Jordan aims to submit a draft law paving the way for the sale of sukuk, or Islamic bonds, to parliament in June, the country’s finance minister said.

“Once it’s ratified, we will then take a decision based on our needs as to if we will issue conventional bonds like we did last year or sukuk,” Mohammad Abu Hammour said at a conference in Amman, Jordan today. He said the sale amount “won’t be less than $500 million, but if we see there is an appetite and market conditions are favourable we may go higher.”………………………………………Full Article: Source

Indonesia’s finance ministry said on Tuesday there will be no sukuk auction on May 10 as it waits for a parliamentary approval for underlying assets to guarantee sukuk issues.

The ministry will reschedule remaining sukuk auctions this year while waiting for the approval, sharia director Dahlan Siamat told Reuters……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Jordan and Bahrain sukuk announcements reassured MENA sukuk market in April while key fundamentals are expected to support the market in 2011, writes Adnan Halawi, Zawya’s fixed income analyst.

Despite the gloomy political picture in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and the tragic events taking place from the Gulf to the Ocean, the region witnessed in April a reasonable amount of sukuk announcements and deals, thus sustaining its role in the development of the ever-growing sukuk markets……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Oman will open the door to Islamic banks and also let conventional lenders run sharia-compliant operations in a bid to grab a share of the rapidly growing Islamic finance business.

A central bank official told Reuters on Tuesday that applications were open for the creation of Oman’s first standalone Islamic bank, after a decree from ruler Sultan Qaboos bin Said. “His Majesty approved the establishment of an Islamic Bank and allowing the banks in the Sultanate to open new branches if they wish so,” a circular posted on Oman News Agency said……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Everyone who wants to see Islamic finance prosper should be hoping that a consequence of the Egyptian revolution will be an expansion of Islamic banking. As Egypt moves towards parliamentary and presidential elections, one of the big unanswered questions is the extent to which the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamic-focused parties will be able to mount open and unrestricted political campaigns.

Those of us who work in the financial services industry are interested in the answer not just for what it will say about Egypt’s political future, but also for what it will imply about the authorities’ willingness to open up financial markets to Islamic banking………………………………………Full Article: Source

DBS Group has hired a new chief executive officer for its Singapore-based Islamic unit in a move it said underscores its commitment to grow its Islamic banking franchise in the region.

Islamic Bank of Asia (IB Asia) has named Toby O’Connor as its CEO, a position that was practically vacant since December 2009, when his predecessor Vince Cook left the bank on “personal reasons”. The post had been held on an interim basis by Eric Ang, a director at IB Asia……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Bahraini Islamic lender Al Baraka plans to buy an Indonesian bank this year for around $100m and has identified up to four possible options, its chief executive said on Tuesday.

“We sent in early February a delegation…to follow up on our expansion plans in Indonesia. I think the Indonesian market is a good market,” Adnan Yousif said……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Commercialbank is in talks with Islamic banks to see whether they are interested in procuring former’s Shariah-compliant investments, Group CEO Andy Stevens has said.
“The discussions are ongoing. We have written to all the Islamic banks and offered these on a very equitable basis. We have no problems whatsoever implementing the Qatar Central bank circular on Islamic windows of conventional banks,” Stevens told Gulf Times……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) has been recognised as the Best Islamic Bank in Qatar for the year 2010 at the Islamic Finance News awards held recently in Dubai.

The Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of QIB, Ahmad Meshari said: “I believe it reflects our commitment to the customers and stakeholders to position ourselves as one of the leading Islamic Banks, not only amongst the financial institutions to be found in Qatar, but regionally and across the entire world……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Madayen Holding started a fund to invest in building 35 Islamic hotels in the next three years, Al Bayan reported, citing chairman Omer Al Thahiri.

The Abu Dhabi-based company will build 70 percent of those hotels in Saudi Arabia and the rest in the United Arab Emirates. Madayen plans to expand its two, three and four star hotels into Turkey and Malaysia, the newspaper said……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The global financial crisis made it clear to investors and fund managers that the risk inherent in financial instruments is not necessarily indicated accurately by their pricing. It has become increasingly important that funds with exposure to the fixed income market understand a bond’s various risks and the relationships between them - market and credit risk in particular - and evaluate how well the bond compensates an investor through its yield.
It is a process that mirrors the Islamic finance principle of prohibiting gharar (excessive uncertainty), which requires clarity in not only the value of the asset purchased but associated risks as well……………………………………….Full Article: Source