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The Islamic Financial Services Board today facilitated the signing of the Memorandum of Participation for the establishment of the International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (IILM). The primary objective of the IILM is to issue Shari`ah-compliant financial instruments in order to facilitate more efficient and effective liquidity management solutions for institutions offering Islamic financial services (IIFS), as well as to facilitate greater investment flows of Shari`ah-compliant instruments across borders.
This initiative is in line with the IFSB mandates (as stated in its Articles of Agreement) to: a) enhance and coordinate initiatives to develop instruments and procedures for the efficient operations and risk management; and b) encourage cooperation amongst member countries in developing the Islamic financial services industry.

Leading banks in the Kingdom of Bahrain will come to Washington D.C. on the 8th of October 2010 when the Bahrain Association of Banks (BAB) hosts an important reception at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.
The reception is in honour of Bahrain's delegation to the IMF/World Bank meetings. The delegation will be led by H.E. Shaikh Ahmed B?n Mohammed Al-Khalifa, the Minister of Finance, H.E. Mr Rasheed Mohammed Al Maraj, the Governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain and Mr Abdulkarim Bucheery, CEO of BBK and BAB's Chairman.
The financial community of the Kingdom of Bahrain has shown the depth of its support for the event through sponsorship, which includes Ahli United Bank, BBK Bank Muscat International, Gulf International Bank, Investcorp, Kuwait Finance House, National Bank of Bahrain and United Gulf Bank, together with the Economic Development Board of Bahrain.

The International Real Estate Department Manager at Kuwait Finance House (KFH) Ali Al-Ghannam said that investing in the field of international real estate is one of the KFH’s fruitful fields of business, since many global markets were affected by the global economic crisis in various fields, such as credit, but the value of their real estate were not affected in general and continued to achieve rewarding revenues to their owners.
Al-Ghannam, who made the previous statements during his participation in the annual meeting of the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE) in Chicago, stated that KFH’s continuously growing international real estate portfolio manages assets worth $1.5 billion.

ResearchGATE is the largest social network for academic research globally. Dedicated social profiles of researchers allow to enter academic careers, published articles in journals and books, announce fields of research for international exchange just to name a few of the features.

IslamicFinance.de took another effort to create a dedicated group and invite researchers globally to use this platform and foster research in Islamic finance. The last academic initiative taken was to sponsor and start a full fledged platform for the Islamic Finance WIKI, the online encyclopedia.

Researchers are invited to participate in these initiatives.

Please visit:
http://www.researchgate.net/group/Islamic_Finance/

On 21st of September this year the meeting took place between Dr. Muhammad Nedal Alchaar Secretary general of Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI), and the Russian association of experts in Islamic financing .
On the meeting the experts exchanged their opinions concerning prospects of development of Islamic financial institutions and products in Russia, application of AAOIFI standards in the field of accounting, audit and norms of Shariah, and also actual world tendencies of the young industry.
Doctor Alchaar has informed that now the AAOIFI members consist of 220 Islamic financial institutions from 46 countries of the world and informed about the basic aspects and complexities of development of the Islamic finance in separate countries, in particular, in the UK, France and the USA.

Poverty is a complex issue and needs to be tackled on a range of fronts including, but not limited to, improving economic growth. Poverty remains one of the big challenges to socio-economic development of majority of developing countries, especially in Sub-Sahara Africa and South Asia. Besides, this phenomenon has brought about problems such as illiteracy, malnutrition, disease and even crime. Global food crisis further worsened the already precarious conditions of poor people in these countries.

To cope with the bane of poverty, the OIC has to reinvigorate its machinery for economic growth and cooperation among member countries through comprehensive mobilization of the resources, within and outside the OIC community. A new approach to economic cooperation was, therefore fashioned out to ensure that all stakeholders are sensitized on the need for the accelerated transformation of the economies of OIC Member-States and the welfare of their peoples.

In the current issues the following questions are discussed:

How should we recognize excellence in the Islamic finance industry?
How do we identify greatness – of bankers and financiers, of lawyers, of consultants, of scholars?
How do we discourage a culture of „Islamic Awards for Cash??
How do we develop an „Islamic? methodology for rewarding achievement?

"THE CONCEPT AND OPERATIONS OF SWAP AS A HEDGING MECHANISM FOR ISLAMIC FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS"

The main objective of this paper is to give a clearer picture of the swap mechanism as offered by the international Islamic financial institutions and how its operations are structured in accordance with Shariah principles and contracts. In preparing this paper, ISRA has held a series of internal discussions as well as with outside parties, including Shariah experts and operating officers from international banks directly involved in the structuring of Shariah-compliant swap products. Documents related to the products and related academic materials were also referred to, giving a wider and thorough perspective on the issue.

by

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki
Head of Research Affairs Department
International Shari’ah Research Academy for Islamic Finance (ISRA)

Shabnam Mokhtar
Researcher
International Shari’ah Research Academy for Islamic Finance (ISRA)

Download: http://www.isra.my/media-centre/downloads/summary/29/216.html

Press Release

European Finance House Offshore Sharia Fund Assigned 'AAf/S1+' Fund Credit Quality
And Volatility Ratings

LONDON, May 4, 2010--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it assigned
its 'AAf' fund credit quality and its 'S1+' fund volatility ratings to EFH Funds SCA
SICAV-SIF - Liquidity Subfund (the "subfund"), a Luxembourg-domiciled U.S
dollar-denominated liquidity fund, managed by European Finance House (EFH). This is
the first Standard & Poor's fund credit quality and fund volatility rating assigned
to an offshore Islamic fund.

Fund credit quality ratings generally reflect our assessment of the level of
protection against losses from credit defaults and are based on an analysis of the
credit quality of the portfolio investments and the likelihood of counterparty
defaults.

Fund volatility ratings generally reflect Standard & Poor's view of the fund's
sensitivity to interest rate movements, credit risk, investment diversification or
concentration, liquidity, leverage, and other factors.

The ratings reflect Standard & Poor's analysis of the subfund's credit quality and

Press Release

Islamic Investors' Risk Tolerance Will Determine Demand For Sharia Fund Ratings,
Report Says

LONDON, May 4, 2010--The economic boom in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region
has fueled the emergence of Islamic finance in the international market in the past
decade. Revenue growth in this region has particularly benefited the asset
management sector, as Standard & Poor's noted in a report published today (see "Using Fund Ratings To Assess Credit And Market Risks In Sharia Funds").

The Middle East is by far the largest market for Sharia-compliant funds, but
conventional players in Europe, South Africa, and the U.S. have also launched a
number of funds that comply with Sharia law during past years, enhancing their
product range to meet the specific requirements of Islamic investors seeking to
invest in this asset class.

The number of product types remains limited, which Standard & Poor's Ratings
Services believes is largely due to the nascent nature of Sharia funds. Funds also
have to be invested in ways that are permitted under Islamic law. Sharia funds,
unlike traditional bond funds, do not invest in conventional rated fixed-income

The IFSB said the National Bank of Tajikistan, Prudential Hong Kong, along with Malaysia-based OCBC Al Amin Bank and the Islamic reinsurance unit of Germany's Munich Re will join as "observer" members,

Kuwait Financial House has teamed up with Canadian based Killam Properties Inc and Sigma Real Estate Advisors to invest in the Canadian real estate market.

The 4th executive summmary now focusses on over 220 Shariah scholars with exposure to the Gulf Cooperation
Council (GCC), including their international board memberships with 1050+ board positions in almost 300
institutions and 24 countries.

It is the single most detailed analysis on Sharia Boards and their scholars published.

The Edcomm Group Banker’s Academy’s President and cofounder, Dr. Linda Eagle, was recently featured in the January issue of Global Islamic Finance Magazine as an expert on Islamic finance. With 23+ years of experience in the global financial services industry, Dr. Linda Eagle was chosen to answer a series of questions addressing prevalent issues facing Islamic banking today.

The Islamic finance industry has gained new momentum over the past decade. Despite the recent gloomy economic environment globally, the industry’s total assets scaled new heights in 2009, rising to US$950 billion. Moody’s estimates that the market’s potential is worth at least US$5 trillion and the industry is continuing to expand globally. In this context, Islamic financial institutions are continuing to deliver Shari’ah-compliant returns whilst, at the same time, focusing on efficiently mitigating the associated risks through a new risk management approach, including the use of derivatives.

The demand for Islamic financial instruments certainly exists. But beyond holding basic accounts, observant Muslims in Canada find themselves disconnected from retail banking

There is huge potential for islamic finance in Canada as as mentioned by a speaker at a conference in Toronto.

For Immediate Release

March 8, 2010–CGAP, Deutsche Bank, Grameen-Jameel and Islamic Development Bank have joined forces to challenge the Islamic microfinance industry to develop new ideas for business models in the Islamic Microfinance Challenge 2010: Innovating Sustainable, Scalable, and Market-Driven Models. Islamic microfinance has gained some traction over the past few years, with a swift rise in the number of institutions offering microfinance products in compliance with Islamic principles. But the fundamental challenge for the Islamic microfinance industry remains meeting client demand with affordable, authentic, profitable, and market-driven products.

The Ninth Harvard University Forum on Islamic Finance, hosted by Harvard Law School’s Islamic Finance Project, will be held at Austin Hall, Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts on March 27th- 28th, 2010. The theme of the conference will be “Building Bridges across Financial Communities” as it relates to the field of Islamic Finance.

The two-day conference will comprise a unique experimental structure: Three plenary sessions will explore the sub-themes of Faith and Finance, Social Responsibility, and Islamic Finance after the Global Crisis.

Full text:

http://ifptest.law.harvard.edu/ifphtml/pdfs/9th_forum_brochure.pdf

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