IslamicFinance.de

Al Rajhi Capital, the investment-banking subsidiary of Al Rajhi Bank and a leading asset manager in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, announced the launch of the Al Rajhi Saudi Equity Fund, a Specialized Investment Fund (SIF) established under Luxembourg law.
Al Rajhi Capital Company is the independent, wholly owned investment subsidiary of Al Rajhi Bank, the world's largest Islamic bank and the largest commercial bank in the GCC region in terms of market capitalization.

Allfunds Bank, the business-to-business fund platform, has launched an Islamic Services Unit to comply with Sharia principles. The company, jointly owned by the Santander and Intesa Sanpaolo groups, offers over 80 sharia-compliant funds from asset management firms based in Luxembourg, Ireland, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
The unit has a fatwa endorsed by the Sharia'h Board of Amanie Dubai, a specialist Islamic consultancy firm, making it the first sharia-compliant platform.
Allfunds said its clients would have direct access to the largest available range of Islamic funds and it would take further opportunities to expand the service, such as setting up a dedicated website for the sector.

The Solidarity Group Holding board has appointed of Ashraf Bseisu as group chief executive officer. Mr Bseisu is a long-standing Solidarity executive and a prominent member of the region's insurance industry. Solidarity Group Holding, one of the largest takaful companies in the world, includes the Solidarity Family Takaful Company and Solidarity General Takaful Company in Bahrain as well as subsidiaries and associates in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Malaysia and Luxembourg. Mr Bseisu is currently Bahrain Insurance Association chairman and the General Arab Insurance Federation vice-president. He has been with Solidarity since his appointment as general manager - finance and corporate management in July 2006 and has held several senior posts within the organisation. He has more than 20 years of experience in the insurance and financial services sector, where he held several executive positions.

The signing in Alkhobar of a strategic cooperation and alliance agreement between Saudi Arabia's Mohammed Hamad Al-Soaib Law Firm and the Luxembourg-based Lux Global Trust Services and Theisen Advocates recently is set to increase the use of the Duchy as a trust and tax domicile for Saudi investment products; investment vehicles such as special purpose vehicles (SPVs) used in the issuance of sukuk for instance; and the registration of investment funds, especially for UCITs (Undertakings for Collective Investment Trusts) of which Luxembourg is the world leader.

Deutsche Bank announced the launch of “Al Mi’yar”, a platform to facilitate the issuance of Sharia compliant securities domiciled in Luxembourg with Luxembourg Financial Group AG as the Sharia investment manager. Deutsche Banks Trust & Securities Services group providing the settlement framework. The platform allows for access of all asset classes including money market instruments.