Banque Saudi Fransi, which is part-owned by Credit Agricole, will issue up to 2.5 billion riyals ($667 million) in secondary sukuk, or Islamic bonds, after shareholders approved the move, the lender said on Tuesday.
The move is aimed at shoring up its supplementary capital reserves, or Tier 2 capital. Bonds and sukuk issued to raise Tier 2 capital are usually classed as subordinated debt, meaning they would be below secured creditors in the event of any restructuring………………………………………..Full Article: Source

More banks in the United Arab Emirates are likely to issue Basel III-compliant bonds after the launch of the world’s first hybrid Tier 1 Sukuk from Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), Fitch Ratings said.
“We expect increasing Tier 1 issuance in 2013 by UAE and other GCC banks - both conventional and Shari’ah-compliant - to support further growth. In our view, relatively high levels of capital are necessary for GCC banks due to the difficult operating environment and the concentration of single names and sectors, particularly of real estate and government-related entities, in the loan portfolios. Any pick-up in loan growth by the banks would need to be supported by additional capital………………………………………..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 264%. Subscriptions worth BD52.75m were received for the BD20m issue, which carries a maturity of 182 days.
The expected return on the issue, which begins on 15 November 2012 and matures on 16 May 2013, is 1.12%………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Default became a dirty word in the United Arab Emirates after 2009, when Dubai World requested a six-month delay on payments on US$26 billion in debt. So much so that when UAE energy company Dana Gas this month missed repayment on a US$920 million Islamic bond, local press hesitated to label it as a default.
In the midst of the global economic and financial crisis, the country and Dubai in particular took a drubbing from credit rating agencies, investors and the international press, which harshly questioned its economic model. A multibillion-dollar bailout from oil-rich sibling Abu Dhabi averted the worst, but the experience left a sting………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Islamic Development Bank has allocated €1.27 billion in loans to Iran for implementing a number of wastewater projects, the Fars News Agency quoted Iranian National Water and Wastewater Company Deputy Director Hossein Bonakdari as saying on Tuesday.
The loan has been provided according to a deal for a period of three years, he said, adding that three projects are underway which have been financed by the IDB loans………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, approved this week the financing of some development projects valued at 752.5 million U.S. dollars across the globe.
The bank will provide 250 million U.S. dollars for the second phase of the construction of a power station in Egypt, said the report. The bank will also provide 277 million U.S. dollars to assist Pakistan’s efforts to fight polio and 50 million U.S. dollars to improve the Yemeni job market for young people………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has allocated $25 million for Kazakhstan farmers, Tengrinews.kz reports citing the Development Commission of Almaty Regional Financial Center of Kazakhstan’s National Bank.
“The Fund for Financial Support to Agriculture has started a series of training seminars on Islamic financing methods for personnel of branches and representative offices in 11 regions of Kazakhstan. The training is held by Director of Badr Finance & Investment professor Adalet Dzhabiyev who developed a methodology of Islamic micro-financing for the fund under a contract with the Islamic Development Bank,” the Commission states………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Islamic Banking Summit Africa (IBSA) was recently launched at a ceremony in the Djibouti Palace Kempinski, Djibouti, with the aim of “capturing the Africa opportunity in Islamic finance.”
Dr Suleiman Walhad, Chief Executive Officer of Dahabshiil Bank International, said: “Africa has a population climbing to some one billion people and a substantial number of the continent’s citizens are Muslims. This large population needs to be served and it is on the onus of Islamic finance institutions and industry leaders to bring Islamic financial services to the continent and its large Muslim population…”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

alizz islamic bank SAOG announced that the Initial Public Offering of RO 40.8 million was successful and oversubscribed. Category 1 investors who had applied for up to 100,000 shares have been allotted 100 per cent of their application amounts.
Category 2 investors who had applied for more than 100,100 shares have been allotted 83.95 per cent of their application amounts. Category 2 investors have had their respective refunds processed on 25 October 2012. The constitutive general meeting of the bank is planned to be held on November 20, 2012.Trading of the bank’s shares on the Muscat Securities Market is expected to commence by December 3, 2012………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Saudi Arabia can play a crucial role in developing Islamic finance since the largest Islamic banks are based in Gulf Cooperation Council countries, according to Ahmad Mohammed Al-Joghaiman, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Saudi Electricity Company.
Al-Joghaiman made his remarks yesterday at the first Islamic Finance News (IFN) forum. He said that with a population of around 27 million, the Kingdom’s economy is the largest in the GCC with GDP of SR 1.7 trillion at the end of 2010. He added the Saudi economy is strong despite major global economies suffering from the worst financial crisis in recent memory………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Islamic finance industry needs to redefine and establish the enabling environment to spur its next phase of growth, says Securities Commission executive director for Islamic capital market Zainal Izlan Zainal Abidin.
He said the industry is currently at a crucial stage as it moves to the next growth phase, which will be dominated by greater internationalisation. In the next phase, more product issues and service providers are expected to expand beyond their home markets, where investors will be seeking products or instruments with international exposure………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Islamic finance (IF) still requires incentives like tax deductions to spur the industry further, say top industry executives. CIMB Islamic Bank Bhd’s chief executive officer (CEO) Badlisyah Abdul Ghani said government started offering incentives only from around 2004/2005 to jumpstart the industry amid strong demand for IF products but few suppliers in the market.
“The demand was there but the players were not keen to do the business. So, the reason the incentives were given was to get the industry moving. As a result of that, the supply of IF instruments and products became more, and the interest from consumers grew as they now had more choice of products,” he said……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The current method used to screen companies for Shari’ah compliance has the potential to misclassify some of the biggest names in the market, according to a new report from Ratings Intelligence.
The current industry status quo is essentially to use an information-based approach, but the report found that such an approach, which has the potential to misclassify some of the biggest names in the international/regional markets, probably is insufficient to maintain the integrity and reputation of the Islamic fund management industry………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Abu Dhabi National Takaful Company (TAKAFUL) announced its financial results for the nine-month period ended 30 September 2012, reporting a continued growth in net profits as well as in asset value.
The Company posted a net profit of AED 23.07 million during the nine-month period of 2012, representing a growth of 10% compared to AED 21.01 million posted during the nine-month period ended 30 September 2011. Net profit for the third quarter was AED 11.32 million, compared to AED 11.42 million in Q3 2011………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Unemployment among Saudi women who want to work is 34 percent — almost five times as great as the 7 percent unemployment rate for men, according to government figures. Those unemployed women are disproportionately college-educated. Of Saudis receiving unemployment benefits, 86 percent are women, and 40 percent of those women have college degrees.
In a country where more than two-thirds of the population is younger than 30, thousands more college-educated women each year try to enter the workforce, and many of them are striking out………………………………………..Full Article: Source