The following borrowers are expected to sell Islamic bonds, which use asset returns to pay investors to comply with the religion’s ban on interest.
Global sales of sukuk climbed to $17.9 billion in 2011, from $11.8 billion a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Indonesia’s finance ministry aims to issue the country’s first project-based sukuk at an auyction on Oct. 11, with maturities of six and 21 years, sharia director Dahlan Siamat told Reuters on Tuesday.
The ministry will also issue six-month sharia T-bill, as well as 14-year and 25-year sukuk, with a total target of 500 billion rupiah ($56.2 million), Siamat said……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Barclays Capital will focus on growing its liquidity management and risk management businesses as the Islamic bond market continues to struggle because of global economic worries, its head of Islamic products said.
The euro zone debt crisis and a lacklustre economic outlook in the United States have created more risk aversion among clients, creating opportunities to expand liquidity and risk management offerings, said Dominic Selwood……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The fund management arm of the Duke of Westminster’s property company, Grosvenor, has formed an investment partnership with one of the world’s leading Islamic finance banks.
Grosvenor Fund Management, a fund manager with £3.9bn of funds under management, and Kuwait Finance House will together invest £380m in US healthcare-related real estate. It is the second partnership deal of its kind between the two companies……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Islamic banks in the country Malaysia have been urged to introduce more short-term syariah-compliant products to attract foreign investors.
We always have investors in Malaysia looking for syariah-shariah compliant products and sometimes, from the risk management perspective, because of due to the risk management perspective, they are constrained in putting their investment into investing in Islamic assets. that they have……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Maybank Islamic Bhd expects its contribution from asset financing to the Maybank Group in the current financial year to be consistent with the previous year.
Its chief executive officer Muzaffar Hisham said almost one third of the Maybank Group’s asset financing in Malaysia came from Islamic assets in the last financial year ended June 30, 2011……………………………………….Full Article: Source

An Islamic Finance Council (IFC) Executive Board member in the United Kingdom (UK), Omar Shaikh, has disclosed that the Church of Scotland actually inspired the current Islamic Banking system.
Speaking while presenting a paper titled, “Development of Islamic finance in the UK:Sharing experiences with the Central Bank of Nigeria” the IFC Executive Board member said that the person who set up the first contemporary Islamic Bank in Egyp,was inspired by the Rev Henry Duncan founded Trustee Savings Bank (TSB)……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) tried to justify its push for the introduction of Islamic banking in Nigeria, over the weekend, in Yola, where it described the non interest banking as the fastest growing model in the world.
The apex bank governor’s Special Adviser, Dr. Bashir Umar, who was in Yola, at the weekend, said their balance sheet now reads one trillion dollar, with expected rise to four trillion by 2015……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Unicorn Investment Bank, a Bahrain-based Islamic investment bank, changed its name to Bank Alkhair with the launch of a new brand identity.
The bank’s subsidiaries in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Turkey will now officially operate under the names Alkhair Capital Saudi Arabia, Alkhair International Islamic Bank Malaysia and Alkhair Capital Turkey, respectively……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Unicorn Investment Bank, an Islamic investment bank licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain, today launches its new brand identity. The Bank has now officially changed its name to Bank Alkhair . The Bank’s subsidiaries in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Turkey will now officially operate under the names Alkhair Capital Saudi Arabia, Alkhair International Islamic Bank Malaysia and Alkhair Capital Turkey respectively.
The name “Alkhair” was chosen to reflect the Bank’s broad geographical reach across the world’s major Islamic banking markets, while at the same time emphasizing its roots in the Arab world……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The Central Bank of Oman (CBO) is not planning to set up a national-level Sharia board to regulate the proposed specialised Islamic banks and window operations of commercial banks, said the executive president of the apex bank.
“Most probably, we will be asking the individual banks to set up separate boards and will depend on them to take the right judgement on devising (Sharia-compliant) products. We will keep the banks to be responsible for their actions,” Hamoud bin Sangour Al Zadjali, executive president of CBO said……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The two proposed Islamic banks — Bank Nizwa and Al Izz Bank International — are planning to float initial public offerings (IPO) in the first quarter of next year, according to senior officials of the Capital Market Authority (CMA) and Muscat Securities Market (MSM).
“I expect both banks to float initial public offers in the first quarter of next year. They have to raise money from public before they start operation,” Yahya bin Said Al Jabri, executive president of the Capital Market Authority said……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) has signed an agreement with Damaan Islamic Insurance Company (Beema), a Takaful company in Qatar, to offer its customers a suite of innovative Takaful solutions.
As per this agreement, QIB will be offering its customers Beema’s Takaful products, which cover all customer needs be it motor insurance, retirement plans, children education plans or simple savings-cum-investment plans or protection plans……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Growth of the global Islamic asset management industry will likely halt or reverse this year as the industry struggles with poor sentiment in financial markets and lacklustre interest among Islamic institutional investors, said a finance expert.
Jahangir Aka, senior executive officer at asset management firm SEI Investments, said, “There may be some tentative buying of Islamic assets in 2012 as investors look to deploy capital that was kept on the sidelines as the global economy took a turn for the worse this year.”………………………………………Full Article: Source

Turkey could emerge as a key market for Islamic finance while Asia continues to drive the industry’s growth but markets are still assessing the full impact of the global downturn on the sector, Maybank Islamic said on Tuesday.
The recent growth of the sector coupled with the launch of several Islamic funds and a law granting tax neutrality to sukuk products have stirred talk that Turkey is poised to be the next growth market for sharia finance……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The first sale of an Islamic finance portfolio since Qatar’s decision to ban conventional lenders from conducting sharia-compliant banking operations is a harbinger of what’s to come as the Islamic finance sector begins to benefit from the ruling. The domestic segment, however, may have to contend with greater competition from foreign Islamic banks keen to enter the lucrative market.
In August the International Bank of Qatar (IBQ) sold its Islamic banking retail operations to Barwa Bank in a sale that included IBQ’s Al Yusr retail loans and deposit account portfolios, the two Al Yusr branches and a transfer of employees to Barwa Bank……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Islamic finance practitioners should explore joint ventures and synergistic collaboration with established global brands in private equity and asset management industries, says Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah.
He said this would be the most efficient way to move forward as local players have significant value proposition to make such alliances attractive to their foreign counterparts……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The local Islamic finance industry needs new and significant game-changing products, says Second Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah.
He said this is necessary to further entrench Malaysia’s lead position in the global Islamic finance industry. “An important element in any financial centre is that it must also be a centre of innovation……………………………………….Full Article: Source

There are much more products in Islamic Finance that can be explored to improve the well-being of our people and fight poverty in our communities, a Professor of Accounting, Kabiru Isa Dandago has said.
He said this at the weekend during the annual lecture organised by the Bayero University, Kano (BUK) Class 2000 Alumni during the Re-union Activities. Professor Dandago said beyond Islamic Banking there are other products that can touch many lives at the grassroots……………………………………….Full Article: Source