IslamicFinance.de

In order to grow its business in Pakistan, Standard Chartered plans to focus on expanding its consumer banking line as well as its Islamic banking portfolio. this statement was given by the bank’s Pakistan head, Mohsin Nathani.
Nathani also revealed that the bank plans on expanding its credit card and personal loans portfolio in addition to expanding the number of products on offer to its retail customers.

HE Sultan Bin Nasser Al Suwaidi, Governor of the Central Bank of the UAE, stated that the number of Islamic banks operating in the UAE now stands at eight. The Governor also congratulated the Sultanate of Oman on the licensing of its first Islamic bank and welcomed the Central Bank of Oman to the Islamic finance community of regulators.
Despite this, Al Suwaidi was the one that directed the majority of his remarks to the state of Islamic finance within the UAE itself.

Beginning with this month, Iraq will offer Islamic banking services at its two main state-owned banks. The ministry revealed in a website posting that the bank will introduce banking services compliant with Islamic Sharia law at the Rafidain and Rashid banks in the next two weeks.

Al Amanah Islamic Investment Bank of the Philippines (Amanah Islamic Bank) is the co-financer of an P80-million term loan for the General Santos City Water District.
The project is going to provide potable and affordable water supply in the progressive city. DBP is the majority stakeholder of Amanah Islamic Bank.

Because of their losses and after political unrest in the Arabian Gulf nation, Moody’s Investors Service cut off Bahrain Islamic Bank's credit ratings.
Moody's statement was that the decision "reflects a material weakening in the institution’s stand-alone financial profile, as shown in the significant losses it posted in the last two years and the erosion of its capital base in the absence of new capital injections".

There are already 8 Islamic banks in the UAE with 260 branches and assets and liabilities of AED 269 Billion (US$ 73.1 Billion). This represents 17% of total assets and liabilities of the banking system in the UAE.
Sultan Bin Nasser Al Suwaidi, UAE Central Bank Governor, congratulated the Sultanate of Oman for licensing its first Islamic bank at a seminar on "Islamic Finance in a global perspective" which was held at the Central Bank.

First Community Bank has sold a Sh200 million treasury bond that was considered not to be Shariah compliant. The profit for the lender after the taxtes was of Sh26.6 million in the first quarter of the year. The bank’s “other income” rose to Sh62.9 million from Sh2.4 million on a quarter to quarter comparison.

The OIC (Organisation of Islamic Conference) Business Forum was held on June 2008 in Uganda.
At that point it was declared that the National Islamic Bank would be set up in Uganda. This will bring Uganda in line with some other EAC member countries like Kenya that have already opened their doors to this form of banking. Such new banking products will increase the depth, breadth and range of finance products bank customers can use to access banking services and as an alternative to the current interest bearing financial products under the conventional banking system.

Oman has finally bowed to the demand dynamics of Islamic banking.
The first application to launch an Islamic bank, Nizwa Bank, has already been submitted. This could take over a year because Oman must develop and adopt a regulatory and supervisory regime for Islamic banking and the government has yet to introduce an enabling Islamic banking law.
Omani banks have in general been very hostile and indifferent to Islamic banking, considering it unworkable. Some banking sources reveiled that the decision to allow Islamic banking was partly because of the growth of new demand especially from young Omanis for Shariah-compliant financial products.

Ebrahim Fayez Al Shamsi, the chief executive of Emirates Islamic Bank, has resigned. His replacement will be deputy chief executive Abdullah Showaiter. Faisal Aqil, general manager of retail banking, will be the new deputy CEO.
Emirates Islamic and ENBD didn't want to comment.

Islamic Development Bank (IDB) is going to issue a benchmark dollar-denominated Islamic bond. So far they have limited to government-linked and high-rated bonds.
Arrangers are : BNP Paribas, HSBC, Standard Chartered and Deutsche Bank.

Despite the fact that the banks where asked to close down their Islamic banking arms by the end of 2011, conventional banks want to continue to manage the loan portfolios of the concerned units until their maturity.
Conventional banks are willing to convert their Islamic banking branches into commercial ones after the closure deadline of December 31.

Al Baraka Banking Group wants to sell sukuk worth $300 million (Dh1.1 billion) in September if possible, in order to try to clear up its balance sheet. It also aims at a target of a 15 per cent jump in profit this year by attracting new customers.

In a report Reuters stated that the central bank of Oman has approved the establishment of Bank Nizwa to provide Islamic banking services inside the Sultanate. Al Khalili Group and other local supporters will be the lenders.

The Government's intervention assures that the bank's business continues uninterrupted while they decide if should be run on a stand-alone basis or be potentially merged with another bank in which the government has ownership.
The government also stated that it will take full control of Dubai Bank. The intervention will give the city-state's government full control of Dubai Bank.

The Islamic Development Bank wants to launch a dollar-denominated sukuk. The sukuk is expected to be launched after the completion of its fixed income investor meetings in the Middle East, Asia and Europe.

The Sudanese Islamic Bank plans to move in the future into Kenya. This would be the first cross-border expansion of Islamic finance in East Africa.
Kenya is in the process of changing its finance laws to allow Islamic finance. Kenya has two Shari'ah compliant banks in operation, a Takaful company and an array of Shari'ah compliant banking products in conventional banks, leading the way.

In order to further ride on the high demand for Shariah-based products in the country, HSBC Bank Malaysia Bhd will underline more the focus for Islamic banking.
Jonathan Addis, executive director and deputy chief executive officer, stated that HSBC Malaysia will continue to invest in the country by opening new branches while more Islamic-based offerings will be rolled out to cater to the growing demand for Shariah-based products.

Islamic finance is evolving very fast, being one of the most rapidly evolving sectors. There are estimated to be over 430 Islamic banks and financial institutions operating in more than 75 countries, and around 191 conventional banks that have Islamic banking windows.
At the Asia Summit (WIBC Asia 2011) there will be determined the future steps of the future development of Islamic finance by bringing together industry leaders to explore and capitalize on exciting new opportunities in Asia.

HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) and Standard Chartered Plc (STAN) were employed to take care of the sale of Islamic bonds for Sharjah Islamic Bank (NBS) PJSC.
The bank announced that the dollar-denominated sukuk will be sold subject to market conditions and after fixed-income investor meetings in the Middle East, Asia and Europe.