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Nine member countries have been approved to receive financing. They are Indonesia, Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Gambia, Mauritania and Albania.
The financing includes technical assistance in the form of grants for development projects in Benin, Chad, Togo, the GCC and grants and concessional loans for Sudan.
The approved financing also includes health and educational projects directed towards communities in non-member countries including Congo, Fiji, India and South Africa.

With access to capital becoming more difficult, and valuations nose-diving across public markets, private equity firms are challenged to demonstrate the real value they bring to the investee companies, says Ashar Nazim, Director and Head of Islamic Financial Services at Ernst and Young.
Liquidity and credit surge during the past decade saw mushrooming of investment firms across emerging markets pursuing private equity business. Shari'a compliant investments especially remained in strong demand as investors sought to diversify risk and seek higher risk adjusted returns.
With access to capital becoming more difficult, and valuations nose-diving across public markets, private equity firms are challenged to demonstrate the real value they bring to the investee companies.

Corporate sukuks by UK organisations are expected in the coming few months following the recent launching of the first corporate sukuk out of United Kingdom by Gateshead-based International Innovative Technologies, or IIT.
A major GCC-based sukuk arranger, which is reportedly working on a corporate sukuk issuance for a UK healthcare company for the last year, hopes to launch the issuance in September. A London-based Islamic bank is also working on a sukuk issuance for a UK client which is near to being finalised. Tom Wilkinson, chairman of IIT, is confident that there is potential for other UK companies to access Islamic finance including sukuk as an alternative source of funding.
The sukuk issue was placed privately with Millennium Private Equity Ltd, leading private equity firm based in the Dubai International Financial Centre and regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority. The sukuk is essentially a convertible sukuk, whereby Millennium Private Equity Ltd can convert the sukuk into equity.

The report pointed out that Kuwait ranked first among the GCC countries in terms Islamic banks assets to total banking assets, while Saudi Arabia and the UAE have risen among the countries that promote Islamic finance products and services. It added that there are many opportunities still available for Islamic finance solutions in the region where real estate finance tops other areas of interest prevalent in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
The existence of financial centers in Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE, as well as a number of Islamic finance organizations such as the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions, Liquidity Management Centre, and the International Islamic Financial Market will continue to attract new players to the region and further propel the Islamic banking industry to greater heights.

With high net worth individuals (HNWIs) in the GCC are seen as the most active in management their wealth during later life, over 90 percent reject the idea of getting retire, according to Barclays Wealth latest Insights report.
The report titled The Age Illusion: How the Wealthy are Redefining Their Retirement is the twelfth in the Barclays Wealth Insights series, shows that HNWIs in Saudi Arabia (92 percent), United Arab Emirates (91 percent) and Qatar (89 percent) illustrated the biggest desire amongst global respondents to keep working in later life. According to the findings of the report the retirement is being rejected by a new breed of wealthy worker, who want to carry on working for as long as they are able.

Over the years, Islamic banking in the Gulf Co-operation Council region has witnessed remarkable growth and seen tremendous demand for its products and services, the report said. The share of Islamic banking sector continues to increase, accounting for around 16.6% of the total assets of the region’s banking system as of end-March 2010.
In order to meet the growing needs of Shariah-compliant financing in the region, most conventional banks have either opened a new subsidiary or introduced an Islamic window within the existing infrastructure, according to KFH.
In terms of financing, opportunities for Islamic banks in the GCC include residential mortgages, underpinned by a high level of demand for home mortgages within the local market.

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/

Arab donors—predominantly the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Kuwait and United Arab Emirates (UAE)—have been among the most generous in the world, with official development assistance (ODA) averaging 1.5 percent of their combined gross national income (GNI) during the period 1973–2008, more than twice the United Nations target of 0.7 percent and five times the average of the OECD-DAC countries. Arab ODA accounts for 13 percent of total DAC ODA on average and nearly three-quarters of non-DAC ODA.

The share of Arab ODA in Arab GNI was exceptionally high in the 1970s and early 1980s, peaking at over 12 percent for the UAE and at about 8.5 percent for Kuwait and KSA in 1973. Nearly one-third of all ODA during the 1970s was from Arab donors. Although the ratio has fallen over time, it still exceeds the average among OECD-DAC member countries.

Moreover, Arab aid is generally untied, and is offered without conditions or restrictions.

Banks and companies in the Arabian Gulf may issue the most Islamic debt in three years in the fourth quarter as economic growth accelerates and Dubai’s companies reach agreements to restructure debt. The combination of declining yields in emerging markets and a successful restructuring of state-owned Dubai World’s debt may spur more sales, according to Exotix and Royal Capital PJSC.

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.

ABC Islamic Bank today announced a net profit of $1.8 million for the first quarter of 2010 compared to $5.6 million for the first quarter of last year.

Commenting on the results, Mr. Naveed Khan, Managing Director, said, “ABC Islamic maintained a positive operating result in the first quarter of 2010 despite de-risking of the balance sheet and conservative provisioning on impaired assets from the previous year. This has been in line with Group and parent policy. However the bank is well poised for future growth as its capitalization ratio has a healthy cushion for selective growth.”

Qatar First Investment Bank is co-launching with Gulfmena a unique, one-stop Shari'ah compliant asset management company. The new asset management company is expected to launch in fourth quarter 2010.

It will provide a fully integrated range of Shari'ah compliant products and services covering all asset classes and catering to qualified investors such as foundations, charitable organizations, Awqaf, Islamic banks, Takaful and Re-takaful companies as well as high-net worth individuals.

Funds will be utilised to finance ESI's capital expenditures for its expansion plans for additional manufacturing facilities. This transaction also comes in line with Al hilals commitment to Abu Dhabi's vision 2030 and supporting the Emirates strategic and vital business initiatives.

Albaraka Türk Katilim Bankasi A.S. (Al Baraka Turk), a subsidiary-banking unit of Al Baraka Banking Group BSC (ABG), signed a $240 million syndicated Islamic financing in Istanbul. Twenty two GCC, European and international banks (both Islamic and conventional) participated in the syndication. The syndication was arranged and managed by Standard Chartered Bank, ABC Islamic Bank (Bahrain) and Noor Islamic Bank (Dubai). The funding deal comes as part of Al Baraka Turk's strategy to further expand and diversify its financial resources and further strengthen its name in the domestic, regional and global financial markets. Al Baraka Turk will use the proceeds of the deal towards the ongoing implementation process of a range of existing and newer products and services offered by it.

Nakheel PJSC’s plan to offer Islamic bonds to creditors may revive sukuk trading in the Persian Gulf after new sales fell to a five-year low, according to Moody’s Investors Service and Mashreq Capital DIFC Ltd. Thomas Barry said that contractors are likely to sell Nakheel’s sukuk to pay bills. Thomas Barry is chief executive officer of Arabtec Construction LLC. In April, the company said its trade creditors would be offered 100 percent recovery of their claims -- 40 percent through a cash payment and 60 percent in the form of a tradable sukuk. More than 80 percent of Nakheel’s contractors have agreed. Abdul Kadir Hussain said sukuk sales from the region are likely to pick up in the fourth quarter. Nakheel and its parent Dubai World, one of the emirate’s three main holding companies, are renegotiating debt terms after the deepest financial crisis since the 1930s roiled Dubai’s real-estate market and left companies unable to raise financing. Property prices have fallen more than 50 percent in the city as banks cut mortgage lending, according to estimates from Colliers International.

The recent launching of the first corporate Sukuk out of the UK by Gateshead-based International Innovative Technologies (IIT) may have taken the Islamic capital markets by surprise, but the signs are that a spate of other UK originations may follow over the next few months. A major GCC-based sukuk arranger confirmed that it has been working on a corporate sukuk issuance for a UK healthcare company for the last year. The company hopes to launch the issuance next month. A London-based Islamic bank is also working on a sukuk issuance for a UK client which is near to being finalized. Tom Wilkinson, chairman of IIT, is confident that there is potential for other UK companies to access Islamic finance including sukuk as an alternative source of funding. The proceeds of the IIT sukuk, according to Wilkinson, will be used as growth capital for the company. The sukuk issue was placed privately with Millennium Private Equity Ltd., leading private equity firm based in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and regulated by Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA). Millennium Private Equity Ltd. is co-owned by United Gulf Bank (UGB) and Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB).

Kuveyt Turk Katilim Bankasi, a subsidiary of Kuwait Finance House, will pay a coupon of 5.25 per cent on Turkey’s first Islamic bond offering that was oversubscribed, said people close to the transaction. Kuveyt Turk launched the three-year $100 million sukuk on August 17. This is the first ever sukuk from Turkey and the first bank sukuk originating from Europe, according to law firm Norton Rose, which advised on the offering. “This is another significant step towards growing Islamic finance in Europe. “The sukuk by Kuveyt Turk further demonstrates continuing interest and appetite for Islamic finance within key emerging economies,” Neil D. Miller Global Head of Islamic finance at Norton Rose (Middle East), said in the statement. The joint lead managers on the transaction were Citigroup Global Markets and Liquidity Management House.

Sovereign Islamic bonds from Asia to the Persian Gulf are lowering returns on corporate sukuk for the first time in three months.

Malaysia’s Lembaga Tabung Haji fund, France’s BNP Paribas Investment Partners and Duet Mena Ltd. in Dubai forecast government debt will outperform until property prices in the Persian Gulf recover from a slump that prompted credit-ratings companies to downgrade corporate bonds.

Bahrain (665km²) is smaller than King Fahd airport (780km²) and has achieved being the biggest centre of Islamic finance in the world, democracy, its very own airline. Moody's, a ratings agency, says it doesn't think Bahrain has sufficient cash to be able to underwrite its banking sector anymore, and has consequently downgraded the investment rating it bestows upon the country from A2 to A3. "Reduced fiscal flexibility makes it more challenging potentially to meet contingent liabilities arising from Bahrain's financial sector, which is relatively large compared with the government's resources," Moody's said.

A leading economist says the practice of jailing debtors is morally wrong. In the rest of the world it is the banks’ responsibility to try to assess the credit worthiness of individuals. Prof Batchelor is trying to rebuild Dubai’s image. He thinks that Dubai could treat people who might have stayed and set up a business a little better. They shouldn’t be faced with the idea of going elsewhere in the world. Abdulfattah Sharaf, HSBC's head in the UAE, keeps his idea that jailing debtors remained an effective way for banks to retrieve bad loans.