Don’t expect a surge in Australian Islamic finance even when the country’s government finally releases a widely expected proposal to change tax guidelines, opening up the local market to more of these type of products. Still relatively obscure here, the major Australian banks offer only a small number of retail investors watered down versions of the products that prohibit the payment of interest in compliance with Islamic laws.
But few bankers expect that the new rules designed to free up the Islamic finance market will work………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Saudi Arabia’s Almarai Co has received shareholder approval for its planned Islamic bond sale, the dairy firm said in a statement on Sunday.
The approval was obtained at an extraordinary general assembly meeting on Saturday, the bourse statement said. Last month, Almarai had said it was planning a sukuk issue and was seeking shareholder approval………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Bahrain’s $750m Islamic bond issue last week is a part of the Gulf Arab state’s plan to create a yield curve, its central bank said on Sunday.
“Bahrain’s return to the sukuk market through a longer dated issue is part of our desire to create a yield curve in the international sukuk market in the same way that we have in our domestic market,” said Sheikh Salman bin Isa al-Khalifa, executive director of banking operations at the central bank………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) Holding is preparing to sell Islamic bonds as increasing numbers of companies seek to bypass frozen western credit markets and raise funds through sukuk sales.
The retail and hospitality giant, which operates Dubai’s Mall of the Emirates, is laying the groundwork for a sukuk sale worth about US$500 million (Dh1.8 billion)………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Dubai-based shopping mall developer Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) is aiming to raise between $350 million and $500 million in a five-year dollar-denominated Islamic bond, or sukuk, by the end of November, a senior official said.
The company appointed HSBC and Standard Chartered to structure its planned sukuk programme, sources told Reuters last month………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Malaysia’s state investment company Khazanah issued the world’s first offshore renminbi (Rmb)-denominated Sukuk in Hong Kong on October 13th 2011, delayed from its initial mid-September launch to avoid market volatility across Asian financial markets.
Priced at the tightest end of guidance at 2.9% with a three year benchmark, the dealwent out amid market anticipation, and demand of 3.6 times……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The worldwide Takaful insurance market is being predicted to reach a value of over $12 billion in 2011, which signifies a 31 percent increase from the $9.15 billion figure posted in 2010, according to a recent report from Ernst and Young, one of the world’s leading professional services organizations.
The report also ranks the UAE in third place in the global Takaful market, which was reportedly worth over $640 million in 2009………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The size of the global Takaful insurance market is of around USD 12 billion for the current year, and it is expected to reach around USD 25 billion within 2015. Furthermore, 49% of the total insurance premiums will be in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, while the size of Takaful insurance market will reach around 1% of the global insurance market, with the possibility of development by 20% annually.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is at the top of the world in terms of the growth of Takaful market, where the size of Takaful insurance market is expected to reach USD 7.7 billion by the end of 2012, after reaching nearly USD 5 billion in the first quarter of this year, according to recently published reports………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Euro zone leaders may have failed to find a solution to the region’s debt crisis, but could Britain’s Muslim community hold the answer? Islamic Banking is getting mainstream attention on the British High Street. Ruairidh Villar reports.……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Oman’s new regulatory and legal framework for Islamic banking and finance should be completed by the end of this year.
“We are building a legal and regulatory framework in consultation with the banking community. This is headed by a Special Committee who has been working on this with a top international consultancy firm for the last six months to come up with the appropriate framewrok,” explained Hilal Ali Saud Al-Barwani, vice president, Banking Control and Legal Department, Central Bank of Oman, in an interview………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Al Baraka Banking Group (ABG) has joined Bait Al Bursa, the Islamic finance division of Bahrain Financial Exchange (BFX), it was announced yesterday. The BFX Bait Al Bursa’s offerings come at an appropriate time when the Islamic market is eager for new pioneering and innovative products.
e-Tayseer, Bait Al Bursa’s Murabaha liquidity management platform, is designed to make Al Baraka Banking Group scheduling and execution of their Murabaha transactions more streamlined and afford its users the benefit of reduced trade life-cycle and manual paperwork procedures resulting in savings of time and cost in executing transactions………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The troubled Dubai Bank may merge with the Emirates Islamic Bank (EIB) following its acquisition by Emirates NBD, a newspaper reported on Sunday.
A committee comprising senior representatives from Emirates NBD, Dubai Bank and EIB found that the merger is possible given EIB’s sophisticated systems which allow it to fully absorb Dubai Bank’s operations, Alkhaleej said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Fitch Ratings has affirmed the Islamic Development Bank’s (IDB) Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘AAA’ with a Stable Outlook and Short-term IDR at ‘F1+’.
The ratings primarily reflect IDB’s strong capitalization. The bank is one of the most highly capitalized multilateral development banks (MDBs) rated by Fitch. The equity to assets ratio has remained above 65 percent since inception (70.7 percent at end-1431H (corresponding to Dec. 6, 2010)………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Perhaps it is not surprising that the 9th Annual Summit of the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) will be hosted by the Central Bank of Turkey (CBT) on May 16-17, 2012 in Istanbul.
At the meeting of the central banks & monetary authorities of the OIC member countries which was organized by the Ankara-based SESTRIC, the statistical and research organization of the OIC, and hosted by Bank Negara Malaysia, the central bank, in Kuala Lumpur last week, Erdem Basçı, governor of the CBT, was indeed a busy man………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Capinnova Investment Bank, the Shari’a compliant investment banking arm of Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait (BBK), has confirmed its partnership at the 18th Annual World Islamic Banking Conference (WIBC 2011) as gold strategic partner.
WIBC 2011, the world’s largest and most influential annual gathering of leaders in the global Islamic banking and finance industry will be held from November 21 (tomorrow) to 23, a statement from the bank said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

After waiting for five years for a Reserve Bank of India approval, Qatar-based Doha Bank is now readying to start banking operations in the country.
The lender, the largest in the state of Qatar, expects to receive clearance from the Indian apex bank in the next few months to begin its commercial banking operations in the world’s second fastest growing major economy, said R. Seetharaman, chief executive officer of Doha Bank group………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) announced that its Sharia consultancy subsidiary, Dar Al Sharia Legal & Financial Consultancy (Dar Al Sharia), has been named the ‘Leading Advisory Group’ (LAG) at the third Mediterranean Islamic Finance Conference in Malta.
The award ceremony was held in the presidency palace and the award was presented to Khurram Abdullah, Senior Manager, Dar Al Sharia, by Joseph Church, Secretary to the Presidency of Malta, at a high profile ceremony attended by Islamic Finance experts from around the world………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Whether it is the Occupy Wall Street movement in America or the threat of a meltdown in the European economy, the ongoing economic turbulence may have ignited in many the desire for a more decorous financial system.
Among the melange of solutions provided by conventional financial institutions, perhaps Islamic finance may just be a viable option for ways to deal with money………………………………………..Full Article: Source

While not many ordinary Western consumers understand the principles of Islamic finance, an increasing number of Western institutions have begun to incorporate its principles into operations in some parts of the world.
Islamic finance bans interest, gambling and speculation. Few people know that it also promotes the kind of focus on partnership and productive investment that seems to have been missing from the global boom of the first decade of the 21st century………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Three years after the stock market regulator suspended the shares of Amlak Finance, one of the largest financial institutions in the UAE, investors such as Ali Abdullah Ragban are still waiting for answers.
Ragban said he made a number of million-dollar investments through Amlak Finance in property and also bought its shares from 2004 to early 2007 during Dubai’s property boom, only to see the value of the assets fall by more than half………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The 18th Annual World Islamic Banking Conference opens on the 21st November with a series of pre-conference summits
Bahrain: 20 November 2011: Leading players, industry thought leaders and key regulators in the international Islamic banking and finance industry will take part in the 18th Annual World Islamic Banking Conference (WIBC 2011), which is set to commence on the 21st of November 2011 at the Gulf Hotel in the Kingdom of Bahrain………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Saudi Arabia is poised to emerge the strongest for initial public offerings (IPOs) despite the sluggish performance of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) market with only two listings in the region in the third quarter of 2011 as compared to the three in the second quarter.
PwC, a leading international professional services organization, said in its Q3 Capital Markets Watch Report on Sunday that both the IPOs in Q3, 2011 were issued in the Kingdom raising a total of SR821 million ($219 million) — Hail Cement Company SR491 million ($131 million) and United Wire Factories Company SR330 million ($88 million)………………………………………..Full Article: Source