The Islamic Development Bank, a Jeddah-based multilateral lender, said it approved a record $4.2 billion in financing for projects around the world this year.
Funding included $105 million for a power-generation, transmission and distribution program in Mauritania’s capital, Nouakchott, $53 million for the Saudi Arabian SME Fund and $11 million to support the second phase of a road project in Morocco, the lender said……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Ahmad Mohamed Ali, the president of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), the multilateral development agency of the Muslim world, has warned that the euro zone sovereign debt crisis is adversely affecting the Bank’s member countries and urged European leaders to come up with the right solutions and not to repeat the mistakes of the past.
“Of course, a number of our member countries especially in the Mediterranean Basin such as Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria are major traders with Europe………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Islamic finance poses an ethical and non-conventional model and is currently the only area with strong growth, said Professor Ignacio dela Torre, Academic Director of the Master in Finance Programmes at Spain’s Instituto de Empressa (IE) Business School last week.
Dela Torre was speaking at the relaunch of the Saudi-Spanish Centre for Islamic Economics and Finance, a partnership between IE Business School and Saudi Arabia’s King Abdul Aziz University………………………………………..Full Article: Source

HSBC Amanah provides a full range of Islamic financial services to the retail, corporate and institutional customers in the Middle East, Asia and the UK. It has a team of dedicated Islamic banking professionals in most major financial centres such as New York, London, Riyadh, Dubai, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.
With the size of the Muslim population expected to reach 2.2 billion by 2030, or 26 per cent of the world population, HSBC Amanah expects huge growth in their target markets………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Kuala Lumpur-based International Shariah Research Academy for Islamic Finance (ISRA), the Shariah research entity of Bank Negara Malaysia, the central bank, has embarked on an ambitious strategic plan for 2012 which focuses on strengthening its global reach, further enhancing the quality of its activities and increasing its connectivity with market players and industry stakeholders.
Since its establishment in 2008 with the vision of becoming “the Premier Shariah Research Centre in Islamic Finance”, ISRA has lived in the shadows of its sister organization INCEIF (the International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance), the Islamic finance education arm of Bank Negara Malaysia, which has assumed a much higher and aggressive profile………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Deutsche Bank, a pillar of traditional banking, estimated in a report this month that Islamic finance would almost double to $1.8 trillion in assets by 2016 as stagnant conventional lending pushed companies to seek alternative financing methods.
As much of the international corporate bond market has frozen up over the last six months, most bond issuance by Gulf companies has been in the form of sukuk. Dubai’s fast-growing Emirates airline said it was looking at the Islamic finance market to fund aircraft deliveries as European banks backed out of plane deals because of the euro zone debt crisis………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Shariah financial products are not just for Muslims, but also for those who value the concept of equal profit-sharing, to reap the benefits of their businesses.
To boost the knowledge, concepts and ideals of Shariah finance and ethical business practices in Sri Lanka, local consultancy firm Wealth Lanka Management signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Al Tayseer Advisory Services, an Islamic finance specialist with a strong presence in Pakistan and Malaysia………………………………………..Full Article: Source

An Islamic investment bank can be established in former Soviet republics, Interfax news agency reported, citing Anatoliy Kazakov, head of the coordinating body of the finance and banking council of the Commonwealth of Independent States, or CIS.
The bank can invest in infrastructure, industrial and refining projects, Kazakov told Interfax in an interview today in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku. He added that an Islamic bank would help attract investments in the CIS market, which he described as attractive and reliable………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Special Adviser to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor on Non-Interest Banking, Dr Bashir Aliyu Umar, has said the motive behind the introduction of Islamic Banking in the country is to attract a large number of Muslims that have hitherto steered away from the organised conventional financial services.
Umar, who was speaking at the workshop for business editors and Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) in Dutse, Jigawa, last week, pointed out that most Muslims preferred keeping their funds out of the banking halls due to their aversion to interest and interest-based products, adding that Islamic Banking would lead to replacement of informal markets with formal and regulated ones………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) is offering employees working in different sectors the chance to benefit from exclusive offers by transferring their salary to the bank.
All Qataris and residents working in various sectors such as military, municipalities, health, education and hydrocarbon need only to transfer their salary to QIB to get exclusive offers in personal finance, auto finance, takaful, accounts and credit cards……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Oman Arab Bank (OAB) is fully geared up to roll out Islamic banking products, once the regulatory framework is in place. “We have prepared our plan (for opening Islamic banking windows) and are waiting for the Central Bank of Oman to announce rules and regulations on Islamic banking,” Abdul Kader Askalan, chief executive of OAB, said.
Askalan said his bank has decided to offer Islamic banking products through two branches. “We will see whether the central bank allows window operations through the existing branches or we need to open dedicated branches.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Kenya’s maiden $500m sovereign Sukuk, planned for issue by June 2012, will be part-Shari’ah compliant in order to attract investors from the Middle East, according to local financial industry players.
The country has for several years toyed with the idea of issuing sovereign Sukuk, but the post election violence of 2008, which affected its sovereign rating and the financial instability in Europe and the US, where most of the buyers were expected to come from, saw the government’s plans shelved………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Kenya’s FCB Capital, a subsidiary of the First Community Bank, will launch the country’s first fully Shari’ah compliant investment fund, the First Ethical Opportunity fund, in January.
The fund has been licensed by the Capital Markets Authority and “it will be an open-ended fund that will be available to retail and institutional investors,” said MD of FCB Capital, Antony Wambura. Each unit will be priced at $20, with a minimum investment of 10 units……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The Central Bank of Bahrain has priced its $750m seven-year Sukuk at a profit rate of 6.273%, in line with the guidance of 450bps over midswaps.
The certificates, which were rated BBB by both S&P and Fitch, will be issued by CBB International Sukuk Company and are expected to settle on November 22, 2018. They will be listed on the London Stock Exchange………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Kuveyt Turk Participation Bank recently issued Islamic bonds amounting to $350 million (sukuk) at a signing ceremony in Istanbul. The participants at the signing ceremony include Capital Markets Board (SPK) President Vedat Akgiray and Kuveyt Turk’s chairman, Mohammad Al-Omar, Vice Chairman Abdullah Tivnikli and CEO Ufuk Uyan, Zaman reported.
They agreed that Islamic bonds were issued taking into account the rising demand for attractiveness of Turkey’s low risk to Islamic and international investors………………………………………..Full Article: Source

RAM Ratings has reaffirmed the AAA rating (with a stable outlook) of Cagamas MBS’s MYR 2.05 billion Sukuk Musyarakah Islamic residential mortgage-backed securities (2005/2020), known as CMBS 2005-1.
The reaffirmation is premised on the available overcollateralisation (OC) ratio of 57.27 per cent as at 31 March 2011, the overall performance of the collateral pool, and the structural support afforded by the transaction structure……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Islamic Corporation for Development of the Private Sector (ICD) is developing its operations in Azerbaijan. At the IV Baku International Banking Conference Hisham Nazih Al-Nasser, ICD director for assets management and advisory work, has claimed that currently the ICD was working on a project of first Islamic insurance company Kaufad in Azerbaijan.
“The Corporation is also ready to offer a special line for development of leasing company Ansar Leasing,” Mr. Al-Nasser said. Ansar Leasing is wholly owned by the Islamic Development Corporation………………………………………..Full Article: Source

King and Spalding and its affiliated office in Riyadh, the Law Office of Mohammad Al-Ammar, advised Jeddah-based AlAhli Takaful Company in its proposed SAR 80 million ($21.3 million) capital increase through a rights issue.
The company published a prospectus for the rights issue after receiving approval from the Saudi Arabian Capital Markets Authority. AlAhli Takaful Company specializes in offering Shari’ah-compliant insurance products (Takaful) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and is regulated by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Governors of central banks and monetary authorities of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member countries, meeting at Sasana Kijang in Kuala Lumpur in November under the aegis of the Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESTRIC) and hosted by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), could be excused for being pre-occupied with matters pertaining to the euro zone sovereign debt crisis and its impact on member countries.
The two keynote addresses - one by Shaukat Aziz, former prime minister of Pakistan, who spoke on ‘Accelerating Financial Sector Development for Economic Growth:……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Saudi Hollandi Bank recently organized a number of seminars and forums focused on Islamic banking. The country-wide events were titled “Islamic banking from a contemporary perspective”.
They brought together customers, Shariah banking experts, Islamic scholars and the bank’s management. The events showcased the latest and most innovative Shariah-compliant banking products and services………………………………………..Full Article: Source