The United States has been, and is now, one of the largest markets in the world for Islamic finance and investment transactions, which are transactions conducted in accordance with those principles of the Shariáh that are applicable to commerce and finance.
A wide range of U.S. and international practitioners have participated in Islamic finance and investment transactions, and it is likely that even more will participate as the global financial markets rebound and investment activity in the United States increases again………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd., the Malaysian state-owned public transport operator, plans to sell 4 billion ringgit ($1.3 billion) of Islamic bonds this year to finance the extension of rail lines in Kuala Lumpur, a company official said.
“We hope to sell 2 billion ringgit in tenors of 10 to 20 years this quarter as we need the money for the line extension and borrowing costs are low,” Mohd. Zahir Zahur Hussain, group finance director, said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur. “We will look into selling the second portion of the bonds, probably toward the end of the year.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Qatar sold the largest dollar-denominated Islamic bond ever seen on Wednesday, taking advantage of heavy interest in high-grade Gulf debt, which is being sought as a safe haven from the global financial crisis.
The world’s top liquefied natural gas exporter priced a $4 billion, two-tranche sukuk, attracting a massive order book of over $24 billion. It was the Qatari government’s first Islamic debt issue for nine years………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Qatar, the world’s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas, will pay less for $4 billion (Dh14.7 billion) than any other sovereign issuing Islamic bonds. The government priced five-year sukuk to yield 115 basis points more than the benchmark midswap rate, or about 2 per cent, two people familiar with the transaction said on Wednesday.
The 10-year notes were sold at 155 basis points over midswaps, or about 3.2 per cent, they said. That’s below the 3.56 per cent average yield of 12 constituents in the HSBC/Nasdaq Dubai Sovereign US Dollar Sukuk Index………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Emaar Properties, builder of the world’s tallest tower, plans to issue a seven-year benchmark-sized sukuk this week, two market sources said on Wednesday, joining a growing list of Gulf Arab entities tapping demand for Islamic debt.
The potential sale would mark the Dubai developer’s return to the debt markets after more than a year and an opportune time to raise cheap financing. “This may be the best time for Emaar to tap the sukuk market at a lower profit margin as the yield on its previously issued sukuk which carries a coupon rate of 8.5 per cent has come down significantly to 5.7 per cent now,” said Sajeer Babu, a senior investment analyst at National Bank of Abu Dhabi………………………………………..Full Article: Source

DanaInfra Nasional Bhd, a wholly-owned company of Minister of Finance, Inc, says its RM2.4bil sukuk has been oversubscribed 5.38 times with highly competitive rates. The sukuk was issued to part finance the construction and development of the Mass Rapid Transit project.
The RM2.4bil Islamic medium-term notes (MTN), which formed part of the RM8.0bil Islamic commercial papers/Islamic MTN programme, had attracted demand of up to RM12.915bil, DanaInfra said in a statement………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The GCC countries are keen to lead in innovative finance as they develop financial centers and diversify their economies. Additionally, government and government-related entities responsible for the clean energy build out in the Middle East are becoming regular issuers of bonds and sukuk, given the long gestation and life cycle of energy projects.
In this context, a Shariah-compliant “Green Sukuk” would be an ideal investment instrument for the MENA region as it would meet the investment requirements of Shariah-compliant investors from the GCC, Asia and global institutional investors increasingly cognizant of the benefits of environment, CSR and corporate governance compliant investments………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Saudi Arabia’s approval of a landmark mortgage law this week after a delay of more than three years will give rise to Islamic funding and tackle some of the challenges in the real estate sector in the Kingdom, National Commercial Bank (NCB) said.
Although all income segments will be positively impacted from the enactment of a mortgage law, those within the affluent segment will have greater freedom to either finance the construction of their own houses or to invest in the housing sector, NCB noted………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Leading Saudi banks - Al Rajhi, SABB, Saudi Hollandi and Samba Financial Group - have reported upbeat quarterly results topping or meeting estimates, boosted by rising loan demand.
Al Rajhi, the country’s biggest Islamic lender, on Tuesday made a net profit of SR2.1 billion ($560 million) in the three months ending June 30, up by 13.6 per cent compared with the same period a year earlier………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), the Islamic Bank in Qatar has announced the financial results for the six months ended 30 June 2012. QIB has achieved a net profit of QR736.9m, up 5% compared to QR703.3m during the same period last year.
Total Assets of the bank have moved up to QR63.2bn, reflecting a strong growth of 26% compared to QR50.1bn as of 30th June 2011. Key driver of this growth was financing activities that now stand at QR35.8bn having added QR11bn in last one year, representing a 45% growth over QR24.7bn as of 30th June 2011. (Press Release)

Emirates Islamic Bank, one of the leading Islamic financial institutions in the region,announced that it is offering customers of its Emirates Islamic Bank Skywards Credit Cards one ofthe best Skywards Miles deal in the UAE. In partnership with Emirates Airline, customers can now earn as much as one Skywards Mile for Dhs1.5 spent on the Card.
The Emirates Islamic Bank Skywards Credit Card range comprises four products: Gold, Gold Plus, Platinum and Platinum Plus. Each product enables card holders to accumulate Skywards miles at a different rate. Customers applying for an EIB Skywards Credit Card before July 21st, 2012 have the opportunity to get up to 25,000 bonus skyward miles. (Press Release)

Al Meezan Investment Management Ltd (Al Meezan) declared final dividend for its four open end funds Meezan Islamic Fund (MIF), Al Meezan Mutual Fund (AMMF), Meezan Islamic Income Fund (MIIF) and Meezan Capital Protected Fund-II (MCPF-II) for the period ending June 30, 2012 while for KSE Meezan Index Fund (KMIF), no payout was announced.
Total amount of final dividends declared worth over Rs 1,247 million. Interim payouts that were made during the year for open-end funds amounted to Rs 2,603 million thus taking the total dividend distribution for all funds to over Rs 3,850 million for the fiscal year 2012………………………………………..Full Article: Source