From Bernama: Malaysia is poised to become one of the biggest Islamic financial hubs globally, thanks largely to the rising number of foreign players plus greater demand for Islamic financing under the country’s ambitious Economic Transformation Plan (ETP).
“This marks tremendous success in the Government’s foresight and its pro-active involvement towards the progress of Islamic financing in the domestic landscape,” said Chief Executive Officer of Maybank Islamic Bhd, Ibrahim Hassan……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Bernama: Global trade should have reverted to the use of gold dinar following the decline in the value of the US dollar, said former prime minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. He said since the price of gold was difficult to fall, it was suitable for use worldwide compared with the US dollar now.
“At one time, US$35 was equal to one ounce of gold. But today, it is worth US$1,400, meaning the US dollar has already depreciated……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Opalesque: Clearly, a new Islamic Dinar weighted to equal 4.3 grams of gold and an Islamic Dirham weighted at 3 grams of silver will exceed the established criteria prescribed by the governor in terms of its intrinsic value, convertibility and flexibility. It is entirely independent from the economic conditions and geo-economic interests of any single country and directly addresses the Triffin dilemma by providing liquidity while maintaining value.
Similarly, it is a far superior alternative to the Bancor currency proposal of John Maynard Keynes whose world currency unit fixed in terms of 30 commodities seems impractical and unstable. ………………………………………Full Article: Source

From Gulfnews.com: Primary bond issues from the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region is expected to exceed $30 billion (Dh110.1 billion) reported this year as governments and public sector entities need to finance infrastructure projects and refinance their maturing short-term debts, a senior banker at HSBC Holdings PLC (HBC) said yesterday.
“Primary bond issues from the Middle East and North Africa [Mena] region next year is expected to exceed the $30 billion level recorded last year. We expect the bond issue volumes from the region to surge due to higher demand for longer term funding for infrastructure and refinancing of short-term debt,” said Andrew Dell, HSBC’s head of debt capital markets for Mena told reporters……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Thenational.ae: Nakheel, the developer behind Dubai’s palm-shaped islands, will hand over Dh6 billion (US$1.63bn) worth of Islamic bonds to contractors by the end of next month. The move is one way in which Nakheel is trying to pay for work already completed on its ambitious developments, which include the three Palm islands and The World, a man-made archipelago off the coast of Dubai in the shape of a map of the globe.
Nakheel is also behind several residential projects on the western end of Dubai that contain thousands of villas……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Thestar.com.my: The National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) has issued its second sukuk in Malaysia worth RM500mil. The offering received strong investor demand despite the challenging year-end timing and was more than two times oversubscribed, the bank said in a statement.
It was issued under NBAD’s ringgit medium term notes programme. The 10-year issue came six months after NBAD’s first ever sukuk issuance……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Zawya.com: France will be ready to issue the first Islamic bond issue early next year as the legal framework is in final stage, a former special adviser to financial affairs at the French Treasury said in Dubai on Wednesday.
“We still have to work on some issues for it [Islamic bond or sukuk] but it’s a matter of weeks and then we will be ready in the beginning of 2011,” Thierry Dissaux, who is also Chief Executive of the French Deposits Guarantee Fund,said……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Tradearabia.com: A top Islamic finance body has approved France’s model to issue local sukuk, or Islamic bonds, which would ease their listing on the Paris financial market, a French official has revealed.
The Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) has approved the Islamic bond model aimed to marry France’s tax laws with the Islamic financial instrument, Thierry Dissaux, the chief executive officer of the French Deposit Guarantee Fund, was quoted as saying in a report in our sister newspaper Gulf Daily News……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Bloomberg: Qatar Islamic Bank SAQ plans to offer Islamic certificates of deposits as early as the first quarter as the country’s biggest shariah-compliant lender seeks to create a secondary market for such instruments.
The transactions, which need approval from the central bank and the bank’s shariah board, will be transferable and tradable, with possible tenors ranging from one to five years, Choudhry Mohammed Wasi, general manager of strategy and marketing at the bank, said in an interview in Doha yesterday……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Bernama: A more productive way to make Islamic products acceptable and attractive to the non-Muslim market, is by allowing the products to speak for themselves, says the Raja Muda of Perak, Raja Dr Nazrin Shah.
He said the design and promotion of Islamic products should reflect high standards that employ ethical practices as prescribed by Islam……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Arabtimesonline.com: The Development and Research Unit Manager at Kuwait Finance House (KFH) Adnan Al-Mulla stated that the supervisory and legislative Fatwa authorities at banks and financial institutions seek to reinforce the culture of Islamic economy in the employees, who serve as a link between the bank and the clients through services and products offered by the employees who represent the bank.
He explained that KFH relies on Shariah in its training policy, and that the employee gradually studies the tools and principles of Islamic economy……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Allafrica.com: The Central Bank of Nigeria said it will soon release its final regulatory and supervisory framework for the effective operation of non-interest or Islamic banking in Nigeria.
Special Assistant to the CBN governor on Non-interest Banking, Dr. Bashir Aliyu Umar, said the Islamic Banking sector worldwide, had grown at a stronger rate of 15-20 per cent annually over the past decade, from about 150 billion dollars in the mid-1990s to an estimated 780 billion dollars in 2009, adding that its assets are expected to grow by more than 20 per cent to 950billion dollars in 2010……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Gulf-times.com: Qatar-based Al khaliji bank in association with its subsidiary Al Khaliji France acted as mandated lead arranger on the recently signed 1.14bn UAE dirham ($310mn) amortising term facility for the UAE-based Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) Group.
“The transaction was oversubscribed and upsized due to the strong demand,” al khaliji said……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Opalesque: The concept of deposit insurance in the Islamic finance industry is still relatively new as practitioners are struggling to comprehend whether it conforms to Sharia. Very few countries with Islamic economies have an Islamic deposit insurance system in place as it is a complicated balance between maintaining profit-loss sharing Sharia principles and protecting bank customers (Baeshen, 2010).
Islamic deposit insurance is a Sharia-compliant system that provides protection to depositors against the potential loss of an Islamic bank’s failure (Arshad, 2009)……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Brudirect.com: For the convenience of customers to purchase Takaful Brunei Darussalam varieties of insurance products at Seria Post Office, a ceremony was held to unveil the new Takaful counters at the post office in Belait District yesterday morning.
The services provided by Takaful Company are in line with the Postal Services Department’s strategy to turn the outlets as a one-stop community centre……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Great Eastern Takaful Sdn. Bhd., a joint venture between I Great Capital Holdings (i-Great), a subsidiary of Great Eastern Holdings Ltd. and Koperasi Angkatan Tentera Bhd., a multipurpose cooperative, has commenced business in Malaysia.
Malaysia-based Great Eastern Takaful offers comprehensive takaful, or Islam-compliant insurance products and services, with the aim to achieve 180 million ringgit (US$57.2 million) in total weighted contributions for its first year……………………………………….Full Press Release: Source

From Bt.com.bn: Regulatory frameworks for the Islamic finance industry in Brunei plays a “key role” in how this industry will develop but transparency and consumer protection is as important, according to acting managing director of Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam (BIBD), Javed Ahmad.
On the sidelines of the recent Islamic Finance News (IFN) Roadshow 2010, Javed revealed exclusively to The Brunei Times, his prospects for BIBD in 2011 and key elements of development in the Islamic Finance industry’s growth……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Zawya.com: Islamic finance has proved to be a vital financial sector worldwide. Currently, more and more countries are adopting Islamic finance as they are recognizing the advantages and positive results reaped throughout Asia and the GCC.
“Worldwide figures show the Islamic banking and financial industry is a steady and secure finance sector that continues to rise. With the global industry growing by 15-20 per cent over the past ten years, Islamic assets are now worth around $1 trillion,” says Robin Amlôt, Managing Editor of CPI Financial………………………………………Full Article: Source