Posted on 06 July 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Bloomberg: Shariah-compliant loans slumped to a five-year low in Europe, the Middle East and Africa in the first half on credit-ratings downgrades and falling property prices.
Islamic syndicated loans declined 40 percent to $2.2 billion, compared with a 5 percent drop in total lending to $304 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Real-estate prices have dropped 50 percent in the United Arab Emirates from their peak in August 2008, according to estimates from Colliers International……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 06 July 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Bloomberg: Indonesia’s government plans to name three banks next week to help it sell $650 million of Islamic bonds in October, a finance ministry official said.
“We will pick three names next week,” Dahlan Siamat, director for Islamic financing at the ministry, said in a telephone interview in Jakarta. Southeast Asia’s largest economy raised $650 million from selling its first-ever international Islamic dollar bonds in April last year, a transaction arranged by Barclays Plc, HSBC Holdings Plc and Standard Chartered Plc……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 06 July 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Tribune.com.pk: Pakistan plans to expand its Shariah-compliant banking industry and attract more investors from the Gulf by boosting sales of Sukuk bills.
“Currently, we have three-year tenure securities in the market, however, the government would now like to introduce Sukuk maturing in a year or less,” spokesman for the State Bank, Syed Wasimuddin, said………………………………………Full Article: Source
Posted on 06 July 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Alrroya.com: Bahraini retail lender BBK will not launch its planned benchmark bond issue until market conditions stabilise, its chief executive said on Monday.The bank held investors meetings in May with a view to a potential benchmark U.S. dollar Eurobond issue under its existing euro medium term notes (EMTN) programme.
Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat reopened Gulf Arab bond markets by issuing a five-year $750 million bond in late June after the market was hit by the European debt crisis, raising the prospect other issuers from the region could follow.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 06 July 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Tradearabia.com: Jordan aims to launch its first $500 million Eurobond by early October to capitalise on greater investor confidence and tap lower-cost funding, the finance minister said on Monday.
Mohammad Abu Hammour said the government aimed to raise money amid signs of a recovery in Jordan’s economy and political support for a tough fiscal consolidation plan……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 06 July 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Bernama: Bank Negara Malaysia is committed to undertake research to develop Syariah parameter references in its effort to achieve convergence and harmonisation of Islamic financial practices.
“Such important efforts to generate greater harmonisation in Islamic finance will enhance market efficiency, particularly in terms of accelerating the product development cycle and improving time to market,” said deputy governor Datuk Muhammad Ibrahim……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 06 July 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Gulf-times.com: QNB’s Islamic banking division has launched QNB Al Islami Qatar Airways Titanium MasterCard, the first such card that complies with Shariah banking principles.
QNB Al Islami is giving its new credit card customers an instant bonus of 6,000 Qmiles on completing their first QR500 transaction. In addition, the customers could also earn one Qmile for every QR6 spent until December 31, 2010……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 06 July 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Gulf-times.com: Investors are looking for signs of renewed lending growth from upcoming Gulf bank results, where provisions for bad and doubtful debt will continue to weigh on second quarter profits.
“NPLs will probably dominate the headline but we think attention should be put on loan book growth,” said Daniel Broby, chief investment officer at Silk Invest fund. “Outside of Dubai, we are expecting signs of loan growth right across the rest of region.”………………………………………Full Article: Source
Posted on 06 July 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Bloomberg: Gulf Finance House EC, the Bahrain- based investment bank, aims to reach an accord with its creditors this month to extend the maturity of a $100 million Islamic loan by three years as it seeks to defer asset sales.
“We’re in the documentation stage to extend the facility for up to three years and we expect the deal to be completed sometime this month,” Group Chief Executive Officer Ted Pretty said in a phone interview today. “We felt that 2010 is not going to be a good enough market to sell valuable assets.”………………………………………Full Article: Source
Posted on 06 July 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Gulf-daily-news.com: Takaful International Company has signed a co-operation agreement with Paramount Health, which includes more than 3,000 hospitals in India for takaful network of healthcare providers outside Bahrain.
The deal will offer Takaful insurers larger options of speciality hospitals and clinics in India……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 06 July 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Ifinanceexpert: In an effort to provide Muslims with the convenience and flexibility of credit cards and mortgages, Islamic banks have developed shari’ah compliant financial products that eliminate interest. Instead, these Islamized credit cards and mortgages incorporate a profit-and-loss approach, where the lender assumes ownership risk in the goods and services financed.
However, what of insurance? Why does insurance need to be Islamized? Conventional insurance serves a very important function in the global economy by mitigating risk……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 06 July 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Thedrum.co.uk: Ogilvy Noor has become the world’s first Islamic branding consultancy after WPP, the advertising group led by Sir Martin Sorrell, launched the unit in a bid to unravel the motivation behind 1.8bn Muslim consumers.
The launch culminates a two year study by WPP into Muslim consumer habits and attitudes, the largest ever undertaken and attempts to “illiminate” (Noor being Arabic for light), the spending habits of the faithful……………………………………….Full Article: Source
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