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Noor Bank is looking to Indonesia, Turkey and other international markets to escape tougher competition at home and take advantage of a booming global Sharia-compliant finance industry. Thus, Noor Bank plans to help arrange a sukuk or Islamic private placement on behalf of the Indonesian government, with the Dubai-based Islamic finance institution also underwriting part of the deal. Officials declined to specify the amount of the new sukuk but said it would be dollar based and would include other underwriters. The issue will help strengthen Indonesia's forex reserves and help Bank Indonesia maintain the stability of its exchange rate, Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said.

The Tripoli-based Libyan Audit Bureau has confirmed that Jordan based Al Baraka bank has returned a transfer from Libya for being ‘‘suspicious’’ and for ‘‘funding terrorism’’. The transfer originating from the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) were intended to cover Libyan student scholarships in Jordan. The Audit Bureau revealed that it had, in cooperation with the Ministry of Higher Education and the CBL, opened an independent bank account for the Cultural Attaché at its Amman embassy specifically for scholarship funds. However, the Audit Bureau admitted that the Libyan embassy broke procedures and regulations and an agreement by using the funds on other spending rather than for student scholarships.

For several years, bonds from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council appeared almost immune to global instability, handily outperforming debt from other emerging markets. Unlike most of the world, GCC governments enjoyed big budget surpluses. But as oil hits new six-year lows, most of those surpluses have vanished. Economists expect all GCC states to post fiscal deficits this year, and half of them to post current account deficits. So investors are starting to re-examine their assumptions about the Gulf, and during the last two weeks of global market turmoil, GCC bonds have not escaped a general emerging markets sell-off.

The International Finance Corp (IFC), the World Bank's lender to the private sector, has received a preliminary AAA rating from Standard & Poor's for a proposed $100 million issuance of sukuk. Proceeds of the sukuk would be used to purchase a portfolio of diversified sharia compliant receivables and other assets, the credit rating agency said in a statement. The transaction would match the size of the last sukuk issued by IFC in 2009, a five-year deal which was listed on the Dubai and Bahrain bourses. The latest sukuk from IFC would rank on the same level as other senior unsecured financial obligations from the multilateral lender, S&P said.

Turkish participation bank Albaraka Türk is set to close books for its $400m-equivalent murabaha loan next week. Albaraka Turk is expected to sign the loan in mid-September, according to a banker on the deal. The $400m-equivalent deal has one year and two year tranches in euros and dollars.

More full-fledged Islamic banks are needed and the Islamic banking services of conventional banks should be converted into full subsidiaries if Oman were to fully embrace the Islamic finance concept in its entirety, says Dr Jamil El Jaroudi, CEO at Bank Nizwa. It would also eliminate potential regulatory arbitrage between conventional banking and Islamic banking that could harm or raise doubt on the Sharia aspects, he added. The Islamic windows' cost of doing business and relying on their parent banks’ infrastructure resulted in a disadvantage for the business of fully-fledged banks. Nonetheless, the windows have yet to reach their critical sizes to be able to justify conversion into standalone banks.

International Finance Corp (IFC), a unit of the World Bank, plans to meet fixed income investors starting on Monday ahead of a potential issue of U.S. dollar-denominated sukuk. IFC, rated Aaa/AAA by international rating agencies, has picked Dubai Islamic Bank, HSBC, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Standard Chartered Bank to arrange the investor meetings. The meetings will be held in the Middle East, with a possible sukuk issue to follow subject to market conditions. No details about the size of the issue or maturity were given. The sukuk will be listed on Nasdaq Dubai and an application will also be made for a subsequent listing on the London Stock Exchange.

After a Hamas-sponsored cafeteria bombing at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, a federal complaint was filed against Iran's central bank in Washington D.C., that ended in a $12.9 million judgment against the republic. Other lawsuits alleging that Iran bankrolled terrorism followed, leading to awards of $20 million for a bombing of a Jerusalem restaurant, $350 million for a 1990 mass shooting, and $590 million for the bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. Bank Melli has set forth numerous creative arguments as to why it shouldn't be liable for Iran's debt. However, the Ninth Circuit ruled Wednesday that those arguments cannot save it from paying nearly $17.6 million to the victims of terrorist attacks in Israel, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.

Islamic financial institutions have $2 trillion in assets under management, and this is likely to grow to $3 trillion in the next three to five years. The Shariah-compliant Azzad Wise Capital Fund offers an investment opportunity not only to Muslim investors but to anyone looking to invest in an alternative, non-correlated fixed-income fund with less volatility. The Fund currently has almost $100 million in assets under management. It pursues long-term income and capital preservation by investing primarily in Islamic Bonds and interest-free bank deposits and notes issued primarily by overseas banks in developing countries. A small portion of the Fund’s assets may be invested in dividend-yielding stocks.

National Commercial Bank (NCB), Saudi Arabia's largest lender, is selling SR2 billion ($533 million) of capital-boosting sukuk, two banking sources with knowledge of the matter said on Sunday. The offer, which enhances the bank's Tier 1 - or core - capital and is compliant with Basel III banking regulations, is the third such transaction by NCB since June, and is part of a plan to raise as much as 7 billion riyals of capital before the end of 2015, one of the sources said. NCB didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) has announced its acceptance of a US$50 million 15 year line of financing, with a 13 year six month repayment period, from the Islamic Development Bank (IDB). The funds will be used to finance projects located across the numerous African IDB member countries. The projects will be structured in a way that is compliant with Islamic Finance, focusing particularly on infrastructural and agricultural projects that promote the economic and social development of the communities concerned. AFC’s agreement with the IDB also establishes an intercontinental relationship, which may lead to further collaboration between African and Middle Eastern institutions in the future.

Kuwait International Bank K.S.C. has successfully closed a debut syndicated Murabaha financing facility. The Facility was signed on 24 August 2015. Bahrain-based Bank ABC and Bank ABC Islamic acted as the Initial Mandated Lead Arrangers and Coordinating Banks for the Facility. The Facility was initially launched for US$100 million, and following strong interest from the market KIB decided to utilise the significant oversubscription to increase the Facility size to US$320 million. The Facility carries a tenor of 3 years and will be used by KIB for general funding purposes.

Russia may amend its financial regulations to allow Islamic banking in a bid to attract funds from Muslim countries, as its economy struggles with a recession and Western sanctions. The move comes as economists, including those at the International Monetary Fund, say U.S. and European sanctions are having a significant negative impact on the Russian economy by blocking important Russian companies from accessing global financial markets. Officials have created a task force charged with implementing Islamic banking in the country, including amending the country’s banking laws, said Dmitry Savelyev, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Financial Markets and the leader of the task group.

The fund manager behind the first private Islamic superannuation fund in the world, Crescent Wealth, has passed $100 million in funds under management. The benchmark figure was passed after the Australia-based group reported a 245 per cent growth in funds under management for the 2015 financial year with the group tapping into demand for ethical Islamic investment products. Crescent Wealth launched the first private Islamic superannuation fund in the world in 2013 growing fund members close to ten-fold between the 2014 and 2015 financial years to reach 4200 members, with an expectation of further growth due to interest from overseas investors.

The Thomson Reuters Global Sukuk Index is at 117.97246 points, down from 118.20147 at the end of last month but up from 115.79726 at the end of last year. The Thomson Reuters Investment Grade Sukuk Index is at 116.67852 against 116.92144 at end-July and 113.69014 at end-2014. Some of the sukuk in the pipeline are: Malaysia's TIME dotCom is proposing a 1 billion ringgit ($240 million) sukuk programme to run until 2035. Sukuk are a funding option for the Philippine government, National Treasurer Roberto Tan said, adding that he hoped Congress would pass legislation to allow such issuance. Saudi Arabian dairy producer Almarai will issue a senior sukuk of up to 2 billion riyals ($533 million).

Saudi Arabia's National Commercial Bank (NCB) is selling a 2 billion riyal ($533.3 million) sukuk as part of its plans to raise capital. The offer, which enhances the bank's Tier 1 - or core - capital and is compliant with Basel III banking regulations, is the third such transaction by NCB since June, and is part of a plan to raise as much as 7 billion riyals of capital before the end of 2015. In the same way as the previous two issues, the latest sukuk is structured with a perpetual tenor but with a clause in the documentation which allows the bank to redeem the Islamic bond after a certain date. NCB Capital is acting as sole arranger. The transaction will be privately placed with one or more government-owned investment funds.

Iran has four banks in Britain and will set up two new banks in London in near future, Governor of Central Bank of Iran Valiollah Seif said on Sunday. He made the remarks on the sidelines of a meeting with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond. Speaking to IRNA, he said the two banks to be set up are the London branch of bank Melli of Iran and Persian International Bank. In the meeting with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and his entourage, the two sides studied grounds for expansion of cooperation and the history of banking cooperation as well as existing grounds for expansion of such cooperation, he said. UK delegation voiced their willingness of the British banks to come back and resume operation in Iran, he said.

The Egypt part of the Bahraini Al Baraka Group plans to pump one billion Egyptian pounds (US$127.8 million) into mega projects in the country. According to Ashraf El Ghamrawy - CEO of Al Baraka Bank Egypt, the bank intends to invest in the Suez Canal Corridor Area as well as East Port Said (Tafreeaa) Port projects. The Suez Canal Corridor Area project's aim is to increase the role of the Suez Canal region in international trading and to develop the three canal cities: Suez, Ismailia, and Port Said. Al Baraka Bank Egypt has allocated around 250 million Egyptian pounds to invest in one of the logistics projects in Suez Canal, however, no details were given until an agreement is reached.

Datuk Dr Mohd Daud Bakar is the founder and executive chairman of Amanie Advisors. He chairs the Sharia'a Advisory Council at the Central Bank of Malaysia, the Securities Commission of Malaysia. A Sharia'a board member on various financial institutions in Malaysia and the Middle East, Dr Bakar is also deputy chairman on the board of Al Madina Takaful in Oman. Dr Bakar was recently in Muscat to attend Al Madina's Sharia'a board meeting. He spoke about the global Islamic finance industry and shared his views on the outlook for Oman's Islamic banking and takaful markets. He said that in Oman, awareness needs to be spread at all levels through all available channels.

Bahrain's Khaleeji Commercial Bank 's (KHCB) has recently signed an agreement with T'azur Islamic Insurance Company, one of Bahrain's Takaful International Islamic insurance Company providers. The agreement aims to provide Comprehensive and Third Party insurance services for vehicles, property, travel and tourism including other personal insurance products at KHCB 's branch in Budaiya. The signing ceremony was held recently at the Khaleeji Commercial Bank headquarters in the presence of KHCB Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Khalil Al Meer and T'azur Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Yahya Nooruddin, along with management officials and high-level representatives from both parties.