The government’s fear of political Islam forced banks to conduct “guerrilla Islamic finance” in which sharia-compliant deals were hidden under the appearance of conventional banking, says Fuad Aliyev, a scholar at Johns Hopkins University’s Central Asia-Caucasus Institute in Washington DC.
Now several banks in Azerbaijan openly offer a limited range of services based on Islamic principles including bans on interest and pure monetary speculation. The country’s largest bank, majority-owned by the state, has opened an “Islamic window” providing finance to small companies………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The size of Islamic banking market in Qatar is worth $35bn. The sector accounts for an estimated 19.3 percent of the country’s total banking assets. The Institute of International Finance (IIF) estimated in its latest report that the assets of Islamic Banking industry in the GCC has reached a total of $314bn by the end of 2011, representing about 19 percent of the total assets of the Gulf banks that amounts to about two trillion dollars.The IIF estimated the assets of Islamic banks around the world $1.6trn.
Saudi Arabia, with an estimated $92bn assets, leads in terms of the size of the Islamic banking market in the region, followed by the United Arab Emirates- $80bn and Kuwait at about $ 70bn. Bahrain ‘s assets has been estimated to$ 38 bn, an Arabic daily quoted IIF report as saying………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Scholar accuses Shariah banks of charging for balance statements, lauds other banks. A prominent Saudi Muslim scholar has launched a rare attacked on Shariah-compliant bank for charging their customers seeking a balance statement, newspapers in the Gulf Kingdom reported.
Sheikh Adel Al Kalbani said he had received a text on his mobile phone from a “well-known” Islamic bank charging him SR120 (Dh118) for having a written statement of his balance in the bank………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Gulf Finance House (GFH) may be forced to seal off pubs, restaurants and betting points at the Leeds United Football Club’s stadium to allow the proposed acquisition to go ahead.
GFH is facing criticism from the Islamic finance community over its proposed takeover of Leeds United Football Club, because the club’s stadium features betting points, pubs and restaurants which serve pork products and alcohol which violate the Shari’ah………………………………………..Full Article: Source

OSK Investment Bank Bhd’s (OSKIB) Islamic banking division is taking measures to unlock value in the Islamic finance realm, in tandem with its measures in addressing the challenges currently faced in the segment.
The World Bank has valued the global Islamic finance asset size at about US$1.3 trillion currently and expects it to reach US$1.6 trillion by year-end. In Malaysia, the Islamic banking segment represented 18 per cent of the overall banking sector’s RM1.78 trillion total assets as at end-2011………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Dubai-based Emirates District Cooling (Emicool), a joint venture between Dubai Investments and Union Properties , signed a 793 million dirham ($216 million) Islamic loan guaranteed by both parents, a statement said on Sunday.
Structured in a sharia-compliant manner, the facility runs for ten years, according to the statement from Mashreq , one of the banks providing finance………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Tupras, Turkey’s sole oil refiner, signed a $200 million one-year loan with a group of nine Gulf-based banks, a statement from the facility’s arranger said on Sunday. The loan was arranged by Qatar-based investment bank QInvest, the statement said. No details on the facility’s purpose or its pricing were given.
Banks which joined the loan were Barwa Bank, Commercial Bank of Qatar, First Gulf Bank, Qatar Islamic Bank, Ahli United Bank, Al Hilal Bank, Doha Bank and Dubai Islamic Bank………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Jordan Islamic Bank (JIB) Q3 net profit of $39.92 million was up from $29.62 million in Q3 2011. Musa Abdelaziz Shihadeh, Vice Chairman, General Manager of JIB said the bank’s assets with accounts managed added to (restricted investment accounts, Muqarada bonds and investment by proxy accounts) reached about $4.68 billion as of end-September compared to $4.43 billion at end-2011, an increase of 5.4 per cent.
Facilities granted for customers reached about $3.29 billion, up 31 per cent since end-December 2011. Jordan Islamic Bank’s capital adequacy ratio (CAR) reached 17.95 per cent , the rate of return on average equity (ROAE) after tax reached 17.7 per cent………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Many people still think that Islamic Finance study is only for the Muslims when it is actually not so. However, more are beginning to realise that Islamic Finance is a subject that can be mastered by anyone, said Global University of Islamic Finance (INCEIF) president and chief executive officer Daud Vicary Abdullah.
“We recently had 20 Australian chief executive officers learning one of our programmes online and the feedback that we got was that they were unaware that Islamic Finance is something that can be taught to non-Muslims,” he said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Islamic finance sector has seen robust growth over the years, blossoming to become the fastest growing segment in the global financial industry. In tandem, the Malaysian Islamic finance realm has scaled new heights as it represented 18 per cent of the Malaysian banking sector’s total assets as at December 2011. BizHive Weekly takes a look at the the current state of the industry, challenges faced by players and measures taken to grow and move forward.
Islamic finance has seen tremendous growth and acceptance over the recent years in Malaysia and on a global scale in over 70 countries from financial centres in Malaysia to the Middle East………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The introduction of the world’s first Islamic arbitration rules last month by the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration (KLRCA) will pave the way for further expansion of Islamic finance with total global assets now estimated to be worth around US$1.2 trillion (RM3.72 trillion) to US$1.3 trillion (RM4.03 trillion).
Not only are the arbitration rules the first of its kind worldwide, it caters to both conventional and syariah-compliant commercial transactions and contracts as well………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The International Islamic Liquidity Management Corp (IILM), a company backed by central banks located mainly in Asia and the Middle East, appointed on Friday a new chief executive ahead of its first issuance due within the next few months.
Kuala Lumpur-headquartered IILM has delayed its first issuance of short-term sukuk, or Islamic bonds, twice since it began operations last year………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Malaysian tax breaks on sukuk are luring companies from Germany, France and Turkey to tap the world’s biggest Islamic bond market as Europe’s debt crisis curbs lending. CIMB Group Holdings and AmInvestment Bank, among the top three sukuk arrangers in Malaysia this year, said they are seeing increased interest after the government extended tax exemptions for foreign issuers to 2014 in the September budget.
Ireland’s state-owned power producer is the only European entity that’s so far revealed plans to sell ringgit-denominated securities complying with religious tenets………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Sukuk Working Group will host the Sukuk Forum to present to the world its strategies and practices for the $30 billion sukuk issue technical infrastructure along with discussing steps Turkey needs to make in order to take full advantage of its sukuk potential.
The Forum will be hosted at the Istanbul Maslak Sheraton Hotel on Nov. 22 and 23………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Two of the key challenges confronting the takaful industry are the penetration levels for insurance and risk management solutions that are not mandatory in the Gulf. Within this small market there is intensive competition often based on prices, with very little attention to consumer insights and needs, according to MIT Consulting chief executive Hilmy Cader.
“Effective strategic marketing planning significantly improves the chances of business success by gearing the organisation to meet future challenges,” he said. “Takaful and conventional insurance companies possess a diverse set of needs in terms of what they expect from a retakaful………………………………………..Full Article: Source