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SHUAA Capital and National Bonds Corporation have signed a memorandum of understanding to set up a strategic alliance.
SHUAA Capital will provide financial advisory, brokerage, and investment management services to National Bonds Corporation in the UAE and the broader Middle East and North Africa region. Both alliances will launch a number of initiatives to develop their respective customer bases and further National Bonds's mission of promoting a culture of savings in the UAE and wider GCC.

The Second Annual Islamic Finance Forum will gather investors, borrowers and regulators in the same place to accomplish a better understanding of existing instruments of Islamic Finance and to find answers to problems encountered frequently in the course of doing business.
The forum delegates is amde of representatives from the Embassies of UAE, Malaysia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Russia, Kyrgyzstan and other countries.

Sarasin-Alpen LLC, Oman, is a subsidiary of the private bank, Bank Sarasin & Co Ltd, Switzerland. Capital Market Authority approved that the bank markets Islamic securities, products and services to its clientele, along with its existing advisory services in private banking.
Sarasin-Alpen also influences the existing Investment Banking business of its associate, Alpen Capital LLC (Oman). Sarasin Alpen Group also has offices in Bahrain, India, Qatar and UAE.

The private Iraqi bank sector seems mature for investment and consolidation, therefor foreign banks are hunting for stakes. But it appears that local banks are unwilling to take partners, fearing a loss of control.
Because Iraqi is rebuilding its vast oilfields and battered infrastructure eight years after the U.S.-led invasion, the country is seen as fertile ground for investment.
It is stated that France's Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) and the Bank of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates have developed interest.

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (“ADCB”) presented the new look of its comprehensive Islamic Banking solution to clients across the UAE.
The Islamic Banking service offers increased product lines from liabilities and assets to credit cards and investments to furnish a Shari’ah compliant product for a host of conventional ADCB product and service on offer.

Islamic certificates of deposits (CDs) launched by the UAE central bank in late 2010 rised by nearly Dh13 billion at the end of June as it seems that banks are investing heavily in such tools issued in the country for the first time.
The figures prooved that UAE banks are turning heavily to the central bank to invest excess liquidity and offset a sharp slowdown in their credit to the private sector which they now see as a high-risk field.

Tabreed stated that it fully repaid a 200 million US dollar Islamic bond. It seems that the total amount paid to certificate holders of the bond was 735 million UAE dirhams.
Dubai-listed Tabreed is one of the many Gulf companies which has to restructure its debt after an economic boom, fuelled by record-high oil prices and easy credit, ended abruptly and caused a property market crash.

It seems that Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) are not willing to leave wealth management to conventional foreign banks any longer. In the UAE, all IFIs have established wealth management centers in recent years. At Dubai Bank this segment is named Royal Banking.

United Arab Bank (UAB) has initiated an innovative business loan initiative to support the development of Agriculture in the UAE and Abu Dhabi Emirate in particular.
The facility has been designed in collaboration with Abu Dhabi Food Authority (ADFA) with an aim to support young farmers develop their businesses and promote agricultural production in the UAE in general and Al Ain in particular.

The UAE’s central bank is going to open up a repurchase facility for Islamic certificates of deposits to provide a new liquidity tool for the OPEC member’s banks.
One of the key challenges to the emerging Islamic finance industry is a lack of liquidity management tools. It seems that the new facility is based on a murabaha concept.

Taking into consideration the increasingly shaped by a company’s reputation and impact on the environment consumers choise, the need to adopt sustainable business practices is more important than ever.
The Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Sustainability Network has the goal to advance corporate social responsibility, or CSR, across the UAE by bringing together top business executives to network, share experience and demonstrate CSR leadership.
The pressure to act is coming from stakeholders, employees, customers, governments, investors, the media, and society in general.

Islamic Finance House (IFH) has appointed Mohamed Omar Ali Mubarak Keiti General Manager of the company that serves as a growing centre for Shari'a compliant financial solutions catering to a wide spectrum of clients in the UAE.
As General Manager of IFH, he will have an integral part in driving the company's expansion while positioning it as a growing financial entity.

Some trade creditors of Nakheel are offering a potential 1.6 billion US dollars Islamic bond by the developer at a discount in the secondary market as a desperate need for cash outweighs hopes for a full repayment.
Nakheel plans to repay 60 percent of its debt to trade creditors through the sale of a six billion United Arab Emirates (UAE) dirhams ($1.63 billion) Islamic bond, expected by the end of the first half.

Qatar and three other GCC countries including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and UAE are ssen as four of the top 10 countries in the world with the highest density ultra-wealthy households.
According to the study, “ultra-high-net-worth” (UHNW) households or those with more than $100m in AuM, are mostly situated in Saudi Arabia registering 18 per 100,000 households.
Qatar, Kuwait and UAE also made it to the top ten list in terms of the highest proportion of millionaire household by market with 8.9 percent, 8.5 percent and 2.6 percent millionaire households, respectively.

HE Sultan Bin Nasser Al Suwaidi, Governor of the Central Bank of the UAE, stated that the number of Islamic banks operating in the UAE now stands at eight. The Governor also congratulated the Sultanate of Oman on the licensing of its first Islamic bank and welcomed the Central Bank of Oman to the Islamic finance community of regulators.
Despite this, Al Suwaidi was the one that directed the majority of his remarks to the state of Islamic finance within the UAE itself.

Seeking to manage its excess liquidity, Islamic certificates of deposit in the UAE stood at Dh12 billion ($3.27 billion) at the end of the first quarter.
Assets and liabilities stood at Dh269 billionand they represented 17 per cent of total UAE assets and deposits.
The UAE central bank plans to introduce a repurchase facility for Islamic lenders in the coming months.
Tirad Mahmood, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank Chief Executive, announced that the bank as an ongoing programme to buy the Islamic CDs as part of its liquidity management strategy.

The permanent debt woes in Europe and persistent political tensions in the Middle East have influenced the global indexes in May. The DJIM Citigroup Sukuk Index -- which measures the performance of investment-grade-rated, U.S. dollar-denominated Islamic bonds -- posted the largest gain, closing 0.94% higher to reach 129.85 points, as of the close of trading on May 24.
The DJIM Pakistan Index also gained 12.67% since January 1, 2011.
The DJIM China Offshore Index plummeted 8.65% to 3,465.53, while the DJIM BRIC Index lost 8.56% to 2,114.90.

Islamic Development Bank (IDB) conducted a roadshow in Asia, the Middle East and Europe. This is part of a resource mobilization plan.
The roadshow began in the UAE and reached London where the bank has successfully priced, $750 million, 5-year, Trust Certificates (sukuk) issued at par with a 2.35 percent semi-annual profit rate under its $3.5 billion Trust Certificate Issuance Program.

It is now official that the Dubai government, acting under directions from His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE, Ruler of Dubai, has taken over Dubai Bank with no delay.
It seems that the government will put an unspecified amount of cash into DB, completely weakening the holdings of Dubai Holding and Emaar Properties.

Fitch Ratings announced the downgrade of Dubai Bank's Individual Rating to 'F' from 'D/E'. After the the announcement by the Government of Dubai that it will take full control of the bank, and it will provide a significant capital injection, it has also been removed from Rating Watch Negative (RWN).
The agency has also declared Dubai Bank's Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'BBB-', Short-term IDR at 'F3', Support Rating at '2' and Support Rating Floor at 'BBB-'.