Aberdeen Islamic Asset Management Sdn Bhd launched Aberdeen Islamic Malaysia Equity fund and the Aberdeen Islamic World Equity fund, the company’s first Shariah retail products in Malaysia and the first by a foreign fund manager.
Aberdeen Asset Management Sdn Bhd General Manager Gerald Ambrose said this was a natural step forward for the company. “Having established ourselves as an institutional manager, we are pleased to offer investors the first Islamic unit trusts from a foreign Islamic fund management licensee,” he said in a statement………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Financing for renewable energy is increasingly moving away from European investors towards national banks in emerging markets, including Islamic finance, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) said on Thursday.
The financial crisis of recent years has eroded domination by European banks and utilities, IRENA’s Deputy Director-General Frank Wouters said at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Fimbank will be able to move first to bring Islamic banking to Malta, tap new markets, and target larger clients if Middle Eastern institutional investors take a controlling interest in the next few months, bank president Margrith Lütschg-Emmenegger said.
With a commitment for additional equity of $160 million – which doubles Fimbank’s equity over the next 18 months – the Malta-headquartered trade finance bank has the potential to triple, even quadruple, its balance sheet over the next five years, she said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The plan by Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd to offer Islamic banking services through post office counters by the third quarter of the year is still pending approvals. Chief executive officer Datuk Mohd Redza Shah Abdul Wahid said the collaboration with Pos Malaysia Bhd would provide the bank substantially wider reach through more than 1,000 post office service counters nationwide. “By year end, all post office counters should be able to off er our services.”
These include Pos Minis, self service terminals, Post-On-Wheels mobile outlets, postal agents and stamp agents — making it one of the most extensive retail network in Malaysia………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Sharjah Islamic Bank said on Thursday said its net profit for 2012 stood at Dh272 million, compared to Dh251.1 million achieved a year ago with an increase of 8.3 per cent.
The bank’s balance sheet grew since December 2011 with total assets reaching Dh18.3 billion compared with Dh17.7 billion which is 3.3 per cent, the bank said in a statement………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Oman Arab Bank is planning to launch its Islamic banking window operations through five branches across major cities of Oman this year. The bank yesterday launched an independent Islamic banking services unit under the brand name Al Yusr.
“We are confident that ‘Al Yusr’ will provide customers with an avenue to be true to their beliefs while offering all the advantages of world class banking,” said Abdul Kader Askalan, chief executive of Oman Arab Bank……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Creditors of Dubai firm Amlak Finance are considering a restructuring proposal from the indebted mortgage lender, the United Arab Emirates’ economy minister said on Thursday, adding he expected it would reach a debt solution.
Amlak, a victim of the bursting of Dubai’s real estate bubble in 2008, is still without a solution that would see its business revived more than four years after its shares were suspended………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Egypt has approved a draft law to allow sovereign Islamic bonds, the country’s finance minister said on Wednesday, as the government searches for new ways to finance an unsustainable budget deficit.
The Islamist-led administration had amended the original draft of the law following criticism from religious scholars. The legislation still needs to be approved by the upper house of parliament, where Egypt’s ruling Islamists hold a clear majority. “The cabinet today agreed to the draft sukuk law,” minister Al Mursi Al Sayed Hegazy told reporters………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Much hype was made on the new introduction of Islamic bonds (sukuk) to Egypt. Members of the ruling Freedom and Justice Party have marketed the concept as a possible savior for the Egyptian economy. Economists were more cautious than optimistic about the benefits of Islamic bonds.
Galal Amin, a veteran and renowned economist explained he was worried that the new financial tool would allow for the sale of public enterprises at their lowest value (through sukuk) to foreigners, who would consider this a gateway to help them pull out of their respective economic downturns………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Although sukuk prices have rallied and spreads have compressed over the past few years, sukuk markets continue to offer value and remain under-allocated in Shariah-compliant portfolios. The demand-supply imbalance will therefore continue to favor investors in sukuk.
In summary, our longer-term view about the opportunity set for fixed income investors in the current global environment of low growth and low interest rates remains little changed. We believe that opportunities offered by corporate and emerging market sukuk continue to be attractive, while the relative valuations of perceived safe-haven bonds still appear to us to over-estimate the possibility of more extreme scenarios for the global economy………………………………………..Full Article: Source

A jump in U.S. Treasury yields in the last few weeks has raised a grim possibility for emerging market bond investors: a sustained back-up in U.S. yields that could sink the value of bond holdings. But compared to many other places in the world, the Gulf looks well-placed to weather such a storm.
Because it has a big local investor base of cash-rich financial institutions, the region may quickly absorb any mass exit by foreign investors from its bonds………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The QFC Regulatory Authority has released rules covering corporate governance, anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism and Islamic finance windows.
These final rules follow the conclusion of an industry consultation process, which started in September 2012. The rules support the Regulatory Authority’s commitment to keep its rules aligned with international regulatory standards for insurance and banking supervision respectively………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Khazanah Nasional Bhd has partnered Canadian insurer Sun Life Financial Inc to buy a 98% stake in life insurer CIMB Aviva Assurance Bhd and CIMB Aviva Takaful Bhd for RM1.8 billion, which includes entering into a 20-year exclusive bancassurance agreement with CIMB Bank Bhd.
Khazanah and Sun Life are each acquiring 49% of the two companies from CIMB Group Holdings Bhd and Aviva International Holdings Ltd respectively. CIMB Group currently owns 51% of the joint ventures and Aviva holds the rest, but following the deal CIMB Group will retain a 2% interest in CIMB Aviva and CIMB Takaful. The proposed acquisition by Sun Life and Khazanah is subject to regulatory approvals in Canada and Malaysia. The transaction is expected to close by the first half of 2013………………………………………..Full Article: Source

AmBank Group is looking to sell a stake in its insurance arm to a new partner by June, a report said, adding that it had received interest from several unidentified parties.
Managing director Ashok Ramamurthy was quoted as saying in a Bloomberg report it wanted to sell its stakes in its conventional and Islamic insurance units, slightly more than a week after it repurchased the 30% stake in AmLife and AmFamily Takaful from its joint-venture partner Resolution Ltd. It completed the acquisition for RM245mil, implying a price-to-book value multiple of 1.7 times………………………………………..Full Article: Source