HSBC Amanah, HSBC Plc’s Islamic banking unit, expects to manage a record number of sukuk issuance mandates this year. “Our pipeline is very healthy indeed and we’ve seen a significant pickup in mandates. The year is not over in terms of new issuance and I think we’ll see more companies coming to the market with sukuk over the next four to five weeks,” said Mohammad Dawood, Head of Islamic Capital Markets at HSBC.
Global Islamic bond sales are up 24 per cent so far this year to $7.8 billion (Dh28.62 billion) from the same period last year as borrowing costs declined……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The primary bond market in the Middle East and North Africa, or MENA, is expected to cross last year’s mark of $40 billion in 2011 because of increased borrowing requirements and improved pricing, a senior Deutsche Bank executive said on Tuesday.

Salman Al Khalifa, the bank’s global head of markets for the region, said there had been 17 issues so far this year worth $10 billion, with Deutsche Bank on five of them……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The Iraqi Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Iraq jointly announced plans under which two state banks will begin to provide Islamic banking services.
The Ministry of Finance (MoF) is allocating $42 million from the 2011 Budget to allow the state-controlled Rafidain Bank and Rasheed Bank to develop Islamic finance offerings. Rafidain Bank is the largest bank in Iraq with 147 domestic branches and eight abroad. Rasheed Bank is the second largest bank in Iraq……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Islamic banking is getting off to a slow start in Kyrgyzstan. But the country’s first brokerage agency following Islamic practices is changing the way Kyrgyz citizens – pious and secular alike – think about finance.

Islamic banking faced daunting hurdles in Kyrgyzstan, where the secular elite has long regarded religion with suspicion. Ultimately, it was the persistence of entrepreneurs like Shamil Murtazaliev that paved the way for agencies like Muslim. In 1997, Murtazaliev bought a local branch of Russian Credit Bank and renamed it EcoBank to “break the monopoly” of the Western-style banking system in Kyrgyzstan and offer Islamic finance as a viable alternatives……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Four out of seven tenders submitted to the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) survived stage one of the competition to land a consultancy contract on the provision of Islamic banking and financial services.
Among the finalists after tenders were reviewed on 6 June at IBA’s head office in Baku are Ekvita & Islamic Finance Advisory Assurance Services, Ernst & Young with Baker McKenzie, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and consortium consisting of Salans, Pinsent Masons and KPMG……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The banking community has been waiting for the government to enhance the playing field for Islamic banking. Unfortunately, they got silence from Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday which appears to say, “keep waiting.”

Has the government failed to recognise the immense potential in this financial segment? Due to stiff competition, banks have been forced to rethink their strategies to remain competitive. One of the recent avenues that has Islamic banking……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The first seven months of 2010 witnessed 15 new sukuks listed on Bursa Malaysia – the country’s national stock exchange – amounting to US$23.31bn, according to the Economic Report for 2010/2011 released by the Ministry of Finance in October 2010.
A landmark issue by the Malaysian government last year resulted in the world’s largest US dollar benchmark sovereign sukuk that amounted to a staggering US$1.25bn with a yield of 3.928%. It was oversubscribed six times……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The first female central banker in Asia, Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz has been a key player in the global development of Islamic finance for more than a decade.
Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Doctor Zeti Akhtar Aziz is Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia, the Central Bank of Malaysia. She was reappointed Governor for a further five year term with effect from 1 May 2011 by His Majesty the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. Dr Zeti has held the position of Governor of the Central Bank since May 2000……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Gulf Finance House BSC (GFH or the Bank), the Bahrain-based Islamic investment bank, said it has signed a partnership aagreement with Wadhwa Group, an eminent real estate developer in India to develop core infrastructure of the Bank’s Energy City Navi Mumbai (ECNM) and Mumbai IT and Telecom City (MITTIC) projects (together termed as the Mumbai Economic Development Zone), and also secure a successful exit for investors.

Following the infrastructure development GFH and Wadhwa will together develop integrated homes, affordable housing, hotels and malls on the two sites, which hold a strategic location on the outskirts of Mumbai……………………………………….Full Article: Source

AmIslamic Funds Management today launched AmASEAN Equity, the first ASEAN equity fund managed by AmIslamic Funds Management to give investors capital growth over the medium to long-term by investing in shariah compliant equities.
The approved fund size is 200 million units. The Fund will focus on five strategic markets in ASEAN whereby the macroeconomic fundamentals remain attractive to equity investors, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Thailand (The ASEAN-5)……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Franklin Templeton expects its asset management business in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to grow despite recent political unrest, a top executive said.“Our local asset management business has grown 25-30 percent year-to-date despite the unrest. We would expect to see growth going forward,” said Andrew Ashton, head of Franklin’s Central Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa business.

Templeton bought Dubai-based boutique investment firm Algebra Capital in January and has renamed it as Franklin Templeton Investments (Middle East) Limited……………………………………….Full Article: Source

HE Yahya Bin Said Al Jabri, CEO of the Capital Market Authority (CMA), said that the authority is studying solidarity insurance of some nations which has such insurance to take advantage of their experiences as per the Royal Directives of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said to establish Islamic banks and allowing commercial banks to open Islamic systems.

Speaking to Oman Tribune, Al Jabri said: “A team of CMA employees will visit a number of countries to review the work mechanism, follow up and supervision systems in some establishments.”………………………………………Full Article: Source

Richard Thomas, Chief Executive Officer of Gatehouse Bank, is to be inducted to the Order of the British Empire, an honour bestowed by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Thomas will be inducted into the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth the Second, at a special ceremony at Buckingham Palace……………………………………….Full Article: Source