IslamicFinance.de

Getting Islamic finance to become more mainstream needs a significant change to take place in the industry.
During the three-day event at the Gulf Hotel in Manama, delegates heard of the challenges facing the proliferation of Islamic finance products.
Shebab Marzban, product development officer for Egypt-based Ideal Ratings, instigated the discussion when he warned that many Western fund managers fail to carry out correct due diligence on Islamic finance products.

The Islamic finance assets base is likely to reach $1.5 trillion by 2012 with bright future growth prospects.
ICD has recently undergone a substantial shift in its operational strategy to address current market failures and expedite certain developmental targets set under the Millennium Development Goals.

ABC Islamic Bank announced a net profit of $1.6 million for the nine months ending 30th September 2010.
Shareholders’ equity at 30 September 2010 stood at $181 million.

The plan to create national Shariah boards to oversee sukuk sales is drawing criticism from bankers and lawyers who say the groups would increase bureaucracy in the $1 trillion Islamic finance industry.
The Accounting & Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions, a leading global regulator, is in the final stages of a plan recommending governments appoint panels of scholars and experts at the national level to rule whether products comply with the religion’s tenets, Mohamad Nedal Alchaar, secretary-general of the Manama, Bahrain-based body, said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur on Oct. 26. The proposal will be submitted early next year.
The regulator says such a system will help clarify standards and bolster investor confidence in an industry whose assets are forecast by the Kuala Lumpur-based Islamic Financial Services Board to almost triple to $2.8 trillion by 2015. The changes risk adding bureaucratic hurdles and slowing approvals at a time when sales are down 19 percent this year, according to CIMB-Principal Islamic Asset Management Sdn. and Atlanta-based law firm King & Spalding LLP.

The leading global Islamic Finance accounting regulator is introducing conditions for contracts that comply with religious laws, seeking to standardize an industry with $1 trillion in assets under management.
The Bahrain-based Accounting & Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions will for the first time provide a “Shariah-compliant way” for parties to enter and exit contracts, Mohamad Nedal Alchaar, secretary-general of the agency, in Manama.
While civil law already offers legal cover in disputes, counterparties want protection based on Shariah principles, according to Dawood Islamic Bank Ltd. in Karachi, Pakistan. Establishing a global standard would bolster confidence for sukuk investors, said Madzlan Mohamad Hussain, a partner at Zaid Ibrahim & Co., Malaysia’s biggest law firm.