From Bloomberg: The yield premium on Indonesia’s sovereign sukuk over non-Islamic bonds is down 70 percent since the bonds were sold in April 2009, while Malaysia’s debt rallied to a record as investors gain confidence in the securities.
The difference in yield between Indonesia’s 8.8 percent Islamic debt due April 2014 and notes maturing the same year that don’t adhere to the religion’s ban on interest narrowed to 26 basis points, or 0.26 percentage point, from 87 at the time of issue, according to prices from the Royal Bank of Scotland Group……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Reuters: Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank ADIB.AD plans to raise as much as $5 billion through the sale of Islamic bonds, or sukuk, under a trust certificate issuance program detailed in a July 8 prospectus.
The second-largest lender in the United Arab Emirates posted the prospectus on the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday, listing HSBC (HSBA.L) as the lead arranger on the Islamic bond program……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Bloomberg: Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank PJSC, the United Arab Emirates’ second-biggest bank complying with Islamic banking rules, said it has updated its Islamic bond or sukuk program and has no immediate plans to sell bonds.
State-controlled Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank plans to raise as much as $5 billion from the sale of sukuk under a trust certificate program, according to a base prospectus dated July 8 posted by the bank on the London Stock Exchange’s website yesterday……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank would like to confirm that the media reports published on 14 July 2010 regarding the bank’s plans to raise US$5 billion from Sukuk sales are not correct. ADIB is not issuing a new Sukuk, but rather updating the initial program that was launched in 2006.
Unfortunately the media did not capture the information correctly and their story is misleading. Moreover, to ensure clarity and to avoid misquotes, the ADIB team provided the media (Bloomberg & Reuters) with the below statement on 13 July 2010……………………………………….Full Press Release: Source

From Gulf-times.com: The Dubai debt crisis is prompting investors in the $130bn Islamic bond market to seek stronger rights of ownership of assets to protect against defaults, said a US-based Shariah scholar.
Funds will favour asset-backed debt, in which the ownership of collateral is transferred after a default, said Sheikh Yusuf Talal DeLorenzo, the Washington-based chief Shariah officer at Shariah Capital Inc, a consulting company. Only 4% of the $32bn of Islamic bonds Moody’s Investors Service rated in 2009 contain such provisions, the company said in an April report……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Thehimalayantimes.com: Japan’s top securities firm Nomura will list its inaugural $ 100 million of Islamic bonds on Bursa Malaysia as the company looks to diversify its funding sources, officials said on Tuesday.
Nomura is the second foreign issuer to house its sukuk on the Malaysian bourse. Last November, General Electric Capital Corp., the world’s biggest non-bank finance company, sold 500 million dollars of sukuk in Malaysia……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Bernama: RAM Rating Services Bhd has assigned a final rating of AAA to CJ Capital Sdn Bhd’s proposed sukuk murabahah of up to RM114 million.
The long-term rating has a stable outlook, the rating agency said in a statement Wednesday……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Business24-7.ae: After another positive year in 2009, the Takaful and Retakaful (Islamic insurance and reinsurance) sector is likely to continue to grow this year, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) said in its latest report on Wednesday.
In report titled “Takaful Insurance Has Long-Term Viability And Benefits From Expected Growth, But Stiff Competition Persists,” S&P notes that the long-term viability of these sectors remains supported by high-expected levels of growth, broadly positive technical results, and an increase in profitability, particularly in the GCC region and Malaysia……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Bernama: The takaful industry has great potential to continue its growth on strong demand for its products not only from the Muslims but also the non-Muslims.
Minister in Prime Minister’s Department, Senator Datuk Jamil Khir Baharom, said the industry registered a penetration rate of eight per cent compared with six per cent three years ago……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Business24-7.ae: In a move aimed at generating cash to reduce its financial liabilities, Amlak Finance is waiving off prepayment charges for a limited period to allow partial settlement for ready properties.
In a letter sent to customers, the Islamic home mortgage company, said: “We are pleased to announce a special limited time incentive offer for our valuable Ijara home finance customers.The offer, which is valid until September 9 entitles you to partially settle your existing Ijara home finance.”………………………………………Full Article: Source

From Bloomberg: Qatar Islamic Bank, the Gulf state’s biggest lender complying with Muslim banking rules, posted a 35 percent drop in second-quarter profit that fell short of analyst estimates.
The results marked the fourth straight quarterly decline in profit for the bank. The bank’s Islamic loan portfolio rose 45 percent to 28.6 billion riyals in the first half from 19.7 billion riyals a year earlier, Qatar Islamic said……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Bloomberg: Kuwait Finance House, the country’s largest Islamic bank, may announce a first-half net income of 77 million dinars ($266 million), Al-Rai reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.………………………………………Full Article: Source

Global Finance magazine awarded Meezan Bank with Best Islamic Financial Institution in Pakistan at its Annual Awards for Worlds Best Islamic Financial Institutions 2010.
Winners were judged on basis of contributing to growth of Islamic financing and meeting customers needs for Shariah-compliant products and creating foundation for continued fast growth in future. ………………………………………Full Press Release: Source

From Tradearabia.com: The United Arab Emirates Central Bank wants bankers to work out a plan for developing a local debt market to allow business to raise funding locally and complement an existing equity market.
In a circular sent to banks last week, the UAE Central Bank sought nominations for a committee to devise a strategy for building such a market, two bankers told Reuters……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Gulf-times.com: Fitch has affirmed QNB’s short and long-term issuer default and individual and support ratings besides giving a stable outlook on the bank’s long-term issuer default.
Fitch Ratings has affirmed QNB ratings at Long-term Issuer Default (IDR) ‘A+’, Short-term IDR ‘F1’, Individual ‘B/C’ and Support ‘1’……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Business24-7.ae: Commercial Bank of Dubai’s (CBD) net profit, after collective and specific provisions for non-performing loans, amounted to Dh513 million ($139.6 million) in the first half of this year, compared to Dh502 million ($136.6 million) a year earlier.
This represents a 2.3 per cent growth, a statement said on Wednesday……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Arabtimesonline.com: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), the largest Kuwaiti bank and the highest-rated in the Middle East, reported net profits of $499.3 million (KD 145.2 million) for the first half of 2010 compared with $433.4 million (KD 126.1) for the same period in 2009, an increase of 15 percent.
Ibrahim Dabdoub, NBK’s Group Chief Executive Officer, said “The 15 percent net profit growth recorded by NBK in the first half of 2010 adds to the bank’s achievements and its long record of weathering different crises. NBK’s profit generation capacity remained very strong despite the ongoing consequences of the global financial crisis, sovereign debt distress in Europe and the low interest rate environment”. ………………………………………Full Article: Source

From Reuters: Debt-laden Dubai property developer Nakheel outlined detailed terms of its plans to repay bank lenders on Wednesday, asking them to respond to the proposal by August 31.
The developer, which has overstretched itself building islands in the shape of palms and other ambitious real estate developments, is in continuing talks with creditors on restructuring $10.5 billion (6.9 billion pounds) in bank debt……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Business24-7.ae: Abu Dhabi Exchange-listed Finance House has posted a net profit of Dh62.13 million ($16.91 million) for the first half of the current year, compared to Dh63.25 million ($17.21 million) for the same period last year, according to a press release posted on the Abu Dhabi Exchange website.
Finance House’s Board of Directors has also approved the opening up of its shareholding to foreign ownership, to the extent of 20 per cent of the company’s paid up equity share capital, the statement said……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Dailymail.co.uk: Britain faced growing calls to ban the burka today after French MPs voted overwhelmingly to outlaw full-face veils in public. Politicians in France united yesterday to ban Islamic veils that cover a woman’s face, which some described as ‘walking coffins’.
Deputies in the country’s 557-seat lower house, the National Assembly, voted in favour of the ban by 335 votes to one……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Guardian: A French property tycoon enraged at his government’s plans to ban women from wearing the full veil in public has promised a fund of €1m (£830,000) to help any Muslim who is fined for wearing the niqab in the street.
Rachid Nekkaz, a businessman of Algerian origin who launched a short-lived campaign in the 2007 presidential elections, has already put €200,000 into a bank account aimed at bailing out women who find themselves on the wrong side of the new law……………………………………….Full Article: Source