The Islamic Development Bank is seeking partners to bring investment in a Shariah-compliant megabank to more than $1bn before the opening this year, allowing it to finance larger construction projects.
The financial institution, to be established with Riyadh-based Dallah Albaraka Group and the Qatari government, will issue securities that Islamic lenders can buy to manage excess funds, IDB president Ahmad Mohamed Ali said……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Dubai-based regional investment bank Ridge Capital has bought 100 percent of Egyptian asset management firm El Rashad Holding, which is expanding its Islamic financing business, its financial adviser said on Tuesday.
Rashad manages two funds, one for Misr Iran Bank and the other for National Bank of Egypt, and last month launched a third in Bahrain that specialises in Islamic investments, Karim Amin of Sempra Capital, which acted as Ridge’s adviser on the deal, told Reuters………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Islamic Bank of Thailand has asked a group of banks to submit proposals for a baht-denominated sukuk by this Friday. However, the formal request for proposals (RFP) has come as a surprise because the deal has been in the works for the past few years and Malaysian bank CIMB has already been working on it.
“I’m not sure why they sent out an RFP. I’m not sure if CIMB has been formally appointed, but they’ve been working on it for a long time,” said one Bangkok-based banker………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Indonesian finance minister plans to auction Islamic bond on May 22, as an effort to develop the market for the Islamic instrument, a statement from the ministry said here on Tuesday.
The sales with indicative target of one trillion rupiah (some 108.45 million U.S. dollar) that would be used to help plug the budget deficit this year………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC (DIB), the United Arab Emirates biggest bank complying with Islamic banking rules, will meet investors from May 17 for a possible benchmark-sized dollar sukuk sale, three people familiar with the details said.
The meetings will take place in Asia, the Middle East and Europe, they said, declining to be identified because the details are private. HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA), National Bank of Abu Dhabi PJSC, Emirates NBD PJSC (EMIRATES), Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) and Dubai Islamic will help arrange the meetings, they said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), the largest sharia-compliant lender in the emirate, is planning to issue a benchmark-sized, dollar-denominated Islamic bond, or sukuk, lead arranging banks said.
Roadshows for the bond sale will begin in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday and end in London on Monday, a document issued by the lead banks on Tuesday showed………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The UAE company Dana Gas, whose share price has dropped sharply on doubt over its ability to meet debt obligations, has hinted it will seek to refinance its troublesome US$1bn (Dh3.67bn) sukuk.
The gas producer based in Sharjah released strong first-quarter results and used the occasion finally to address concerns over the bond, which matures at the end of October.“The Company is committed to finding a consensual solution that is equitable to all stakeholders,” Dana said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Dana Gas Co said it wanted to find a consensual deal to repay the remainder of a $1 billion Islamic bond maturing in October, and confirmed it had hired advisers to weigh up various options for the repayment.
The Abu-Dhabi-listed natural gas producer’s share price has been battered by concerns over how it will find the cash to repay the outstanding $920 million of the sukuk, issued in 2007, on time and in full. Its stock has dropped 40 percent in the past year………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Banque Saudi Fransi, the lender part-owned by Credit Agricole, priced a $750 million five-year Islamic bond on Tuesday at par amid strong investor demand for the issue.
Saudi Fransi, the kingdom’s fifth largest bank by market capitalisation, launched and priced the sukuk at a spread of 185 basis points over midswaps, arranging banks said, at the lower end of the range indicated earlier in the day. It attracted orders worth $4 billion………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) announces that the monthly issue of the short-term Islamic leasing bonds, Sukuk Al-Ijara, has been oversubscribed by 175 per cent.
Subscriptions worth BHD 35 million were received for the BHD 20 million issue, which carries a maturity of 182 days. The expected return on the issue, which begins on 17th May 2012 and matures on 15 November 2012, is 1.34 per cent………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS) Malaysia country executive and head of international banking for Malaysia and Indonesia, Andrew M. Sill, said the British lender has in the pipeline “at least four to six” sizeable ringgit-denominated Islamic bond (sukuk) issuance by financial institutions and companies from Central Asia and Europe this year, of which “one or two could be announced relatively soon”.
Commenting of the size of the sukuk issues, he said they are not expected to surpass that of Hong Leong Bank’s US$300 million five-year corporate bond that RBS undertook last month………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Eurozone crisis continues to worry investors, and a combination of factors contributing to greater volatility is sparking investor interest in the Middle East region and Islamic bonds in particular, says Nigel Dennison, head of markets and asset management at the Bank of London and The Middle East (BLME).
The BLME is an independent wholesale Sharia’a-compliant bank based in London. It received Financial Services Authority authorisation in July 2007 and is the largest Islamic bank in Europe………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Central banks from seven Muslim countries yesterday launched a regulatory body to oversee the booming Islamic investment market. The Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) was inaugurated here by founding members Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Iran, Kuwait, Pakistan, Sudan and the Islamic Development Bank.
The establishment of the IFSB — an association of central banks, monetary authorities and other institutions responsible for supervising and regulating Islamic banking — was “in response to the growing significance of the Islamic financial services industry,” officials said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

His Royal Highness Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office in a sabda called the Islamic banking sector in the country to be more “entrepreneur-friendly” through the provision of various “Syariah-compliant” financing instruments.
The Crown Prince believed that this will provide more opportunities for Muslim entrepreneurs to be active in their respective entrepreneurial interests………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Islamic finance industry is facing key growth constraints that need to be addressed, Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) executive director of financial institutions supervision Abdul Rahman Al Baker claimed. “We are seeing continuing fragmentation in Islamic financial products,” he said.
“Unless products can be standardised, there will be less liquidity and documentation costs will remain higher than for conventional banks,” he said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

After almost a decade following the mid-1990 global financial crisis that had significant impact on the Asian economy, the world has now come to realise that Islamic financing is perhaps considered the most stable form of financing, especially in a time where governments are vulnerable to financial change.
In explaining this phenomenon that has “caused communities to distrust the conventional banking system”, the 1997 crisis, explained Universiti Islam Sultan Sharif Ali (UNISSA) Rector Dr Hj Serbini Hj Matahir……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Though local financial needs can be met by Syariah compliant means, research conducted by Universiti Islam Sultan Sharif Ali (UNISSA) has indicated that Muslims still turn to un-Islamic financing to cater to their needs.
In an interview with the Bulletin on the sidelines of the International Conference on Islamic Finance 2012 and the 6th Regional Syariah Scholars’ Dialogue yesterday, Hajah Rose Abdullah, UNISSA Deputy Dean at the Faculty of Business and Management Sciences has described this financial phenomenon as the “biggest worry”………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Türkiye Finans, Turkey’s leading participation bank, has signed the largest murabaha syndicated deal of the participation banking with a sum of $350 million dollars. Led by ABC Islamic Bank, HSBC, Noor Islamic Bank and Standard Chartered Bank, the consortium included a total of 29 banks from 15 countries.
With this murabaha syndicated loan deal, Türkiye Finans continues to create added-value for Turkish economy by supporting the companies in need of corporate financing and SMEs in particular………………………………………..Full Article: Source

After gaining power during the Arab Spring, Islamist parties are seeking solutions to improve the economy of the Islamic states.
For Fawaz A Gerges, professor of international relations at the London School of Economics, free market capitalism is the new model used by the Islamists after years of socialism. Turkey the flagship of the new Islamic movements………………………………………..Full Article: Source