Contributions drawn by the global Islamic insurance, or takaful, are expected to reach $12 billion in 2011, up from $9.15 billion last year, with Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates accounting for most, according to a report by accountants Ernst & Young.
The Indian subcontinent has seen contributions — Takaful’s equivalent of premiums — rise 85 percent, Indonesia had a growth rate of 67 percent and Bangladesh 58 percent, the report said……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Global Islamic insurance industry will continue to grow at a faster pace compared to its conventional peers with contributions on course to touch $12 billion in 2011, experts said at a conference on Sunday.
With the regional unrest spurring the demand for Islamic insurance, or Takaful, the industry is expected to achieve even a higher rate of growth, they said at the 6th Annual World Takaful Conference, which opened on Sunday……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The 6th annual World Takaful Conference (WTC 2011), which opened in Dubai on Sunday, saw more than 350 leaders in the international Shariah-compliant insurance industry engage in critical discussions that will seek to translate the enormous market potential into reality for the global Takaful industry.
Though 2010 was a year characterized by high volatility and uncertainty, the Islamic insurance (Takaful) industry continued to grow at a faster pace compared to their conventional peers. However, profitability challenges and over reliance on investment income remain a key concern for the global Takaful industry……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Unrest in the Middle East and North Africa should bolster growth within the Islamic insurance, or takaful industry as regional turmoil lifts demand, the chief executive of Salama Islamic Arab Insurance said on Sunday.
Riots in countries like Egypt and Tunisia have resulted in an uptick in damage claims but have also raised awareness regarding the need for insurance, said Saleh Malaikah, Salama’s chief executive and vice chairman on the sidelines of a conference in Dubai……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Islamic Finance industry managing $52 billion across 700 funds worldwide. The $52 billion international Islamic funds industry is being urged to offer more innovative areas of investment and to expand into hitherto untapped geographical markets by world-renowned Shariah scholar Dr Mohammed Daud Bakar.
According to Ernst & Young data, Islamic assets under management currently amount to almost $52 billion across 700 worldwide funds. But most funds are dedicated to equities and “everybody’s doing that,” said Dr Bakar……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Egypt may lose out to Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya in attracting Muslim wealth after political unrest forced the North African country to postpone plans to introduce Islamic bond regulation.
Egypt delayed the release of a timeline for the guidelines of corporate Islamic bonds sales to May from the first quarter, following protests that led to the removal of former President Hosni Mubarak, said Ashraf El Sharkawy, chairman of the Cairo- based Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority. ………………………………………Full Article: Source

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, the second-biggest Shariah-compliant lender in the UAE, may consider selling sukuk by the end of this year, Chief Executive Officer Tirad Mahmoud said.
A decision on the Islamic bond sale will be taken by September, he said at a conference in Abu Dhabi today. The bank is studying whether to refinance or repay a $800 million (Dh 2.93 billion) sukuk maturing this year, he said……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Indonesia’s borrowing costs relative to Malaysia’s have narrowed to the lowest level since January ahead of a planned sale of global Islamic bonds in the second half of this year.

The extra yield investors demanded to buy Indonesia’s 8.8 percent dollar sukuk compared with Malaysia’s 3.928 percent note shrank to 21 basis points on Friday from 71 basis points on March 16………………………………………..Full Article: Source

More Gulf sukuk issuers are expected to tap the Malaysian market in the coming months although global issuance would be lower this year due to turmoil in the Middle East, HSBC’s Malaysian Islamic banking head said.
Kuwait-based Gulf Investment Corporation and National Bank of Abu Dhabi both sourced funds from the Southeast Asian country in the past year, and the Dubai government is mulling a Malaysian sukuk sale, setting a trend of Gulf issuers looking outside the region for financing……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Khazanah raised $1.5bil worth of five-year and 10-year sukuk last August via special purpose vehicle Danga Capital Bhd to partially finance the Parkway acquisition.
Integrated Healthcare issued 989 million new shares to Mitsui representing 18% of the enlarged share capital for RM1.98bil and sold 661 million existing shares representing another 12% to Mitsui for RM1.32bil……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Islamic banks already meet most of the criteria demanded of western banks by Basel III to guard against a repeat of the financial crisis. The regulations will require all major banks and financial institutions to have at least 10% core Tier-1 capital by 2019.
However, Mike Kennedy, head of risk at Bank of London and The Middle East, said the Islamic banks will not need to raise billions to shore up their balance sheets. Due to Islamic financial laws on capital raising, many sharia-compliant banks already beat the standards set by Basel III. ………………………………………Full Article: Source

Amana Bank, Sri Lanka’s first licensed commercial bank operating on Islamic banking principles will receive technical support from Bank Islam Malaysia which has taken a 20 percent stake, a media report said.
Bank Islam Malaysia had signed a technical advisory services agreement to transfer Islamic banking expertise to Amana Bank, Malaysia’s The Star newspaper said……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Iqbal Belath, Deputy Governor, Bank of Mauritius, has said that the bank has given licences to two banks to launch Islamic banking services. He said this at the International Conference on Islamic Banking and Finance organised by AlHuda Centre of Islamic Banking and Economics Pakistan in Mauritius.
He said Mauritius was fast moving towards Islamic banking and was now a member of Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) and Islamic Management Liquidity Board……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Shakeel Mohamed Minister of Labour and Industrial Relations Mauritius said that there are ample opportunities for the development of Islamic banking and finance in our country. Islamic banking is not only the sole belonging of Muslims rather people of all religions and societies can take the benefits of that structure.
Mr. Abu Tuaab, Minister of Housing and Land Mauritius said that if western countries had adapted Islamic banking structure then the financial crunch could have affected the world so badly. He further added that Mauritius government is working seriously to flourish Islamic banking in the country and he praised the effort of Pakistan in this regard……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank’s (ADIB) chief executive indicated yesterday the bank would post single-digit credit growth this financial year with the lender not having reached a point of saturation in provisions yet.
“The credit growth, in general,… [will be] fine. We don’t see double digit growth, we don’t see zero growth. We will go through a period of adjustment [with regard to] consumer credit growth,” Tirad Mahmoud told reporters here at a news conference……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Saudi Hollandi Bank, partly owned by Royal Bank of Scotland, reported a 3.5 percent rise in first-quarter net profit, but missed forecasts. Hollandi was among three banks reporting higher quarterly profits or returning to black on Sunday, while a fourth bank posted a profit decline.
Hollandi made a net profit of 238 million riyals ($63.5 million) in the three months to end-March, up from 230 million riyals a year earlier, the lender said in a statement to the bourse……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Islamic finance might be on a dizzying growth trajectory but Sharia scholars qualified to make rulings on complex banking and investment products remain a scarce commodity.
Often referred to as the industry’s gatekeepers, scholars must give their approval before Islamic banks can launch savings schemes, offer financing and make many other business decisions……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Alaska, Uganda, France and Egypt are some of the latest places where the Islamic Finance industry is poised to boom. At the same time, the landscape in existing markets is going through gradual changes.
Pascal Duval, managing director at Russell Investment Group, examined the Sharia-compliant stock universe and the market for Sharia-compliant investment funds as part of an effort to diversify his company’s offerings……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Islamic finance must comply with various requirements of the Shari’ah including the prohibition on riba (which includes interest). As a result, in an Islamic financing the financier will, at some stage in the transaction, usually own an asset (such as a piece of equipment or an equity interest in a partnership).
Islamic finance is, therefore, ideally suited for aircraft finance which tends to use leasing structures even in non-Islamic finance contexts……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Just when we thought that the Shoura Council in Riyadh finally approved last Monday Saudi Arabia’s long-overdue draft mortgage law, it now turns out that the draft law has only been approved with several caveats.
This means that there will be yet further delays in adopting the draft law, which now has to go back to the Shoura Council’s Finance Committee to make the changes relating to unspecified aspects of the definition and disbursement of a mortgage loan. ………………………………………Full Article: Source

Another sign of the disconnect between the Islamic finance industry in general and some sectors of the real economy, is the meager involvement of the Islamic finance in productive sectors such as the global halal food business.
The connectivity should be natural given that they are supposedly both part of the Halal Activities Paradigm, of which finance and food are but two trillion-plus dollar components……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Bahrain-based Islamic investment firm Arcapita exited its Indian healthcare investment in MedPlus Health Services with returns of more than 60 percent over its own expectations, a company statement said on Sunday.
Arcapita sold its stake in the Indian company to a consortium of private equity investors after becoming the largest shareholder in MedPlus in 2007 in a transaction valuing the company at $72 million……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The Middle East saw a big decline in merger and acquisition and equity issuance in the first quarter of the year according to the Thomson Reuters investment banking league tables, as unrest swept through the region.
Thomson Reuters review of the Middle East investment banking industry for the first quarter of 2011 covers the region’s M&A, debt and equity capital markets. The review includes rankings of banks and advisors operating in the Middle East, based on deal activity and fees and provides an independent assessment of the market……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Small-ticket funding opportunities strictly with a short-term investment horizon are doing the rounds in the region for investors. Such a trend is in keeping with the times with high networth investors looking for a quick entry and exit given the economic uncertainties.
Industry RE Ltd was marketing a $3 million Gibraltar-registered fund that would be used on renewable energy projects by Space Energy Inc, which intends to harness space-based solar power……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Bahrain-based Sakana Holistic Housing Solutions, the Islamic mortgage finance provider, has contributed BD 5,000 ($13,262) Zakat to Al Sanabel Orphans Care on behalf of its shareholders.
Sakana’s vice chairman Abdul Hakim Al Mutawa presented the cheque to Yousif Abdulla Uqab Member of the board of trustees and head of public relations and financial resources of Al Sanabel Orphans Care……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Emirates REIT, Dubai’s first real- estate investment trust established in November 2010, may list on Nasdaq Dubai within a year. Emirates REIT is a joint venture between Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC (DIB) and France’s Eiffel Management, which is based in the DIFC and governed by the Dubai Financial Services Authority.
“That could happen easily within one year,” Marwan Ahmad Lutfi, deputy chief executive officer, told reporters at an Islamic insurance conference in Dubai today……………………………………….Full Article: Source