EU after France with 5.5 million.
Reports from Germany stress that the country’s banking regulator, the Federal Financial Services Authority (BaFin), has issued a limited banking license to Kuveyt Turk Participation Bank, one of Turkey’s four so-called participation (Islamic) banks…………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 26 April 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Reuters: The Islamic finance industry is increasingly turning to buying and converting conventional banks as an alternative to starting green-field operations. Every Islamic financial institution has a board of Islamic scholars approving banking products and transactions based on their interpretation of Islamic law, or sharia.
The sharia board will guide the bank during its transition period to an Islamic bank…………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 26 April 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Gulfnews.com: What is the “elevator” pitch of Islamic finance to the non-Muslim and the sceptical Muslim? Why do news releases often become articles in Islamic finance?
Although, it is a 40-year phenomenon, has an Islamic bank broken in to the top 100 global brands, competing with Coca-Cola, Citibank, Google, etc? How about national or regional trusted brands?………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 26 April 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Indiatimes.com: More banks in the Gulf Arab region may convert to Islamic finance in a bid to tap rising demand for sharia-compliant products and to avoid the heavy investment required to launch new banks.
A source told Reuters this month that Qatari investors are planning to buy a 25% stake in Ahli United Bank from Kuwaiti investors and have plans to convert Bahrain’s largest retail bank, which itself plans to take its Kuwaiti unit Islamic…………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 26 April 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Gulfnews.com: It is an extraordinary sight. A Sharia-compliant finance company is arguing in an English court that it should not have to make good on one of its financial obligations because the obligation was never Islamic.
Yet that is exactly what Kuwait’s The Investment Dar (TID) company is arguing as it tries to avoid paying Lebanon’s Blom Bank a return on deposits placed with it…………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 26 April 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Themoscowtimes.com: VTB Bank plans to launch an Islamic bond worth about $200 million in the second half after postponing from last year, when defaults and Dubai World’s woes hit the market, a source familiar with the deal said.
VTB has cut the size of the sukuk, or Islamic bond, from an original target of $300 million, the source said. According to a VTB document referring to the original planned launch, the three-year VTB-Leasing sukuk issue had been scheduled “for December 6th with a view of execution in mid-December 2009.”………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 26 April 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Business24-7.ae: The launch of sukuk funds is expected to pick up momentum this year as issuers realise the strong retail market potential for such funds in the UAE.
Emirates NBD has already launched its Global Sukuk Fund and Islamic finance experts expect more issuances this year. The trend is also considered a “good breakthrough development” as the funds give an opportunity to retail investors to participate in the asset class…………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 26 April 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Tradearabia.com: The Islamic bond market, which remains static this year, is set to pick up in 2011-12 with Qatari and Saudi spearheading the industry growth, according to industry experts.
Now is a pivotal time for the global Islamic finance industry as sukuks are expected to grow in importance on the radar of global investors, they noted…………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 26 April 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Ifc.org: Today IFC announced it received the EMEA Finance Most Innovative Islamic Bond Deal award for its groundbreaking $100 million Hilal Sukuk (Islamic investment certificates).
On October 21, 2009, IFC became the first non-Islamic financial institution to issue a Sukuk for term funding in the Middle East. The IFC Sukuk supports a pipeline of IFC Islamic finance projects in key sectors such as health, education, and infrastructure…………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 26 April 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Gulfnews.com: The UAE’s corporate bond issuance market that went into hibernation after the Dubai Government announced a standstill on Dubai World’s debts in November is seen getting a new lease of life following the successful $1 billion (Dh3.67 billion) bond issue by Dubai Water and Electricity Authority (Dewa).
Investment bankers and bond market analysts see signs of a gradual revival in the corporate bond market in the UAE and the Gulf region that had been stalled for over five months…………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 26 April 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Business24-7.ae: Despite an improvement in crude prices and expectations of domestic economic recovery, the debt market in Gulf oil-producing states declined sharply in the first quarter of 2010 because of widening uncertainty and better prospects about growth in bank lending, according to a key Saudi investment firm.
Conventional bond activity in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) tumbled by nearly 70 per cent in the first quarter of this year compared with its average in the previous three quarters, said NCB Capital, an affiliate of National Commercial Bank, the largest bank in Saudi Arabia by assets…………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 26 April 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Reuters: More banks in the Gulf Arab region may convert to Islamic finance in a bid to tap rising demand for sharia-compliant products and to avoid the heavy investment required to launch new banks.
A source told Reuters this month that Qatari investors are planning to buy a 25 percent stake in Ahli United Bank from Kuwaiti investors and have plans to convert Bahrain’s largest retail bank, which itself plans to take its Kuwaiti unit Islamic…………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 26 April 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Tradearabia.com: Bahrain-based Arab Banking Corporation has announced that its consolidated group net profit for the first quarter had risen to $41 million registering a 25 per cent growth when compared to the same period last year.
Announcing the results on Sunday, ABC president and chief executive Hassan Juma said the total revenue amounted to $170 million, well above the $139 million generated in the first quarter of last year…………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 26 April 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Bt.com.bn: Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam (BIBD) plans to become the main financial services provider in Brunei, focusing on Islamic banking and strong human resources development, said the Minister of Industry and Primary Resources (MIPR), Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Utama Dato Seri Setia Hj Yahya Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Hj Bakar, at the bank’s Annual Dinner yesterday.
In his first speech since his appointment to the position of BIBD Chairman in February, Pehin Dato Hj Yahya touched on a number of significant plans for 2010…………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 26 April 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Reuters: Bahrain-based Islamic lender Al Baraka BARKA.BH said on Sunday it would merge the Pakistani operations of one of its units with Emirates Global Islamic Bank, creating a bank with assets of $582 million.
Al Baraka said in a statement the merger of Al Baraka Islamic Bank’s Pakistani operations with Emirates Global Islamic Bank was part of its strategy to expand in Pakistan, but did not disclose any financial details of the merger transaction…………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 26 April 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Tribune.com.pk: One of the biggest challenges facing Islamic banking in Pakistan is to create awareness and convince people that it is different from conventional banking, Saleemullah, Director Islamic Banking, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), said.
The wrong perception of “old wine in a new bottle” should be dealt with by convincing people that what Islamic banks offer is distinct, he said. He was speaking at a seminar on Islamic banking organised at the Federation House on Saturday…………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 26 April 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Aawsat.com: Syria’s Mufti, Dr. Ahmed Hassoun edict to rename Islamic banking as “partnership” has caused an uproar in the world of Islamic finance and its followers. Dr Hassoun justifies his call for renaming them as “partnerships” by the fact that he is afraid of hearing in the future of “Jewish banks” or “Christian banks,” because now there are those who call for establishing “Hindu banks.”
In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat on the future of Islamic banking, Dr Hassoun says: “We have to think of universality before we are taken and crushed by globalization. The banking and financial dealing is impartial and is subject to the rulings of Shariaa…………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 26 April 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Btimes.com.my: Affin Bank Bhd will work with its parent company to convert PT Ina Perdana into a syariah bank once the purchase of the Indonesian lender is concluded, as the group expands into the populous Muslim country.
“Our holding company is looking at it, it will acquire the bank and then we will work together to convert it into an Islamic bank. It is now a conventional lender,” Affin Bank managing director Datuk Zulkiflee Abbas Abdul Hamid told Business Times in an interview in Kuala Lumpur…………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 26 April 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Business24-7.ae: Emirates NBD, the region’s largest bank in assets, is in the process of soft launching its new infrastructure fund and integrated SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) fund shortly, according to a top bank executive.
Suresh Kumar, Member of the bank’s Board of Directors and CEO of Emirates NBD Capital, said that while the funds would be launched in the near future, the value per fund could not be disclosed…………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 26 April 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Thenational.ae: Consumer mortgages were a rare bright spot last year for Amlak Finance, as the struggling Islamic mortgage lender reported an annual loss of Dh155.6 million (US$42.36m).
The company, which is based in Dubai, is listed on the Dubai Financial Market and is partly owned by Emaar Properties, made Dh89.3m on retail financing activities last year, according to results released yesterday…………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 26 April 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Aaawsat.com: When a financial institution is claiming that all its activities are compliant with Islamic Sharia and that it has appointed its own Sharia body to determine whether or not its products and contracts are Sharia compliant and to observe and scrutinize the institution’s activities and its accuracy with regards to Sharia law then this very institution fails to meet its obligations towards its clients and contests in a court of law the compliance of these contracts to Sharia law, this in itself contradicts Islamic Sharia.
This is all so that the institution can evade its responsibility towards its clients even though the contracts were drawn up by its own legal department and approved by its Sharia body. How can we describe such conduct? ………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 26 April 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Timesofmalta.com: Studio Associate Dagradi and Soleto of Milan has concluded an agreement with Erremme Business Advisors to provide a legal and fiscal framework of Islamic Finance assistance in Italy.
Erremme Business Advisors specialise in Islamic finance based in Malta and work in various Gulf countries…………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 26 April 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Aameinfo.com: A high-level Malaysian delegation headed by H R H Raja Dr. Nazrin Shah Ibni Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah, Crown Prince of Perak Darul Ridzuan, is visiting the UAE from April 26 to 28 to promote business and investment opportunities in Islamic Finance in Malaysia, acknowledged globally for its highly-developed and diversified Islamic banking and financial market.
The 58-member delegation includes Tan Sri Zarinah Anwar, Chairman of Securities Commission, Malaysia, Dato Mohammed Razif Abd Kadir, Deputy Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia (Central Bank of Malaysia), Tan Sri Dato Azman bin Mokhtar, Managing Director of Khazanah National Bhd, and Dato Yusli bin Mohamed Yusoff, CEO, Bursa Malaysia Berhad…………………………………..Full Article: Source
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