Adnan Ahmed Yusuf Abdulmalek, head of Union of Arab Banks, noted that interest by Gulf lenders in Turkey’s Islamic banking market is on the rise. Leading Arab banks are currently inspecting opportunities to penetrate Turkey’s growing finance m...
The Oman First Islamic Finance & Banking Conference will bring together more 400 high level participants including governors of central banks, other industry regulators, Islamic and commercial banking leaders, fund managers, Sharia and lega...
The latest report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) shows that GCC corporate banking profitability is on its way to recovering from the turmoil of the financial crisis.
Altough, as Loan Loss Provisions (LLPs) culminated in 2009 and co...
Bank Indonesia (BI) stated that it is offering reverse repo for sharia banks and business units to decrease bank liquidity in the financial system.
Reverse repo transactions ask banks to buy at least Rp 1 billion (US$110,000) of governmen...
Nakheel made payments to the tune of ?Dh7.3 billion ($2 billion) to its trade creditors.
Nakheel will launch another Dh1 billion of sukuk before the end of this year as part of its Dh59 billion restructuring deal with trade creditors.
November 2011 showed a record number of sukuk issues totaling USD 8.86 billion globally, according to data compiled by Zawya Sukuk Monitor. Major launches contain a global seven-year USD 1 billion sukuk sold by Indonesia in the international m...
The BlueOrchard Private Equity Fund (BOPE Fund) recently obtained a 20% stake in US-based CHF Development Finance International, a holding company established by development organization CHF International to own and manage CHF’s commercially-o...
Gulf International Bank (GIB) communicates the successful pricing and closing of a three-year $300 million Sukuk-al-Murabaha private placement with a profit rate of 6-month USD LIBOR + 130 bps on a semi-annual basis.
The Sukuk will mature...
The most anticipated launch for some time is the slated $2bn Goldman Sachs (GS) Sukuk that will close at the end of this month.
Mohammed Khnifer, external Islamic finance specialist for Edcomm Group Banker’s Academy in New York, stated t...
Tanzania launched its first Islamic bank, Amana Bank, in the capital, Dar es Salaam. Amana Bank’s chairman, Haroon Pirmohamed, stated that the bank was launched to service the request for an ethical and interest-free alternative to conventiona...
Despite the fact that Zawya only covers Middle East-based funds, the sector is popular especially in Saudi Arabia, where 22 of the 24 funds listed are domiciled. The other two funds are from Kuwait and Bahrain.
There are two types of mul...
Great Eastern Takaful will spread its presence across the Indonesian border in 2012.
GE Takaful hopes that by moving into the developing Islamic insurance market in the world’s most populous Muslim state, it will rapidly assume a top thre...
Islamic Development Bank affiliate the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector is helping to conduct a much needed Takaful offering to Azerbaijan through the development of a new Takaful company.
In order to manage t...
Dubai Standard Chartered Saadiq is researching opportunities to expand into newly-opened Islamic banking markets such as Oman and Nigeria and is closely evaluating the opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region.
With...
Capital Market Authority (CMA) is developing a separate set of regulations for Sharia-compliant takaful insurance and Sukuk debt instruments.
Abdulla bin Salem Al Salmi, Acting Executive President of CMA, stated that the new regulations w...
According to Standard Chartered Saadiq, Islamic banking assets in the UAE are forseen to grow to 20 % of the total banking sector in 2012 from an estimated 18 % this year.
The bank anticipates Islamic assets to comprise 38 per cent of to...
Inspite of the extraordinary potential of the country, financial institutions in Pakistan are still not taking Islamic micro financing seriously.
According to Al Baraka Bank Chief Operating Officer Ahmed Shuja Kidwai, Islamic micro finan...
Saudi Arabia, the biggest economy in the Middle East, is among the very few countries that have proved to be quite strong and robust.
According to Khaled Al-Aboodi, the chief executive officer of Islamic Corporation for the Development of...
Barwa Bank has oficially announced that subscription applications have been mailed to all share holders. Subscription will start on December 6 and close on December 29, 2011.
The bank is presenting six shares for every ten shares held. T...
A new set of rules and regulations for Islamic banks will be ready until the end of this month.
Ernst & Young was appointed in September to advise the apex bank on formulating a separate set of rules for Islamic banking in the countr...
The contribution of a membership fee of N875 million to the International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (IILM) by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as a founding member, is raising suspicions about the apex bank’s resolve on account...
Industry experts will share their wide spectrum of expertise at the upcoming Kuala Lumpur Conference on Islamic Wealth Management 2011.
The two-day conference will start on December 20 and will be arranged by Kuala Lumpur-based Alfalah C...
Although UM Financial Inc went into receivership back in October, the consequences of the bankruptcy are beginning to be noticed only now.
Besides the fact that the case risk is giving a bad name to sharia-compliant finance in North Amer...
Thomson Reuters PORTIA was chosen by Tawuniya.
PORTIA will offer Tawuniya a global solution to manage, analyze and report on their broad, multi-currency investment portfolio, mitigating risk and improving investment operations.
Thom...
Ahmad Mohamed Ali, the president of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), has given notice that the euro zone sovereign debt crisis is adversely affecting the Bank's member countries and urged European leaders to find the right solutions and not...
Real Economy Partners (REP) is going to launch the world’s first Francophone Islamic finance resource by the name of the French Islamic Finance Review. The new service has the purpose to circulate academic research on Islamic finance in partne...
A Master’s of Management Finance degree program will be opened this coming spring at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business from Dubai.
The program will mainly focus on conventional finance.
It seems that things will have a positive outlook for Yemen’s Islamic banks.
When pitched battles between pro- and anti-Saleh forces erupted in downtown Sana’a, the banking sector froze.
Tadhamon International Islamic Bank and the...
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd is noticing opportunities for expansion in Indonesia and Bangladesh, which have sizeable Muslim populations and adequate Islamic banking regulatory policy and supporting infrastructure in place to speed up Shariah-based...
South Africa’s international liquidity position declined more than expected in November as gross reserves decreased on a stronger dollar against major currencies, causing a descent in foreign currency reserves.
The SA Reserve Bank (Sarb)...
South Africa’s international liquidity position declined more than expected in November as gross reserves decreased on a stronger dollar against major currencies, causing a descent in foreign currency reserves.
The SA Reserve Bank (Sarb)...
Bank Simpanan National (BSN) has the purpose to aggressively grow its newly launched wealth management division by embracing the underserved takaful market.
Winston E. Jeyaprakas is the deputy chief executive of credit management and bus...
The World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists (WCMP) and Pakistan’s Islamic microfinance institution Farz Foundation have singed a Memorandum of Understanding to further empower their partnership.
The two will work together in developing...
Tamweel hired banks for a possible bond sale as it looking for financing to repay liabilities and increase lending. The shares presented a jumprecord in a month.
Citigroup, Standard Chartered and Dubai Islamic Bank will make appointments...
The Syrian currency presents itself weakest level since the beginning of political unrest, descending 30% against the US dollar.
The Syrian pound fell almost 20% against the dollar immediately after economic sanctions were constrained on...
The growth of low-cost carrier flydubai is almost double compared to its launch in October 2010 in Pakistan despite heavy competition and slump in the industry.
The aviation industry has an important role in strengthening ties between UA...
The launch of Sharia compliant buy-to-let purchase plan has entered Islamic Bank of Britain into the buy-to-let mortgage market.
The IBB’s buy-to-let purchase plan can be accessed by landlords of any faith searching for ethical and Shari...
The Indonesian government will start proposing retail Islamic debt papers (sukuk) to individual investors in March, after previous issuances drew strong interest, despite the shaky global financial market.
Sales agents would be nominated...
Following the resignation of Bara'a Al Qenaei, CEO of International Investment Group (IIG), the board of directors of IIG gathered on 7 September 2011 to discuss the resignation. The Kuwaiti firm’s board accepted the resignation and agreed ter...
Kuwait’s Beyoo Investment and Finance Co is switching its attention from financing to asset and wealth management as the investment arm of Al Imtiaz Investment Company.
Arabic language daily Al Anba announced that Beyoo's shareholders app...
In this column, Mohammed Khnifer reveals, after examining the offer circular thoroughly, three possible flaws in the overall structure.
1- Strong indication from the proposed structure and the prospectus as well that the sukuk is not, as...
Solum Asset Management will launch the first “investment sukuk” in the first quarter of next year, considering Islamic bonds as investment vehicles rather than debt instruments.
The 200 million sterling ($310 million) Student Accommodatio...
Mr James Caan talks about expanding his investment advisory firm into the UAE and why he left the TV show.
He states that as a result of the credit crisis, the general appetite for Sharia-compliant investments is a growing market. They w...
Salah Jaidah was appointed chairman of Islamic finance at Deutsche Bank. Also, the new head of Islamic finance structuring is Ibrahim Qasim.
It seems that Islamic banking has numerous advantages and capabilities that gives it permission to play an important role in solving many economic problems in the GCC. The statement cam from Kuwait Finance House-Bahrain Chief Executive Officer...
A new Shari'ah-compliant fund from Sambacapital will aim long-term capital growth through investment in global Shari’ah-compliant equities that assume their primary revenues from the production and distribution of basic commodities.
Al N...
Investors from the UAE have invested UGX12bn ($4.8m) in the National Bank of Commerce, formerly Kigezi Bank of Commerce, with the purpose of raising shareholder dividends and introducing Islamic banking in Uganda.
There are more than 200...
The euro zone crisis has constrained investment in gold-backed exchange-traded assets so high that newcomer Source now owns the world's sixth largest physically-backed gold product and sees no need to promote it actively outside Europe and the...
Takaful, or Islam-compliant insurance, operators will have to center the attention on underwriting quality, cost management and investment discipline as financial performance is still a challenge for many markets in the current fluctuating inv...
Saudi- based Alahli Takaful Company stated that it had assigned US law firm, King & Spalding as advisor to its SAR80m ($21.3m) rights issue and which opened for subscription.
The Takaful firm was originally searching a rights issue of...