From Arabnews.com: The total assets of Islamic finance sector in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, which exceed $600 billion, have prompted the calls for regulating the Islamic finance industry and for imparting more training and skills to professionals working in this area.
This was one of the findings of a major survey conducted by Deloitte’s Islamic Finance Knowledge Center (IFKC), which was shared by Deloitte’s experts, Tuesday……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Tradearabia.com: More than 79 per cent of business leaders across the region are more optimistic about the prospects for Islamic finance than they were a year ago.
That is the main conclusion of a major survey into Islamic finance carried out by business advisory and accountancy firm Deloitte which points out that 61 per cent of leaders feel that Islamic finance professionals require more training and skills development……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Maktoob.com: Kuwait’s central bank governor said the Gulf Arab state is saturated with Islamic banks. Sheikh Salem Abdul-Aziz al-Sabah told Arabic language daily al-Seyassah that there were five Kuwaiti Islamic lenders registered with the central bank and five conventional banks.
Saudi Arabia’s Al-Rajhi Bank, one of the biggest Islamic lenders in the Gulf, also operates in Kuwait. “I believe that with this the Kuwaiti market has reached saturation point for Islamic banks at this stage,” the governor said……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Bloomberg: Senegal, Pakistan and Afghanistan, among the world’s 50 poorest nations, are turning to Islamic banking to spur economic growth by encouraging people to take out loans and open savings accounts.
Outstanding domestic bank lending accounted for 3.5 percent of Afghanistan’s gross domestic product in 2008, 25 percent in Senegal, 27 percent in Nigeria and 46 percent in Pakistan, according to data compiled by the World Bank……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Tradearabia.com: Swiss private bank Lombard Odier aims to more than double its business stemming from the Middle East and is considering local partnerships to that end, a senior executive said.
Lombard Odier has had ties to the oil-rich region since the 1970s but only opened a representative office in Dubai in 2007……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Reuters: Indonesia’s debt office said on Tuesday it may issue a global bond or global sukuk early in the first quarter of 2011.
Indonesia has previously said it will delay a planned $650 million global sukuk offer to the first half of 2011 from October because a lower budget deficit forecast reduces this year’s borrowing needs……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Bloomberg: The following borrowers are expected to sell Islamic bonds, which use asset returns to pay investors to comply with the religion’s ban on interest.
Global sales of sukuk fell 24 percent to $10.7 billion so far this year from the same period in 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Issuance totaled $20.2 billion last year, up from $14.1 billion in 2008……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Ameinfo.com: The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) announces that the monthly issue of the short-term Islamic leasing bonds, Sukuk Al-Ijara, has been oversubscribed by 620%. Subscriptions worth BD62m were received for the BD10m issue, which carries a maturity of 182 days.
The expected return on the issue, which begins on 23 September 2010 and matures on 24 March 2011, is 0.85%……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Btimes.com.my: The country’s sukuk market is likely to be favourable this year with RM261.1 billion sukuk outstanding in the first half, up from RM248.7 billion as end of 2009. From January till May this year, total new corporate sukuk approved by the Securities Commission stood at RM970 million.
Local rating agency RAM Ratings sees promising sukuk market this year, with government-related infrastructure projects and banks’ capital-raising exercises to remain the bulk of the domestic debt capital market’s activity……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Bernama: RAM Rating Services Bhd has reaffirmed the AA3 rating of Malakoff Corporation Bhd’s RM5.6 billion Islamic Medium-Term Notes and the P1/AA3 ratings of its RM600 million Islamic Commercial Paper/Medium-Term Notes.
In a statement here on Tuesday, the rating firm said the long-term ratings have a stable outlook……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Reuters: Malaysia on Tuesday outlined ambitious plans to double its national income (GNI) by stimulating $444 billion of investments over the next 10 years, mostly from the private sector. Financial services will see investments worth 211 billion ringgit, mainly through leveraging Malaysia’s lead in Islamic finance to target markets like Turkey, Indonesia and Egypt.
A government thinktank has identified 133 projects with investments worth $444 billion, of which 92 percent will come from the private sector……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Allfunds Bank SA, the leading European B2B platform has launched an Islamic Services Unit allowing it to fully serve Islamic investors around the world. The recently endorsed Fatwa, signed by the four member Sharia’h Board of Amanie Dubai, one of the leading Islamic consultancy firms, positions Allfunds Bank as the first and sole B2B fund platform fully compliant with Sharia principles. Allfunds Bank already offers more than 80 Sharia’h compliant funds, sourced from 15 fund promoters based in Luxembourg, Ireland, UAE and Saudi Arabia.
This latest development establishes Allfunds Bank as the centre of excellence in the Islamic Open Architecture space and will create further opportunities to expand its service offer. Clients of Allfunds Bank will have direct access to the largest available range of Islamic funds through the fully automated platform, thus diversifying their choice for investments……………………………………….Full Press Release: Source

From Jutiagroup.com: JETS Dow Jones Islamic Market International Index Fund (JVS), having failed to attract investor assets, will cease trading on October 19, 2010. The fund had just $2.2 million at the end of last month, which is about the same as when it launched on July 1, 2009.
Unless other sponsors announce some earlier delisting dates, JVS will become the 32nd ETF closure of 2010. It has been a regular member of ETF Deathwatch, appearing at #17 in the current issue……………………………………….Full Article: Source