Sudan hopes to sell Islamic bonds worth 765 million pounds after the last issue flopped and eyes 3.6 billion pounds in 2011 despite uncertainty over of a split from the south, a senior debt official said on Wednesday.

Sudan is due to split in July after the south voted in January for independence — a big challenge for Khartoum as 75 percent of the country’s oil output comes from the south and oil makes up 90 percent of exports……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Dana Gas PJSC (DANA)’s Islamic bond rose the most in more than two weeks after the United Arab Emirates- based energy producer discovered natural gas in Egypt’s Nile Delta region.

The yield on the 7.5 percent sukuk maturing in October 2012 fell 64 basis points today, or 0.64 percentage point, to 13.3 percent as of 6:13 p.m. in Dubai……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Indonesia’s finance ministry aims to raise 1 trillion rupiah ($117 million) from a sukuk auction on May 31 using infrastructure projects as underlying assets, sharia director Dahlan Siamat said on Thursday.

The ministry has rescheduled a sukuk auction planned on May 10 as it had no underlying assets to guarantee the issue……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The aggregate primary issuance of bonds and sukuk in the GCC totaled $57b in 2010, a 27.6 per cent decrease from its peak value in 2009, according to a new report. In its recent research titled GCC Bonds and Sukuk Market Survey, Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) said October 2010 witnessed the highest issuance frequency and value, with 23 issuances raising a total of $9.1b, representing 16 and 11.9 per cent, respectively of total 2010 issuances.
According to the report, a total of $29.9b was raised by sovereign and corporate bond and sukuk issuances in 2010, compared to $64.9b in 2009……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Jordan’s Al Rajhi Cement became the first company in the country to use Islamic finance to raise capital by issuing a $120m Sukuk to finance its domestic expansion projects. Last year, Al Rajhi successfully lobbied the Jordanian government to pass the necessary legislation to allow it to issue Islamic bonds.

The seven-year Ijarah was syndicated by a consortium of seven local banks led by Capital Bank and included Cairo Amman Bank, Jordan Bank, Islamic International Arab Bank, Union Bank, Jordan Kuwait Bank and the Arab Islamic Bank……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The Middle East may be the heart of Islam and its investors may have plenty of liquidity, but the region’s Islamic banking sector remains relatively immature and undeveloped compared to markets in Muslim south Asia.

But although the recent turmoil in the Middle East has certainly done the local Islamic finance industry no favours, new financial products and regulations are appearing across the region, helping the sector mature both in core Gulf countries and those such as Jordan and Oman that have so far had have limited sharia-compliant options……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Analysts say that the banking industry in Oman can look forward to taking advantage of the ‘potential’ of Islamic finance after it was approved by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said. With existing banks now able to provide Islamic banking products, the sultanate will be able to take its share of an industry estimated to be currently worth US$20bn worldwide.

Along with the decision to allow Islamic finance products, the green light was also given to set up an Islamic bank in the sultanate……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Many ears pricked up recently when Malaysia’s Affin Holdings deputy chairman, Tan Sri Lodin Wok Kamaruddin revealed that the group was looking closely at China for potential business with a particular emphasis on Islamic banking. He is reported to have said: “Affin and our partner Bank East Asia Ltd of Hong Kong are working together to find potential products and services that can be offered in the country.”
Bank East Asia holds 23% of Affin and has been looking at entering China with an Islamic bank of its own……………………………………….Full Article: Source

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Islamic Banking Director Saleemullah has said that the central bank is giving incentives to Islamic banks that are opening branches in far-flung areas of the country to fuel growth of the industry.

He said this while talking to a group of journalists at the launch of the ‘World Islamic Finance Summit 2011’ logo on Wednesday. The two-day summit is scheduled to be held in Karachi on September 21-22. SBP recently launched a policy with the objective of providing incentives for Islamic banks to set up branches in districts where they have less than 10 branches, he said……………………………………….Full Article: Source

A look through the prospectuses of some of the institutions offering AAOIFI and INCEIF-accredited Islamic finance courses will show that there is no universal syllabus for Islamic finance.

In some instances Islamic finance is taught as ‘capitalism, minus Riba, plus Zakat’; in other courses the emphasis seems to be more on the theological, spiritual and esoteric aspects of Islamic finance, where ‘Islam’ comes first and ‘finance’ comes second……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Arabian Gulf companies are planning their first Shariah-compliant real-estate investment trusts, after shares in Singapore’s debut offering recovered from the lowest level since it was started in November.
The city-state’s Sabana Shariah Compliant Industrial REIT has advanced 2.2% to 94 Singapore cents since the shares reached a low of 92 cents on March 31……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) has released a set of guidelines outlining the regulatory requirements necessary for the establishment of Islamic investment funds in Bermuda, designed to promote understanding, compliance and investment levels.

In line with Bermuda’s efforts to promote itself as a domicile of choice for Islamic financial products, the publication of these new Guidance Notes is intended to demonstrate that the jurisdiction’s regulatory framework is capable of accommodating the funds. Published on April 28, the Notes follow a BMA review of Bermuda’s fund regulation regime, which found no impediment to the authorization of Islamic investment funds under the existing framework……………………………………….Full Article: Source