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Al Salam Bank - Bahrain a leading Islamic financial institution, has recently provided £38 million in a unique Shari'a compliant mezzanine facility to refinance a landmark commercial Property located in the heart of Canary Wharf, the financial district of London. The property is leased in its entirety to a leading, multinational financial institution with A+ long term rating with stable outlook form Standard & Poor's. The successful closing of this transaction demonstrates ASBB's ability to provide its valued clients with differentiated investment opportunities with attractive terms that are structured to take advantage of current market conditions. ASBB was advised by Herbert Smith LLP and Knight Frank on legal and commercial matters relating to the transaction, respectively.

Investment manager Argyll Investment Services Limited has launched the World Shariah Funds PCC Limited, a Guernsey-based suite of Islamic-compliant investments which will be listed on the Channel Islands Stock Exchange (CISX) and distributed globally. The World Shariah Funds have brought together three major Islamic investment teams within a single fund structure: From Malaysia, Reliance Asset Management (Malaysia); the south-east Asian CIMB Principal Asset Management Berhad ; and Markaz of Kuwait. The fund launch follows Argyll's participation in the Guernsey Finance presence at the Fund Forum Middle East conference in Bahrain last year at which Legis and the fund's legal advisers, Ogier, were also present. Stuart Place, of Argyll, delivered a presentation on 'Innovation vs. Conservatism: How to achieve results in a post-credit-crunch market' following which the Guernsey parties were introduced to a Middle East fund promoter.

Qatar First Investment Bank isn’t discussing the purchase of Ihlas Finans, the financial arm of Turkey’s Ihlas Holding AS. This statement was given by Emad Mansour.

A £20m capital injection into Islamic Bank of Britain will help develop more home loans in line with Sharia law, an expert from Defaqto has said. David Black, banking expert from Defaqto, said: “The £20m capital investment will enable the IBB to grow its Islamic mortgages. With some other banks recently reducing their involvement in Sharia loans in the UK, the IBB’s capital injection will provide fresh impetus for what will be a growth area.” Its products are structured in a different way to those provided by conventional banks. Instead of a traditional mortgage, customers pay monthly rent and purchase instalments over the agreed period to the bank on the basis of which the bank gradually sells its share of the property to the customer. The recent cash injection has meant IBB has launched two new home loans. “With a fresh injection of capital we are well placed to grow the business through our Home Purchase Plan products. The products will offer peace of mind for customers, both financially and spiritually, which is especially important in the holy month of Ramadan” , said Sultan Choudhury.

Some investment companies in the Gulf will likely find it difficult to pursue their operations without dramatic changes in the wake of the global financial downturn, Standard & Poor's has said in a new report. "The main reasons behind this deterioration, in our opinion, are Gulf investment companies' generally high maturity mismatches they carry in their funding profiles and the ensuing weakened liquidity, weak business profiles, high leverage, and high exposure to real estate for some of them," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Mohamed Damak. Damak said: "But in the short term, we see some major hurdles for Gulf investment companies to overcome on the potential road to recovery."

The paper analyses the balance sheet and business model of Gulf Finance House and identifies certain pattern to charge fees in their business model and criticises the same.

By Mohammed Khnifer, Aatef Baig, and Frank Winkler
Reading University
May 2010

Press Release

Today sees the launch of a new Journal on Islamic finance from dedicated Islamic finance media entity Yasaar Media.

The Journal, called So Far – the Journal of Strategic Thinking in Islamic Finance, is written and edited by members of an Islamic finance Think Tank and is modelled on traditional academic journals. The difference with So Far is that the members of the Think Tank are predominantly practitioners rather than academics.
Member of the Think Tank are drawn from the ranks of committed Islamic finance professionals around the world and range from the Gulf and the Far East to the USA and Europe.

Each issue of So Far is dedicated to a single topic of core importance to the Islamic finance industry – and the launch issue looks at the thorny issue of the problems facing the Sukuk market. Unlike many other journals So Far is distributed free in PDF format and is available from a variety of sources including Yasaar Media thus guaranteeing maximum readership and exposure.

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Blom Developments Bank SAL (“Blom”) placed US$10 million with The Investment Dar Company KSCC (“TID”)under a wakala agreement (the “Agreement.

The Agreement was governed by English law and provided that TID would invest the Capital Sum (as the agent of Blom) in a shari’ah compliant manner. The Agreement further provided that at the end of the investment period TID had an obligation to pay to Blom the Capital Sum together with the anticipated agreed profit (the “Profit”).

TID failed to fulfill its obligations under the Agreement to pay to Blom the Capital Sum and the Profit at the end of the investment period. As a result Blom brought a summary judgment application in the English High Court. The Court ordered TID to pay to Blom the Capital Sum (but not the Profit).

CEO of HSBC Amanah will deliver the keynote address at Euromoney's Islamic Finance Summit in London on 23rd February 2010 at The Landmark.

In his speech, Mukhtar Hussian is expected to highlight how to put the economic crisis and lessons learnt from recent sukuk defaults to good use. He will also reveal how the industry can drive competitiveness with conventional banking, while ensuring stable growth through 'best in class' risk management. Also on the agenda: Why high-profile sukuk defaults have generated a timely debate, enforceability and the lessons the industry must learn about reputational risk.

The financial manager of Bank Melli Iran (BMI) has refuted the rumors on declaring bankruptcy by the bank, saying BMI is the largest bank in Iran and across the Islamic world, considering its total assets of around $54 billion. A report released in September, 2009 by Asian Banker showed that the world's top 100 Islamic banks increased their assets by 66% last year to more than $580 billion, compared to $350 billion in 2007, while rivals were trying to deal with the global financial downturn. According to the survey, BMI was standing at the top of the world's top 100 Islamic banks list in terms of assets, while Saudi Arabia's Al Rajhi Bank came in second, Press TV reported.

Abu Dhabi Investment House (ADIH) has begun enabling works and site facilities for its $400 million India Entertainment City (IEC) development in Navi Mumbai.