The government of India said it is not legally feasible for domestic banks to carry out interest- free Islamic banking activities. “RBI has informed that in the current statutory and regulatory framework, it is not legally feasible for banks in India to undertake Islamic banking activities in India or for branches of Indian banks abroad to undertake Islamic banking outside India,” Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena said.
He said the Reserve Bank of India has received references from the Indian Centre for Islamic Finance for introducing interest-free banking in the country in order to ensure inclusive growth with innovation in accordance with recommendations of the Raghuram Rajan Committee………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, the global derivatives trade body, has launched a new standard of Islamic derivative product as the market for such products develops.
Isda, in conjuction with the International Islamic Financial Market, announced the creation of the Mubadalatul Arbaah, or profit rate swap, product standard to be used for Islamic hedging purposes on Tuesday………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The International Islamic Financial Market (IIFM) and the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) have launched an ISDA/IIFM Mubadalatul Arbaah (Profit Rate Swap) product standard, to be used for Islamic hedging purposes.
The Mubadalatul Arbaah (MA) standard provides the industry with a framework for Islamic risk mitigation………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Kuwait Finance House (KFIN), the country’s largest Islamic lender, plans to restructure, merge or sell unprofitable units, state news agency KUNA reported, citing Chief Executive Officer Mohammed Al-Omar.
The bank’s reorganization plan, which involves creating separate divisions for banking, investment, operations and wealth management, has been approved by the board and will include “the appointment of new leaders,” Al-Omar said, according to KUNA………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Islamic bank Kuwait Finance House (KFH) will shuffle its top management and work with advisors to sell, merge or restructure unprofitable subsidiaries, state news agency KUNA quoted the bank’s chief executive as saying.
It quoted Mohammed Omar as telling shareholders on Monday that KFH’s restructuring would require executive appointments that had approval from KFH’s board and were now awaiting approval from the central bank………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Islamic banking unit of Bank Permata, Permata Bank Syariah, has targeted on ambitious lending growth of 65 percent this year after witnessing a two-fold growth that reached Rp 3 trillion in 2011.
“We will align our growth with the aggressive growth target set by Bank Indonesia, which falls between the 60 to 65 percent range,” Achmad K. Permana, head of Permata Bank Syariah, said ………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The existence of non-interest banking, otherwise known as Islamic Banking in Nigeria, would give support to achieving stability in the financial system in event of market crash or crisis, an expert has said.
Shaikh Ziyaad Mahomed, Chief Executive Officer, Islamic Finance Institution of South Africa (FISA), noted that because conventional banks are interest-rate dependent, they are susceptible to interest rate volatility, which is capable of upsetting an economy………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Islamic (non-interest) banking is growing across the world not because of the effort of Muslims but because the banking philosophy makes more sense, an expert in the field, Shaikh Muhammed Ziyaad, has said.
He said unlike the conventional banks which try to make more money on the money, the Islamic bank is concerned about profit made from trade, insisting that, “money cannot earn more money except you investment.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Islamic banks, banks which prohibit the payment or acceptance of interest or fees for loans of money, will soon arrive in Croatia. Dr. Sukrija Ramic, a member of the Sharia Board of the first Islamic bank on European soil, Bosna Bank International, has announced that legal regulations have been completed that will open the way for new Islamic banks to open in the region.
Ramic has said that Croatia, with its Catholic majority population, could accept an Islamic bank in the country before Bosnia and Herzegovina, since Pope Benedict XVI has previously recommended that commercial banks look to the principles of Islamic finance………………………………………..Full Article: Source

With the draft laws for Islamic banking almost complete, Oman will also alter its existing regulations for banking in the Sultanate to incorporate Islamic finance.
H.E. Hamood Sangour al Zadjali, Executive President of the Central Bank of Oman, revealed to the Oman-based newspaper Muscat Daily that the first draft of Islamic banking rules is almost ready and it is being updated with comments from local banks………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Bank Nizwa has appointed Tariq Al Farsi as general manager for retail and private banking. Farsi has a successful and distinguished track record of building and running Islamic banks and brings more than 11 years’ experience in investment, retail and corporate banking in various multi-national and regional financial institutions.
Farsi was a senior member of the pioneering teams behind the start-up of two Islamic banks; Noor Islamic Bank and Al Hilal………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Participation banks, which refrain from being involved in financial activities deemed forbidden in Islamic teaching, increased their profit by 6 percent, to TL 850 million ($450 million), in 2011 compared to 2010.
According to a statement released by the Participation Banks Association (TKBB) on Monday, the financial institutions’ assets and equity capital have also grown by 29 percent and 13 percent, respectively, year-on-year to TL 56 billion and TL 6.1 billion. Their assets were only TL 3.9 billion in 2003………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Dubai’s Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA) is preparing to launch a large syndicated loan to partly refinance its $2 billion Islamic bond that matures in November, bankers familiar with the deal said.
JAFZA, which runs an industrial free zone on the outskirts of Dubai, is considering a $900 million syndicated loan, which will be followed by a $600 million sukuk and up to $500 million of cash repayments over the coming months, one of the bankers said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Saudi Electricity Co launched a $1.75 billion two-part Islamic bond on Tuesday, with tighter pricing on both the five-and 10-year tranches, indicating strong demand for the first dollar-denominated issue from Saudi Arabia since 2010.
The $500 million five-year portion was launched at a spread of 140 basis points (bps) over midswaps, from 160 bps over midswaps indicated earlier………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Cagamas Bhd has issued a multi-tenured RM500mil Malaysia’s first-of-its-kind Wakalah Bil Istithmar sukuk.
The structure of the product involved the co-mingling, or mixing together, of debts (arising from a commodity murabahah transaction) with equity assets constituting an investment (istithmar) portfolio which meets the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions standards, Cagamas said in a statement………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Khazanah Nasional Bhd will use the US$357.8 million (RM1.09 billion) raised from its recent landmark exchangeable sukuk issue to fund upcoming investments in the Asian region.
“We have some deals in the pipeline … in sectors we’re familiar with,” chief financial officer Mohd Izani Ghani said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Pembinaan BLT Sdn, a construction company owned by the Finance Ministry, is marketing RM1.35bil of Islamic bonds to yield between 3.55% and 4.45%, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The sukuk, which paid returns on assets to comply with Islam’s ban on interest, would have maturities of three, five, seven, 10, 12 and 15 years, said the people who declined to be named because the information is private. Pembinaan is issuing the syariah-compliant debt via its Aman Sukuk Bhd unit………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) announces that the monthly issue of the Sukuk Al-Salam Islamic securities for the BD18 million issue, which carries a maturity of 91 days, has been subscribed by 167%.
The expected return on the issue, which begins on 28 March 2012 and matures on 27 June 2012, is 1.18%………………………………………..Full Article: Source

A large involvement of research and development and innovation in businesses are required to spur the growth in Islamic private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) market in Malaysia, says an Islamic Strategic Counsel.
Zaid Hamzah, who is the only Malaysian author for Islamic PE and VC books, said “these industries were not well matured yet although the infrastructure has been well established.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The takaful market is currently concentrated in Malaysia and the Middle East where it has been experiencing significant growth rates. Global gross takaful contributions grew by 29 percent in Southeast Asia in 2009, and by 31 percent in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) whose ranks Oman has recently joined as the first takaful operator to start business this year.
Takaful has undergone a significant internationalization phase and managed to cross borders. Awareness and acceptance of takaful are also growing in regional markets such as Indonesia, Brunei, Turkey, India, and Pakistan. ……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The number of insurance companies operating in Sultanate are on the rise and the volume of premiums collected by the companies is also on the rise, which reflected negatively on the performance and operational cost.
Sayyid Nasser Salim al Busaidy, head of an Omani insurance company, called upon the capital market to urge insurance companies to integrate and develop regulations for licensing new companies so that the need of the emerging market is taken care of………………………………………..Full Article: Source