The insolvency of an Islamic mortgage lender in Canada may hinder the growth of sharia-compliant finance in North America, where the industry has struggled to gain traction in the absence of a supportive regulatory framework.
UM Financial Inc was ordered into receivership in October, leaving about $32 million worth of mortgages in the hands of Toronto’s legal system. Accounting and business advisory firm Grant Thornton was appointed receiver by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Dubai-based Nakheel is continuing to settle contractor claims, but has not set any deadline for issuing the second tranche of its sukuk (Islamic bond) programme. “Work is progressing well on contractor claims and settlements are being finalised in the normal course of the business,” a company spokesman said.
He added that the issuance of the next tranche of the sukuk is dependent upon how fast do the contractors settle and sign relevant documents………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Indonesia’s central bank plans to allow the trade of syariah bonds for its reverse repo operations, deputy governor Halim Alamsyah said, in a move aimed at deepening the local sukuk market.
Bank Indonesia was drafting the rules, which may be effective next year, Alamsyah said. The central bank’s reverse repo operations are aimed at absorbing excess liquidity from the financial system………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Emirates NBD, the largest bank by assets in the U.A.E., may issue an Islamic bond, or sukuk, as early as next week, a senior official at the bank said Monday.
“We have not signed a mandate letter yet but are hoping to sign a mandate this week–we are in talks with banks now. As far as issuance, next week is a possibility,” Tony Bush, head of global funding at Emirates NBD told Zawya Dow Jones. He added that the sukuk would be used for general corporate purposes and have a five-year tenor………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Islamic mortgage lender Tamweel, badly hit by the global financial crisis and the region’s property bust, has set up a $1 billion bond programme, according to a base prospectus.
Tamweel will complete investor meetings in London on Monday, along with its parent company Dubai Islamic Bank, after which it may issue an Islamic bond, or sukuk, guaranteed by DIB………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Deutsche Bank has appointed Salah Jaidah as the chairman of Islamic Finance and Ibrahim Qasim as the head of Islamic Finance Structuring.
Ashok Aram, CEO of Deutsche Bank for the Middle East & North Africa, said: “Deutsche Bank is committed to the development of the Islamic Finance industry and will continue expanding its Shari’a compliant product offerings and solutions………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Emirates NBD named a new group head of wholesale banking on Monday as well as a new interim chief executive for Dubai Bank, which it took over in October, in the latest management reshuffle by Dubai’s largest lender.
The bank appointed Giel-Jan Van Der Tol as group head of wholesale banking and Douwe Oppedijk — the former chief executive of the UAE’s Commercial Bank International — to the interim CEO job at Dubai Bank, the company said in a statement on Monday………………………………………..Full Article: Source

A new set of rules and regulations for Islamic banks will be ready by the end of this month, said a top-level official of the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) here on Sunday.
The banking regulator in September appointed an international audit firm, Ernst & Young, to advise the apex bank on formulating a separate set of rules for Islamic banking in the country………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Lawmakers in Bangladesh are urging the central bank to draft Islamic banking regulations, spurring Standard Chartered Plc to increase investment in the nation’s $10 billion (Dh36.7 billion) Sharia-compliant finance industry.
Bangladesh Bank will consider proposals from parliament’s finance committee to issue more Sharia banking licences and start an Islamic money market, Jahangir Alam, a central bank spokesman, said in a November 24 interview from the capital Dhaka. The country’s seven Islamic lenders, whose assets are growing at 28 per cent a year, now operate under the Bank Company Act and there is only one outstanding Islamic bond, Alam said………………………………………..Full Article: Source