A good deal of the ongoing economic and financial turmoil on world markets has been blamed on the unscrupulous practices of the international banking and financial sector. Islamic banking, on the other hand, is seen as a fairer and more balanced alternative which has been much less affected by the crisis.
Can the Czech Republic benefit from a financial system based on the Islamic law? And can Islamic banking help boost Czech exports into Muslim countries?……………………………………….Full Article: Source

A Saudi billionaire who heads a key Arab Islamic bank has proposed that Shariah-compliant banks worldwide change their name to “Ibrahimi banks” as an indication that other key religions also prohibit usury.
Saleh Kamel, one of the richest businessmen in the Arab world with an estimated wealth of more than $five billion, said the name of Islamic banking shows that Islam bans only usury but its economic principles are much wider………………………………………..Full Article: Source

London-based Alsharqalawsat reports Sheikh Saleh Kamel, President of Dallah Al Baraka Group and the founder of the Al Baraka Banking Group, as suggesting that Islamic banking should more properly be called Abrahamic banking.
Sheikh Saleh suggested the new appellation as an indication that other religions also prohibit usury. “Usury is prohibited by Islam as well as Christianity and Judaism…hence these banks should be named Abrahamic banks since these three religions are affiliated to Abraham [Ibrahim], the father of prophets (peace be upon him)….we have no right to deny Christians and Jews their right in prohibiting usury………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank ADIB.AD, the second-largest Islamic lender in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), opened its first branch in London’s swanky Knightsbridge on Wednesday, targeting wealthy Gulf clients in Britain.
Sheikh Khalid Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family, joined Prince Andrew, The Duke of York, to open the office at One Hyde Park, the 1 billion pound luxury Candy and Candy development located near the Harrods department store………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) has officially opened its London branch at the prestigious One Hyde Park at Knightsbridge. It becomes the first UAE-based Islamic financial institution to receive a banking operations licence from the UK Financial Services Authority and to offer full range of services to high net worth individuals.
ADIB London was inaugurated by HH Sheikh Khalid Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and HRH Prince Andrew,……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Bank Negara announced introduction of a new Islamic monetary instrument, Collateralised Murabahah. It said Collateralised Murabahah was essentially a syariah-compliant financing secured by assets in which the financier had the right to sell the asset should the client fail to repay the financing.
“It combines the widely accepted Murabahah financing transaction with sukuk (Islamic bond) that forms the pledged asset to back the transaction,” it said in a statement………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Noor Islamic Bank , a leading Islamic bank in the United Arab Emirates, has launched two unique structured wealth management investment products, which offers clients an exposure to a diverse range of Asset Classes while minimising their risk through one structured deposit.
The new products, which allow clients to invest in Precious Metals, Currencies, Equities, Energy and Agricultural Commodities, with 100 per cent capital protection, join an impressive line-up of 33 shari’a compliant mutual funds distributed by Noor. (Press Release)

Washington slapped sanctions on the partially Qatar-owned Syria International Islamic Bank Wednesday, saying it had helped the Damascus regime skirt sanctions placed on the country’s leading bank.
Qatar is supporting the move with “corresponding actions” that could include cutting financial links to the bank, the US Treasury said, as Washington and allies step up pressure on the regime of President Bashar al-Assad over its brutal campaign of repression against a popular uprising………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Companies in the Gulf region are looking at issuing Islamic bonds that target Malaysian investors as a way to diversify funding sources and tap Asian demand for Middle East debt.
Bahrain-based lender Gulf International Bank, owned by the government of Saudi Arabia, announced this week it had set up a new 3.5 billion Malaysian ringgit Islamic bond, or sukuk, program, and could potentially issue a bond soon………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Danainfra Nasional Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Minister of Finance Incorporated, will issue RM8bil worth of government-guaranteed sukuk to partly finance the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit (KVMRT) project.
The massive project is being developed and managed by Mass Rapid Transit Corp Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp)………………………………………..Full Article: Source

State-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco is seeking to raise $12.5 billion in debt to help finance its joint venture with Dow Chemical, according to a report in Project Finance International (PFI), a unit of Thomson Reuters.
The multi-tranche, multi-tenor financing strategy will include an export credit agency (ECA) portion, a commercial bank tranche and a capital markets part, most likely a 144a issue, open to U. S. investors, or an Islamic bond………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Saudi Arabian Oil Co. and Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) sent requests to banks for $12.4 billion in financing for Sadara Chemical Co., their $20 billion joint venture, two bankers with knowledge of the situation said.
The Saudi company, also known as Saudi Aramco, and Dow Chemical plan to raise $2.66 billion in bank loans, $1.4 billion from the sale of Islamic bonds, $6.5 billion from export credit agency financing, $1.3 billion from Saudi’s Public Investment Fund, and $530 million from the Saudi Industrial Development Fund, the people said……………………………………….Full Article: Source

If VTB manages, on its third attempt, to issue a sukuk then the Russian bank will have achieved for conventional issuers what Goldman Sachs couldn’t and Crédit Agricole didn’t dare. Demonstrating that such business is possible would do a big favour for the Islamic finance market — and the Russians themselves.
Goldman Sach’s difficulties in accessing the sukuk market threatened to be a big setback for the global Islamic finance market’s cause. But a VTB success could revive interest among other potential non-Islamic borrowers — providing it goes about the task in the right way………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Indosat, the country’s second-largest mobile phone operator, plans to raise Rp 2.5 trillion ($267 million) from selling conventional and Islamic bonds next month.
The Jakarta-based mobile operator plans to sell Rp 2 trillion of seven- and 10-year conventional bonds next month and Rp 500 billion of seven-year Islamic bond at the end of June this year………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Saudi Arabian dairy and food producer Almarai Company’s board has approved a 15.7-billion riyal ($4.2bn), five-year investment plan that will draw on finance from bank loans and sukuk, it said.
The money will replace the company’s existing investment base and fund expansion between 2013 and 2017 of its operations in farming, manufacturing, distribution and logistics………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Emirates, the fast expanding Gulf airline, may seek to refinance a $550 million Islamic bond maturing in June but has not ruled out repayment in cash, a senior executive said.
“We are currently considering whether to refinance, and by what product. Cash flow is good and we have the ability to repay if we decide,” corporate treasury senior vice-president Brian Jeffery said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Saudi Arabia, long the sleeping giant of the Islamic debt markets, is finally shaking off its torpor and has dominated global sales of so-called sukuk so far this year.
Sukuk are bonds that are structured to comply with Islamic principles and have strictures against interest. Rather than a fixed coupon, the instruments pay a “profit rate”………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Sukuk or Islamic bonds enable organisations to raise capital in a Shariah compliant manner. The demand for sukuk was previously limited outside the GCC until few years ago and the year 2012 sees Oman as an emerging potential sukuk market among Thailand and the CIS countries.
Since the concept of “Sukuk” is a fairly new phenomenon in Oman, Mr. Hussain Al-Yafai, Director, Debt Capital Markets MENA, Standard Chartered Bank, will provide us an in-depth view on raising debt capital via Sukuk markets, at the Oman Islamic Banking and Finance Conference 2012 taking place from 5th-6th June 2012 at the Grand Hyatt. (Press Release)

Islamic finance is on the hunt for an apprentice. Dome Advisory, an international sharia advisory firm is launching a nationwide search for talented students at UK universities who can come up with a business plan or research idea that will aid the development of Islamic finance.
“I want the best brains…We need new blood in the industry and they don’t have to be Muslim,” Sheikh Bilal Khan, sharia scholar and non-executive director at London-based Dome said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Takaful Islami Insurance Limited removed six sponsor-directors on Wednesday as they failed to follow the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) order to hold minimum two percent stake as individual directors.
The board of directors of the company nodded the decision to remove the six sponsor-directors in its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Wednesday, Secretary of the firm Abul Kalam Azad told bdnews24.com………………………………………..Full Article: Source