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For Immediate Release:

Oak Brook, Illinois – April 3, 2010
H.H. Sheikh Ahmed Bin Zayed Al Nahayan

The World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists expresses its most profound sympathy on the recent loss of one of the leading Muslim philanthropists, H.H. Sheikh Ahmed Bin Zayed Al Nahayan, the Chairman of the Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahayan Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation.

Sheikh Ahmed was the head of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), rated among the world's top state-run investment establishment. He was a brilliant entrepreneur and a devoted humanitarian who will be remembered dearly by all of us.

Under Sheikh Ahmed’s visionary leadership, The Zayed Foundation has made an impact that was truly global. Several initiatives aimed at issues such as poverty, scarcity of clean water, preventable disease, and aggravation of war impacts was launched in some of the poorest economies.

The Congress joins people of the United Arab Emirates in mourning the demise of Sheikh Ahmed and prays to Almighty Allah for granting eternal peace to the departed soul and grant solace to the bereaved Al Nahyan family. Ameen.

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Islamic banking must speed up standardization in order to grow while monetary authorities should enact laws that allow expansion into new Sharia-based products in domestic markets, industry experts said on Wednesday.

Property developer Nakheel, a subsidiary of Dubai World, on Tuesday named Ali Rashid Ahmad Lootah as its new chairman in a restructuring that also added four other members to the board. Lootah is also the vice-chairman of mashreq.

In line with its commitment to achieve higher Emiratization rates, Emirates Islamic BankEmirates Islamic BankLoading... (EIBEIBLoading...), one of the leading Islamic financial institutions in the UAE participated in the 10th annual Careers Show which was held from 28th to 30th March 2010 at the Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Center.

Bank Sarasin-Alpen (ME) Limited, a subsidiary of Bank Sarasin & Co. Ltd, a leading Swiss private bank announced today the publication of its Islamic Wealth Management Report 2010. The report provides investors with an in-depth overview of the various asset classes in Islamic wealth management along with a synopsis of the market scenario during the past 18 months.

Dubai is opening up its inaugural hedge fund to investors after an index-beating debut. The Middle East emirate's first fund of funds, which was launched at the beginning of 2009, beat comparable indexes by posting a 41% return last year. The fund, up slightly more than 1% through March 28, is still outperforming benchmarks this year.

First Finance Company has disclosed its financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2009 which is net profit of QR 29.2m in 2009 versus QR 110.8m in 2008.

A template for an over-the-counter Islamic derivative contract was launched on Monday, offering a channel for the emerging industry to better hedge itself against risks.

Press Release

The report provides investors with an in-depth overview of the various asset classes in Islamic wealth management along with a synopsis of the market scenario during the past 18 months. The report also explores the concept of estate and succession planning, which Sarasin believes is insufficiently addressed in the Islamic finance industry and is a key element of Sarasin’s Islamic wealth management offering. Finally, the report provides an insight into the bank’s economic outlook for 2010.

The key issues and challenges addressed in the report are:

• how Sharia screening reduced the downside in volatile markets and how it affects the finance industry and investors,
• the behaviour of direct real estate investments in comparison with real estate funds and Sharia-compliant real estate investment trusts,
• the income-related role of Sukuk within Islamic balanced portfolios and the probability of defaults,
• a comparison between various Islamic investment funds ranging from income-oriented to commodity, real estate and equity funds,
• the size and future of the Islamic private equity and venture capital industry,
  

Kuala Lumpur, 22 March 2010 – As the global Islamic financial services industry gains momentum both in terms of confidence and recovery in a global economy that is still coming to terms with the twin effects of the credit crunch and financial crisis, the 7th Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) Annual Summit due to be held on 4th-5th May 2010 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Manama, Bahrain under the patronage of the Central Bank of Bahrain, is attracting wide spread interest from regulators and market participants from various parts of the world, including countries that are attending the Summit for the very first time.

The growing interest in Islamic finance from new markets and the industry’s ability in general to absorb the shocks of the financial crisis better than the conventional sector has prompted several countries and analysts to take a further or a new look at Islamic finance.

On March 1, 2010 after many months of work, ISDA (the International Swaps and Derivatives Association) and IIFM (International Islamic Financial Market) jointly issued the first Shari'ah-compliant master agreement for over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives.[1] Styled the "ISDA / IIFM Ta'Hawwut Master Agreement" (ta'hawwut signifies "hedging" in Arabic), the new template master agreement (the "Ta'Hawwut Agreement") provides a framework for the expansion of derivatives activity in the Middle East, South Asia and many regions throughout the world where hedging is not currently standard practice due to ethical concerns. While based on the 2002 ISDA Master Agreement (the "2002 Master Agreement") and with many terms familiar to participants in swap markets, the Ta'Hawwut Agreement has been developed under the guidance and approval of the IIFM Shari'ah Advisory Panel. The Ta'Hawwut Agreement is therefore expected to be used as a reference for market participants where they or their customers need to hedge risks in line with Shari'ah principles.

Bahrain's Gulf Finance House (GFH) said it was close to setting up a $326 million unit in Syria as the Islamic investment bank looks to boost revenues in a relatively untapped banking market.

Bahrain will establish the world's biggest Islamic bank within the next 6 to 12 months. The creation of a planned Islamic investment megabank is in "fairly advanced stages" and it will likely be launched in the next 6 to 12 months, an executive at a firm advising on the project said this week, Barcelona News wrote.

Several banks in the Gulf region are considering launching Islamic bond, or sukuk, funds, some likely in the first half of the year, a top fund manager said on Wednesday.

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.

Following an investigation into the activities of Al Mal, an authorised firm in the Qatar Financial Centre (“QFC”), the QFC Regulatory Authority has taken the decision to withdraw the authorisation of Al Mal.

Saudi Arabia's regulator has fined the country's biggest Islamic bank, Al-Rajhi , for not notifying it about the resignation of two senior executives, the regulator said.

Dubai World which is in talks to restructure some $22 billion debt, is unlikely to pay off developer Nakheel's $980 million Islamic bond, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday, and all options are open.

Masraf Al Rayan (MAR), an Islamic bank in Qatar, has launched $1.1 billion (Dh4bn) Al Rayan GCC Fund which would be managed by Al Rayan Investment. The Shariah-compliant value fund will take a medium to long-term perspective, investing in GCC-listed equities as well as fixed-income and money-market instruments. Where possible, the fund will seek to take an activist investment approach.

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