IslamicFinance.de

Nigerian Jaiz International PLC is working to launch its banking operation by August 2011with technical support from the Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL).
An agreement on technical services was signed between the IBBL and Jaiz Bank in the capital Friday in this connection.
The IBBL will make available suitable, qualified and experienced personnel required for the efficient operation of the business, develop capacity building programmes for the training and development of the workforce, design and implement appropriate procedures for all processes, transactions and products to ensure smooth operations of the proposed Nigerian bank.

Country Head, Al-Baraka Bank (Pakistan) Limited, Shafqat Ahmed informed business community that it is very possible to start issuing credit cards by 2011.
Al-Baraka Bank was also working on some new products including personal loan, which will probably be introduced next month.

The affirmation of ADIB's Long- and Short-term IDRs and Support Rating reflects the extremely high probability of support from the UAE authorities, if needed.
The affirmation of the Individual Rating reflects the bank's sound liquidity and funding, its good franchise, adequate capitalisation and high concentrations in financing and rapid growth.
ADIB's main shareholders are Emirates International Investment Company (41%), which is owned by members of the Abu Dhabi ruling family, the Abu Dhabi Investment Council with 8% and the UAE pension fund (2.3%).

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Islamic Development Bank's (IDB) Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'AAA' and its Short-term IDR at 'F1+'. It seems that the Outlook for the Long-term IDR is stable.
IDB's non-equity portfolio includes a large proportion of speculative-grade counterparties. Exposure to credit risk is mitigated by strict internal country and counterparty limits, and by preferred creditor status, which grants the bank priority over other creditors in a sovereign default.

The Central Bank of Indonesia has an aim: to create a strong sharia banking industry by 2015. This development strategy, as well as a broader sharia religious revival in the country that is helping to increase the popularity of sharia banking products, will lead to continuous strong growth in this sector during the forecast period.

The assets of sharia banks in Indonesia are anticipated to reach around Rp 399.6 Trillion in 2013 over Rp 107.1 Trillion in 2010.

Editorial Note: The news is linked to an outdated report: "Publish Date: Feb, 2009"

Islamic banks will be offered a range of new money-market instruments in coming months, allowing lenders to earn larger returns from excess cash stored at central banks or locked into longer-dated securities.
The International Islamic Liquidity Management Corp will sell its first short-term bills in dollars early next year.
Money-market products will allow banks to invest idle cash more profitably.

In order to meet the banking needs of corporates in Bahrain and Bangladesh, HSBC Amanah has launched a range of products and services.
HSBC Amanah corporate banking products available in Bahrain include business accounts, investment solutions, working capital finance solutions, trade finance solutions.
HSBC Amanah is also planning to open a branch dedicated to Shariah-compliant banking in Bangladesh this December.

The Islamic Bank of Britain (IBB) opened its doors in 2004. Six years later in the summer of 2010, The Times newspaper described the venture as a flop. A couple of weeks after The Times article appeared, IBB had secured a £20 million capital injection from founding shareholder Qatar International Islamic Bank (QIIB), taking QIIB’s stake in the bank to over 80%.
However, some issues that still remain for IBB are:
- they have to come to grips is whether their position as a UK Islamic bank is tenable
- they will also have to deal with a more rigorous regulatory system.

A senior Islamic scholar in Saudi Arabia accuses the Kingdom’s central bank of stifling Islamic banking services.
Sheikh Abdullah bin Suleiman Al Manee, a member of the Supreme Islamic Scholars Authority, said most of the Islamic banking services in the world had originated from Saudi Arabia but added they were all individual initiatives.

With an initial public offering of $3bn, the world's biggest Islamic bank is set for official launch before the end of the year by Sheikh Saleh Kamel, chairman of Al Baraka Banking Group.
The mega bank announced last year will have an initial capital of $10bn through a number of initial public offerings and private stock options.

The Central Bank of Bahrain wants to reinvent Islamic finance as it suggests that smaller players may be squeezed out of the US$1tn market as regulatory standards tighten.
Governor Rasheed Al-Maraj told the 17th annual World Islamic Banking Conference in Bahrain that Sharia compliant institutions must rethink their business model as credit and growth levels enjoyed prior to the 2007-8 crisis are unlikely return.

BMI Bank and Tamkeen have launched a new Sharia-compliant financing scheme for enterprises within the local private sector to bolster the segment within the country.
As part of the agreement, Tamkeen will guarantee 50% of the total financing amount as well as subsidize 50% of the profit payments due from customers.
The scheme offers a range of trade finance products such as letters of credit and guarantee, Murabaha financing which covers working capital, auto and equipment financing.

SWIFT said the certification would pave the way towards the automated processing of Murabaha treasury transactions, which reportedly represented 60 per cent of all Islamic financing.

Over 240 Islamic banks representing 84 per cent of global syariah-compliant assets are members of SWIFT.

Technical details:
http://www.swift.com/solutions/by_business_area/islamic_finance/index.page
Contact:
Asim Butt, asim.butt@swift.com

Shafqaat Ahmed has been appointed first president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Al Baraka Bank (Pakistan) Limited.
The newly constituted board held its first meeting on Monday.
he new bank is estimated to be worth about $582 million and has about 89 branches across the country.

The Bank of Khyber (BoK) was established in 1991 through an Act passed by the Provincial Legislative Assembly of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It was awarded status of a scheduled bank in September 1994.
The Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa constituted a Shariah Supervisory Board (SSB). This is presently made of the following scholars:
1. Syed Muhammad Abbas
2. Mufti Muhammad Zahid
3. Dr Dost Muhammad
4. Shahzad Iqbal Sham
5. Muhammad Ayub

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.

Dubai Women's College announced the names of companies and corporations, which have recently offered financial aid for transportation and laptops needed by limited-income students.
Some of these are: Al Maktoum Foundation with 61 laptops bought, Noor Islamic Bank with 41 laptops.
This shows how important it is to invest in education in order to ensure sustainable development in the country.

On 18 November 2010 the "Islamic Finance Conference" will be held in Frankfurt am Main as part of the 13th EURO FINANCE WEEK (EFW) taking place from 15 to 19 November 2010 under the auspices of Dr. Wolfgang Schäuble, Minister of Finance of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The conference is organised in cooperation with the Union of Arab Banks. Institutional partner is the Institute for Islamic Banking and Finance.

The conference focuses challenges and opportunities of the Islamic Finance in Germany and in Europe and discusses investment trends, Sukuk’s opportunities as well as Islamic Wealth Management and last not least an Islamic Finance outlook.

Information about the event can be found under www.eurofinanceweek.com/islamicfinance

The organizer of the event, the Maleki Group, has offered a limited number of “Guest Ticket” exclusively for Islamic Finance group. Please note, admission upon the special guest ticket is very limited and the registrations will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis.

Through its member organization Islamic Corporation for Development of the Private Sector (ICD), the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has started replicating the schemes tested in co-operation with Azerbaijan.
The IDB reports that ICD general manager Khaled Al-Aboodi and chairman of the State Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs of Turkmenistan Ragimberdi Jepbarov signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on development co-operation.
The Memo has a focus on the development of the private sector, especially small- and medium-size enterprises, financial sector, agriculture, logistics, construction of affordable housing, services and manufacturing industries. The IDB will also render technical assistance and consultations within the framework of Islamic financing.

The State Bank of Pakistan Thursday notified the de-scheduling of Al Baraka Islamic Bank Pakistan operations on account of its merger with and into Emirates Global Islamic Bank Limited with effect from the close of business on October 29, 2010. The State Bank has also notified the change of name of Emirates Global Islamic Bank Ltd to AlBaraka Bank (Pakistan) Ltd on 29.10.2010.