Kuala Lumpur

Danajamin Announces Issuance Of TSH Sukuk Musyarakah's Islamic Medium Term Notes Programme

The issuance of the first tranche of TSH Sukuk Musyarakah Sdn Bhd's 11-year RM100 million Islamic Medium Term Notes programme was declared by Danajamin Nasional Bhd.

Halal food index growing at fast pace and likely to overtake Dow Jones Islamic Index

World Halal Forum (WHF) supports the fact that the Socially Acceptable Market Investments (SAMI) Halal Food is thought to become bigger than the Dow Jones Islamic Index (DJII) in terms of size, branding and spin-off products.
Sime Darby Bhd, Nestle (M) Bhd and Genting Plantations Bhd. are the biggest Malaysian stocks on the SAMI index.

Malaysia Market Able to Absorb Railway Sukuk, Badlisyah Says

The oppinion of Prime Minister Najib Razak is that the government may sell ringgit-denominated Islamic bonds to help finance construction of a mass railway system in Kuala Lumpur. The project will be the country’s single biggest infrastructure development.

MARC assigns AAA ratings to Maybank Islamic proposed sukuk

MARC considers Maybank Islamic to be one of the core subsidiaries of Maybank and an integral part of the Group.
Maybank Islamic’s ratings therefore, reflect a very high probability of support from its parent.
Maybank’s ownership in Maybank Islamic, the operational integration and shared branding, in addition to the strategic role of Maybank Islamic in the Group’s Islamic banking operations are key factors underpinning MARC’s opinion that Maybank Islamic will benefit from the full support and credit strength of the Maybank Group.

Takaful IKHLAS Captures Takaful Industry's Corporate Social Responsibility Award

Takaful Ikhlas Sdn Bhd recently received an award for Corporate Social Responsibility category at the Takaful Awards Night organised for the second time by the Malaysian Takaful Association.
At the event, Takaful IKHLAS had also won four more awards namely: BancaTakaful: Top Person Producer Award, BancaTakaful: Top Person Producer Award - Investment-Link Regular, BancaTakaful: Top Person Producer Award - Investment - Link Single and Young Takaful Manager Award.

Gold accounts gaining popularity

Gold investment accounts are fast gaining popularity among investors as they are comparatively cheaper to invest in than physical gold.
Taking a cue from their popularity, a growing number of financial institutions are offering these products to their customers as an alternative investment option.
Kuwait Finance House (Malaysia) Bhd (KFHMB) CEO Jamelah Jamaluddin said demand for gold has risen significantly as buyers ranging from investors, speculators, hedge funds, central banks and the public, continue to buy gold.

Najib's ETP & focus on Islamic finance attracting foreign lawyers

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) has got the attention of foreign lawyers who are keen to learn more about Islamic financial instruments for business development and economic reconstruction.
Lawyers from premier firms from 18 cities in the region and from other major financial centers, who congregated here last week to attend the Asia Pacific Regional Meeting of Interlaw, acknowledged Malaysia's specialised expertise in Islamic finance.

SC, OCIS Convene Roundtable On Islamic Finance

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) and the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies convened a two-day closed door Roundtable on Islamic Finance in Oxfordshire, England, over the weekend.
A select group of key industry practitioners, senior academicians, Shariah scholars, standard setters and regulators from around the world discussed three topics under the theme "Islamic Finance and the Public Good".

Plan To Issue Mega Islamic Bank Licences Still In Progress

Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) plan to issue up to two mega Islamic bank licences is still on progress. The right investors must be found.
Datuk Mohd Razif Abdul Kadir, the deputy governor, said BNM hoped to issue the licences this year.

IILM Targets To Issue First Shariah-Compliant Financial Instruments By Year-End

The International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (IILM) is expected to issue the first Shariah-compliant financial instruments by year-end.
The minimum size of the instruments could be US$300 million depending on the market demand.
The IILM was established on October 2010 with 14 founding shareholders, comprising the 12 central banks of Indonesia, Iran, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Malaysia,Mauritius, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as well as two multi-lateral institutions, the Islamic Development Bank and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector.

HSBC Launches Global Islamic Securities Services

HSBC Securities Services (HSS) together with HSBC Amanah today launched HSBC Amanah Securities Services, a global service for Islamic fund managers.
The Shariah-compliant securities services are available globally to Islamic investment managers and traditional investment managers, managing Islamic funds.

Scheme launched for young adults to get 100% financing for new home

Young working adults can now buy themselves a new home without having to pay anything in down payment.
The My First Home Scheme is launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and will enable them to buy houses costing between RM100,000 and RM220,000 with a repayment period of up to 30 years. The scheme sees the participation of 25 conventional and Islamic financial institutions including major banks like AmBank, CIMB, Hong Leong, Maybank, Public Bank, RHB and Standard Chartered.

Sukuk sales at risk on Middle East tensions

Global sales of Shariah-compliant bonds surged to $2.8bn in the first two months of this year, compared with $676mn in the same period of 2010. This statement was given by Bloomberg.
Badlisyah Abdul Ghani, chief executive officer at Kuala Lumpur-based CIMB Islamic Bank Bhd has the oppinion that the rising yields are deterring potential issuers.

Gulf Investment Corp issues its first local currency sukuk amounting to RM600m

Gulf Investment Corporation GSC Kuwait (GIC) had on Tuesday, March 1 issued its first local currency Sukuk amounting to RM600 million in the Malaysian market.
The GIC stated that this would be its third bond offering in Malaysia.

Bank Negara arm plans syariah hedging guidelines

An Islamic finance research body backed by Bank Negara is drafting rules to regulate the use of derivatives to strengthen the industry's risk management framework and repair the perception of poor syariah compliance among banks.
The International Shariah Research Academy for Islamic Finance's (ISRA) rules would prescribe the boundaries that syariah banks have to observe to ensure that the usage of derivatives complies with Islam's ban on gambling.

QIB eyes Indonesian acquisitions

Qatar Islamic Bank is hunting for acquisition targets in Indonesia to strengthen its presence in Asia and tap demand for Shariah banking products in the world’s most populous Muslim nation.
Qatar Islamic is studying several potential candidates in Indonesia that have been identified by Asian Finance Bank, which is 62 percent-owned by the Gulf lender.

Tatarstan set for debut sukuk

Work on the feasibility study on the sukuk origination is set to start this month, after the President Rustam Minnikhanov of the Russian republic of Tatarstan has visited Malaysia in December and the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Kuala Lumpur between the Tatarstan government, the local IFC Linova, Malaysia's Amanah Raya Berhad Group and Kuwait Finance House Malaysia (KFH Malaysia).

Cuepacs' Annual Grant Raised To RM2 Million

Beginning with next year the annual grant for the Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) will be raised to RM2 million.
The government had earlier raised the quantum of the annual grant to the congress from RM350,000 in 2009 to RM1 million this year.

CIMB unit eyes US$100mil from Dublin funds

CIMB-Principal Islamic Asset Management Sdn Bhd (CPIAM) is targeting about US$100mil in sales for its Dublin domiciled collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS) III umbrella syariah funds by the end of next year.
These funds will act as a gateway for the company to launch more funds worldwide.
The three funds are Islamic Global Emerging Markets Fund, Islamic Asia Pacific ex-Japan Fund and Islamic Asean Equity Fund.

8th IFSB Summit - Enhancing Global Financial Stability: Challenges and Opportunities for Islamic Finance

The Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) is organising its 8th Summit which is themed: "Enhancing Global Financial Stability: Challenges and Opportunities for Islamic Finance" on 10-13 May 2011 in Luxembourg. The Summit will be hosted by Banque centrale du Luxembourg.
The key challenges and opportunities identified for the Islamic financial services industry (IFSI) to enhance global financial stability will be discussed in this year's Summit.

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