Covered head-to-toe in a black abaya embroidered with red and yellow flowers, Amal Abbas waits for her turn to place a deposit at Cairo’s Al Baraka Egypt Bank, one of Egypt’s two fully-fledged Islamic banks.
Although Egypt is considered the birthplace of Islamic finance, which adheres to Islamic principles banning interest and speculative trading, its growth has lagged due to past corruption scandals, while the previous government sought to enforce a more secular financial system……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Grouping countries according to common economic characteristics, and giving them a catchy acronym, is the latest phenomenon among analysts and investors.
The fast growing emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China are commonly known asBric. The newest group is Civets — Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey and South Africa — who are expected to be the next group of fast-growing economies……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Indonesia’s first sale of local-currency sukuk backed by roads and railways may benefit from the rupiah’s 4.7 percent gain against the US dollar this year and higher sovereign debt yields relative to Malaysia.
“I’d buy the sovereign sukuk as I believe the rupiah has more room to strengthen,” Mohd Noor Hj A Rahman, chief executive at OSK-UOB Islamic Fund Management, said on Thursday. “Yields are more attractive if you compare to what other markets are offering. You can’t get such high yields in Malaysia.”………………………………………Full Article: Source

Sharjah Islamic Bank PJSC, a United Arab Emirates lender, hired HSBC Holdings Plc and Standard Chartered Plc to manage the sale of Islamic bonds.
The dollar-denominated sukuk will be sold subject to market conditions and after fixed-income investor meetings in the Middle East, Asia and Europe, the Sharjah-based bank said……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Egypt’s Freedom and Justice Party, set up by the Muslim Brotherhood to contest up to half the seats in a parliamentary election scheduled for September, is proposing the government sell Islamic bonds for the first time to help plug the country’s deficit.
Ashraf Badr el Din, a member of the MB committee that wrote the party’s economic platform, argued that a high percentage of the Egyptian people have reservations about charging interest and that such a financing tool would encourage these people to invest their money……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Human capital development and education and training for the Islamic banking and finance industry received a major boost with the establishment in April 2011 of the Association for Islamic Finance Advancement (AIFA) and a number of other initiatives some aimed at incentivizing the retention of existing qualified staff.
AIFA, which was established by a RM3.17 million grant from the Malaysian government, aims to be the main accreditation body for Islamic finance programs worldwide and will develop initiatives to ensure the quality, industry relevance and global recognition of Islamic finance education and its related areas……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The ‘muamalat’ and Islamic banking systems were widely accepted by Muslims and non-Muslims, said Kelantan Menteri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.
He said non-Muslims, who previously were not that confident with the Islamic banking, were now more receptive of the system, including that of Islamic pawn-broking which eradicated forbidden interest-bearing services……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Azerbaijan International Bank issued a tender for outside consulting companies to establish new Islamic banking operational unit for.
According to APA-ECONOMICS, the tender’s subject is to select an outside consulting company for establishing the Islamic banking operational unit, training the new unit personnel, implementation of multiple financial services and funding within the Islamic banking system……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Meezan Bank, Pakistan’s largest Islamic bank, has reported a 61% growth in its pre-tax profit for the quarter ending March 31, 2011. Meezan earned net profit of PRs586m ($6.9m) with earnings per share of PRs0.73 against a net profit of PRs364m ($4.3m) and EPS of PRs0.45 for the corresponding period in 2010.
The bank ratified the 15% bonus to shareholders it announced at it recent AGM and declared paid up capital of PRs8bn………………………………………Full Article: Source

The Islamic Contemporary Financial Transactions training course concluded its last session today. The training course was organized by the Faculty of Islamic Studies in Qatar (QFIS), a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science & Community Development, in collaboration with the International Union for Muslim Scholars (IUMS).
Qatar First Investment Bank (QFIB) was the official sponsor of this training course. (Press Release)

Jaseem Ahmed officially took over at the beginning of this month as the new secretary general of the Kuala Lumpur-based Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB), the prudential and supervisory standard-setting organization for the global Islamic financial industry.
He succeeds a prominent predecessor, Professor Rifaat Abdel Karim, who has been at the helm of the board for the last 8 years since it started operations in March 2003……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Takaful Emarat Insurance PSC, a joint venture between the United Arab Emirates’ Al Buhaira National Insurance Co. and UNIQA Group Austria, plans to boost gross written premiums more than fourfold this year.
The Shariah-compliant company is targeting 65 million dirhams ($18 million) in gross written premiums compared with 14 million dirhams last year, General Manager Ghassan Marrouche said………………………………………Full Article: Source

Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Yahya Hussin urged Sabahans to participate in the takaful business sector as it has huge potential to expand. He said at present the penetration rate for the conventional insurance business is just a low 42 per cent while for takaful it is eight per cent.
“Both sectors have much room and opportunities for participation,” he said………………………………………Full Article: Source

The new Shari’ah-compliant fund provides exposure to a combination of global equity, property and income.
According to the press release, in an environment of rising inflation and increased volatility, this launch comes at an opportune time for investors to mitigate these risks and to derive inflation-beating returns at lower volatility over the medium to long term……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Malaysia is at the forefront of global Islamic finance, with an average annual industry growth of 20 per cent over the past five years, says Malaysia’s Chief Justice of Federal Court, Zaki Tun Azmi.
At the same time, Azmi said that Malaysia is in a privileged position to drive performance in the Islamic banking industry by adopting best business practices and infusing innovation to enable sustainable growth in the financial sector……………………………………….Full Article: Source