According to Ernst and Young, the market for Islamic insurance, known as Takaful, will touch $12 billion this year. Whether in the East or the West, whether the company is young or established, ambitions in the industry have not flagged.
“Takaful Emarat was established in 2008. Since May 2008 we are listed the Dubai Financial Market (DFM)”, says Ghassan Marrouche, General Manager at Takaful Emarat (EM) in Dubai. According to the Ernst and Young World Takaful Report 2011, there were ten Takaful operators in the UAE in 2008. They generated contributions of $640m. Globally, contributions grew 31% to $7bn. In 2011, the global Takaful industry will reach $12bn, Ernst and Young predicts……………………………………….Full Article: Source

To move forward the Islamic finance industry would do well to go back to its roots, according to HSBC Amanah global chief executive officer Mukhtar Hussain.
‘Islamic finance has become a force in its own right, especially in the emerging markets of Asia and the Middle East,’ he said……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Indonesia’s finance ministry raised 500 billion rupiah (US$58mil) from a sukuk auction yesterday, in line with its target, to help cover this year’s state budget deficit, a debt official said.
The ministry as of April 26 has sold 14.6 trillion rupiah of bonds and T-bills, including sukuk, out of 41.23 trillion rupiah targeted this quarter. It raised a higher-than-targeted 42.75 trillion rupiah in the first quarter……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Indonesia plans to start a benchmark-sized sale of 10-year dollar bonds today or tomorrow, according to three investors informed of the issuance, who asked not to be identified before a public announcement.
Bambang Brodjonegoro, the Finance Ministry’s head of fiscal policy, said in Jakarta today Indonesia may sell global bonds in the “near future,” without elaborating. Indonesia may sell the debt at 5.125 percent, according to three other investors that were informed of the issuance……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, or ADIB, earnings soared 17 per cent to Dh339.3 million in the first quarter of the year as assets, customer financing and deposits showed growth.
The core banking business performance was strong as net revenues grew by 23.5 per cent to Dh813.8 million in the quarter……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) on Tuesday said its quarterly profit more than doubled, helped by lower loan provisions and a rise in non-interest income, beating analysts expectations.
The lender said first-quarter net profit rose to Dh583 million ($158.8 million), compared with Dh225 million in the year-earlier period. Analysts polled by Reuters on average forecast a net profit of Dh393.75 million……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Saudi-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has picked four banks to arrange investor meetings in Asia, the Middle East and Europe, a note from one of the arranging banks, seen by Reuters, said. HSBC, Standard Chartered, BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank have been asked to arrange the meetings, which kick off on May 1, for the AAA-rated multilateral institution.
The meetings begin in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Sri Lanka’s Amana Bank has signed a deal with Malaysia’s Bank Islam, which is a shareholder, to get Islamic banking expertise. A company statement said that under the Technical Advisory Service Agreement, Bank Islam will play a “significant role” in transferring Islamic banking expertise to Amana Bank.
Bank Islam has a 20 percent stake in Amana Bank with which it has been involved since 1999 as a strategic partner……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Dubai’s largest lender Emirates NBD has announced a 27 per cent jump in first quarter profits for 2011, with provisions for bad debt surging a massive 147 per cent, putting a dampener on economist expectations that we might have seen the last of provisioning rises in 2010.
The bank’s net profits improved to Dh1.4b for Q1 2011, up from Dh1.1b in the corresponding quarter last year, the bank said in a statement posted on the Dubai bourse website……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Takaful Emarat announced their partnership with Reliance Asset Management (Malaysia) (RAMMY), the Islamic asset management arm of Reliance Capital Asset Management, India (RCAM).
The announcement was made by Ian Lancaster, Chief Executive Officer, RAMMY with Ghassan Marrouche, General Manager, Takaful Emarat……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Political upheaval in the region has negatively impacted GCC investor confidence with several companies reassessing their initial public offering plans and either deferring or shelving future IPOs, PricewaterhouseCoopers, or PwC, said on Tuesday.
“The first quarter of 2011 has been very disappointing so far for IPOs in the region with no transactions yet to be reported on any of the GCC exchanges compared to the three offerings in the last quarter of 2010 which raised approximately $1 billion,” said PwC, a professional services organisation……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Dubai Exports, an agency of the Dubai Department of Economic Development (DED), Government of Dubai, led an Islamic financial services trade mission to Germany. The mission was organised in partnership with the German Emirati Joint Council for Industry and Commerce (AHK) and sought to assist firms from the UAE to enter the largest economy in Europe.
Eng. Saed Al Awadi, CEO of Dubai Exports, said that, “two years ago we started promoting UAE’s capabilities and expertise in Islamic or Shariah compliant financial services to major markets abroad……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The American Islamic Finance Project was launched today as a collaborative effort between the Islamic Society of North America, Ethica Institute of Islamic Finance and Guidance Residential to provide the first-ever Islamic finance training to over 100 American imams.
The role of AIF is to raise the level of knowledge and understanding of Islamic financial transaction law under the belief that financial markets can benefit significantly from the ethical and moral guidelines that Islam’s financial concepts provide……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From the 10-14 May, the Islamic Financial Service Board (IFSB), the international standard setting body for the Islamic finance industry, will be holding its annual Summit in Luxembourg.
The event brings together central bank governors, senior bankers and shariah scholars from around the world. The Central Bank of Luxembourg (BCL) is the first central bank of a European country to have joined the IFSB, and has been chosen to host the 2011 Annual Summit……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The initial steps towards the convergence of the Halal and Islamic Finance industries open up the market from both sides heading towards a volume bigger than eyes.
The convergence of these two Shariah-based industries forms a strong economic platform that is built on a set of shared values -values that will play an increasingly strategic role in shaping global markets in the coming decade, hence the theme for WHF 2011 was: “Towards a Halal Economy: The Power of Values in Global Markets”……………………………………….Full Article: Source