From Kippreport.com: Islamic finance will need to move beyond the retail market and develop its capital markets globally to compete better with conventional finance, an official from consultancy Deloitte said on Thursday.
Daud Vicary Abdullah, global leader of Deloitte’s Islamic finance group told reporters in Dubai at the launch of the firm’s Middle East Islamic finance leaders survey that international markets such as Japan and London are actively trying to raise sharia-compliant capital in order to tap liquidity from the Gulf region……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Thenational.ae: Islamic finance needs more regulation to boost the detection of risk and restore its reputation after a series of financial troubles within the industry’s GCC heartland, says Deloitte & Touche.
A “sizeable” number of Sharia-compliant financial companies were not following industry best practices, the international accounting company found in a survey of the Middle East……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Gulfnews.com: Islamic institutions in the region have adequate funding avenues despite the financial crisis, said Adnan Ahmad Yousuf, chief executive of Al Baraka Group in Dubai. “The sukuk market is open for longer term funding while there are enough avenues for Murabaha fundings in the region. Al Baraka Group’s assets grew more than 15 per cent during the first half of this year,” said Yousuf.
Al Baraka will launch a $200 million (Dh734 million) Islamic bond sale this year to fund expansion in France, its chief executive said. Proceeds from the sukuk will be used to set up branches in France, Yousuf said on the sidelines of a conference on media impact on the Arab banking and financial sectors yesterday……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Gulfnews.com: Over half of the Middle East’s Islamic finance institutions (IFIs) flagged a need for raising capital and are likely to restructure current Islamic debt over the next 12 months, according to Deloitte’s Islamic Finance leaders survey in the Middle East.
Corporate issuers are also driving strong demand for sukuk bonds, according to Dr Hatim Al Tahir, Director of Deloitte’s Islamic Finance Knowledge Centre in Bahrain……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Bloomberg: Qatar Islamic Bank SAQ plans to sell its first dollar sukuk and will start meeting investors in the Middle East, Asia and Europe, according to a statement from the Gulf state’s biggest Shariah-compliant lender.
“The sukuk is expected to be launched, subject to market conditions” and Credit Suisse Group AG, HSBC Holdings Plc and Qatari investment bank QInvest have been hired to manage the issuance, said the statement posted on the Qatar Exchange website today……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Emirates247.com: Nakheel plans to launch its five-year sukuk (Islamic bond) by year-end by when it expects to complete the debt restructuring process, a senior company executive said on Thursday.
“We expect the restructuring to be completed by year-end and the sukuk launch by then. The value, however, will be determined after the ‘overall’ settlement is achieved,” Chris O’Donnell said during a site visit of Al Furjan project……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Arabianbusiness.com: Abu dhabi bonds are heading for their best quarter in a year. Union Investment and LCF Edmond de Rothschild CI Ltd say investors are ready to snap up any new issue from the oil-rich Persian Gulf emirate.
The government’s 6.75 percent dollar-denominated non- Islamic notes due April 2019 have returned 6.6 percent, set for the biggest quarterly gain since Sept 2009, and more than the 6 percent increase for Qatar’s 5.25 percent debt maturing in January 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Reuters: Burgan Bank, the commercial banking arm of Kuwait Projects Co (KIPCO), raised $400 million in a heavily oversubscribed sale of 7.875 percent 10-year bonds.
The proceeds will “strengthen the bank’s business locally as well as supporting its expansion strategy which has primarily targeted high growth markets in the MENA (Middle East and north Africa) region,” chairman Majed Eisa al-Ajeel said on Thursday……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Gulfnews.com: The National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) said Wednesday it plans to launch a low-risk bond fund with a target to raise up to Dh200 million within the first couple of months of its launch.
NBAD Cautious Income Fund’s launch is subject to approval by the capital markets regulator Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA)……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Balkans.com: Bahraini Islamic lender Al Baraka will launch a $200 million Islamic bond sale this year to fund expansion in France, its chief executive said. Proceeds from the sukuk will be used to set up branches in France, Adnan Yousif told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference on Wednesday.
“We are thinking to expand in France next year. The number of branches will not exceed five. It is the right time to open subsidiaries in Europe. The sukuk will be issued by the end of the year, maybe December,” Yousif said……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Aawsat.com: Indonesia, an archipelago made up of approximately 17,508 islands, and is located in South-East Asia. The country has a population of approximately 230 million, making it the fourth most populous country in the world; its capital city is Jakarta, which is located on the island of Java.
Since the majority of the population of Indonesia are Muslims, Indonesia can be considered the largest Islamic state in the world in terms of population. The Indonesian economy is classified as a developing economy, and is known as a “Tiger Cub Economy” which is a group that also includes Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Arabnews.com: Gulf Finance House (GFH), a Bahrain-based Islamic investment banking major, on Wednesday said that the bank was treading on the right path of growth and development.
“We are committed to returning to growth, a lower operating cost base, aggressively reduce our debt through asset sales and improving our reporting and transparency,” Ted Pretty, GFH Group CEO, said in an interview……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Globalarabnetwork.com: In response to the Central Bank of Kuwait’s (CBK) request for local banks and investment companies to find a mechanism for handling the complaints of their clients, representatives of the institutions gathered in a symposium Thursday in a symposium to probe the issue.
The symposium, titled “the planned mechanism for dealing with complaints of clients,” aims to find a suitable way for settling the the possible legitimate grievance of clients against companies and banks without recourse to the CBK, said Dr. Jamal Abdulrahim, an expert in financial and commercial crimes……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Tradearabia.com: Abu Dhabi government-owned investment fund Mubadala posted a first-half loss of Dh4.5 billion ($1.23 billion) due to a fall in the value of its investments and said it would triple its capital base.
The investment fund, which has stakes in Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Ferrari, said the results reflected an unrealised loss of Dh4.4 billion on its investments in local and global markets……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Mondaq.com: The Banking Litigation team at Al Tamimi continues to assist many of our clients with enforcement of finance documents before the UAE Courts. To date, we have obtained a number of successful judgments in relation to the enforcement of conventional and Islamic finance transactions for our clients.
In terms of Islamic finance, the Dubai Court of First Instance has recently issued the first few judgments in connection with Ijara finance transactions. The Ijara finance documents considered by the Court related to property finance provided by an Islamic financial institution……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Cpifinancial.net: Of course, there has been something of a tabloid crusade against all things Islamic in the British press, which has been cited by some as the reason Islamic finance has not enjoyed much success in the UK.
The Islamic Bank of Britain has yet to turn a profit, the UK’s first ‘Halal’ insurance firm, Salaam Insurance, closed its doors in 2009 after just 18 months of trading. alburaq – owned by Arab Banking Corporation – has effectively withdrawn its savings and mortgage products from the mass market and HSBC Amanah has scaled down its Islamic banking staff in Britain……………………………………….Full Article: Source