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The draft of Dubai Financial Market's 'Standard for Issuing, Acquiring, Trading Sukuk' has been published on DFM's website. Numerous Islamic finance professionals have been invited to counsel and feedback on the comprehensive standard. The consultation period will last until February 28, 2013. At the beginning of March, a hearing session will be held, eventually followed by the issuance itself later the same month. The Standard includes thorough explanations of different types of sukuk. Among them are Sukuk of ownership of tangible assets, Sukuk of usufructs, Sukuk of lease of services, Mudaraba, Musharaka and Salam Sukuk.

Editorial Note:
You can download the paper at: http://www.dfm.ae/Documents/gen/SukukStandards.pdf

On Thursday , Dubai Islamic Bank announced its board's approval of the plans to fully acquire its mortgage unit Tamweel. The bank already holds 58.2% of the stakes. It further intends to make a tender offer to buy all shares off Tamweel's other shareholders. Every shareholder of Tamweel will be offered 10 DIB shares for every 18 Tamweel shares. As soon as the offer is closed, DIB will make an application to the regulator to delist Tamweel from the Dubai Financial Market.

To Review and conduct in-depth analysis of Credit Risk Proposals for FI/ Structure Finance/ Project Finance customers in order to maintain a healthy portfolio as well as to ensure compliance with the Bank Credit Policy.

According to a study by the National Bonds GCC Savings Index, about 90% of the people in a number of GCC countries feel they are not saving enough for their future. The percentage of people, who do not put away any money for future saving, is 71% of residents in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman, 74% in Saudi Arabia and 65% in the UAE. The study further shows that in Saudi Arabia 92% felt they were not saving enough. The percentages in the other countries involved in the study are 91% in Kuwait, 88% in Bahrain, 87% in the UAE, 85% in Oman, and 84% in Qatar.

The debut perpetual sukuk of Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank have rallied since their sale last month on bets the lender is well positioned to capitalise on the emirate’s economic upturn, even though debt of emerging market peers dropped. Since their issuance on November 8th, the dollar-denominated Islamic bonds yielded 6.05% on Thursday, December 27th , down 33 basis points, or 0.33 percentage point. The average yield on HSBC/Nasdaq Dubai’s US Dollar Sukuk Financial Services Index gained 17 basis points to 2.9% over the same period.

Recently, United Arab Bank (UAB) held its year-end Board Meeting at the new regional office in Al Khalidiya, Abu Dhabi. Including its network of 20 branches across the UAE, the bank reported net profit of Dh298 million and operating profit of Dh382 million for the first nine months of 2012. The meeting was called to order by the founder and chairman of UAB - His Highness Sheikh Faisal bin Sultan Salem Al Qassimi. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss and review the performance in 2012 and the outlook for 2013. According to His Highness Sheikh Faisal, The opening of our new and up-market regional office in Al Khalidiya, Abu Dhabi will enable UAB to offer their discerning customers a superior banking experience.

The ideal candidate must have exceptional communication skills, experience of working within a medium scale call centre operation preferably within insurance industry, ideally within an outbound sales environment, and will come with experience of account management and relationship management within a fast-paced targeted call centre operation.

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Responsibilities include the following: To perform all financial transactions (cash, cheques & transfer) for individual or corporate customers, in a risk free manner. To investigate differences in books by following the established process of checking reports, notes, denominations etc. To report deviations to concerned authority.

A leading progressive Islamic bank that embraces innovation and values creativity is recruiting for a Project Manager for its Head Office in Abu Dhabi

Key Skills and Experience:

At least 5+ years experience in the capacity of a project manager
PMP or Prince2 certification is highly desirable.
Experience in managing multiple project concurrently

According to the 2012 National Bonds GCC Savings Index, Bahrain nationals has experienced the biggest increase of savings sentiment while Qatari nationals savings sentiment has darken. E.g Kuwait interviewees had admitted that their savings are less than they had originally planned at 78%. You can find more statistics here.

Dr Yaqoub Al Naqbi assumes the responsibility of the Central Bank governor for breaking the law by offering Islamic services as other commercial activities. The governor Dr Al Naqbi has underlined that regulations were constantly developing and the criticized licensing practice was necessary to keep up with market demand.

UAE took steps to improve women's representation in organizations by setting up of quotas of women members in boards. Women will now have to prove by their professionalism that they deserve such "appreciation" against men colleagues.

Dana Gas will pay $70 million in cash to bondholders and offers aditionally 8% coupon on remaining debt in order to buy time to restructure its sukuk. The company is facing difficult times as it missed a bond redemption on its sukuk that has matured on October 31. In order to fix this problem, Dana has made an agreement with adhoc committee of creditors, and thus earned time to restructure its finances.

Swisslinx Middle East is URGENTLY seeking an experienced Trust or Fund Administrator to join a new entity of our reputable client, a Regional Bank. In this role, you will be based in the DIFC.

To analyze existing customers to identify areas of opportunities for Spend and engagement building exercises and implement various initiatives both on demand and supply side on proactive spends management, activation and line increase programs.

Nakheel's bonds have brought their bondholders four times more returns than global peers this year. This year's return of the company's notes is 48%. Thus, the average gains of 11 per cent for the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Real Estate Index were surpassed by far. Compared to Nakheel, bonds of high-yielding American home builders registered an increase of 23%.

Global Islamic banking assets are expected to reach over $1.8 trillion in the coming year. This forecast by Ernst & Young is significantly higher than some industry estimates published earlier. The Islamic banking industry continuously grows worldwide and manages to sustain its quick pace. The top 20 Islamic banks demonstrate growth rates of 16% during the last three years. Saudi Arabia appears to be the largest market for Islamic assets.

Dana Gas PJSC completed restructuring its $920 million of Islamic bonds after reaching an agreement to pay twice the average yield on emerging markets corporate sukuk. Bondholders, some of which are BlackRock Inc (BLK) and Ashmore Group Plc (ASHM), will be paid $70 million in cash. The remaining Shariah- compliant debt will be split into convertible bonds and an ordinary sukuk of equal value worth $425 million. The profit rate of the five-year convertible bonds will be as high as 7% and the profit rate of ordinary sukuk 9 respectively.

It is estimated that the total Islamic assets of the UAE are worth $75 billion. This sum puts the country on the third place regarding the global market for the Shariah-based banking industry. The worldwide assets in this area are expected to reach $1.8 trillion in 2013. The world's leader in Islamic assets is Saudi Arabia with an estimated total of $207 billion for 2011. The Islamic banking industry continues its rise as the top 20 Islamic banks grew 16% in the past three years.

In the area of today’s capital markets it is easy to talk and make statements about vision, mission, and strategy. Turning them into action, however, is a completely different thing. So, the question remains how to get economic talk into work done for the world’s leading economies, companies, academic institutions, governments, and regulatory authorities. "The power to convene" is considered to be a key capability leading towards executing plans and promises. It is illustrated with recent examples and analysis of this power's potential and ways to use it are discussed.