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The Thomson Reuters Global Sukuk Index is at 116.70135 points, up from 115.79726 at the end of last month. The Thomson Reuters Investment Grade Sukuk Index is at 114.76183 points against 113.69014 at end-December. The sukuk in the pipeline include the following: Bank Islami Pakistan plans to raise 3.5 billion rupees ($34.8 million) via subordinated sukuk. Turkiye Finans received regulatory approval for a 71 million lira sukuk issue by trailer manufacturer Tirsan Treyler Sanayi ve Ticaret. Malaysia Building Society Berhad is planning a second issuance of its structured covered sukuk commodity murabaha programme, aiming to raise up to 700 million ringgit. Oman's government will make its first issue of rial-denominated sukuk for the domestic market as soon as in the first quarter of 2015.

The latest quarterly report issued by the real estate consultancy arm of Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) - MPM Properties - highlights value growth across all sectors of Abu Dhabi's real estate market during 2014. Government initiatives to stimulate job growth and enhance market sentiment, fuelled in part by a knock on effect from the Expo 2020 win, provided healthy demand across all asset classes. Residential apartment values within the designated Investment Areas demonstrated strong capital appreciation during 2014. MPM Properties research shows capital value growth ranging from 11% to 35% with an overall average increase of 21.6%.

The planned amalgamation of CIMB Group Holdings Bhd., RHB Capital Bhd. and Malaysia Building Society Bhd. has stalled as tumbling oil prices wreak havoc on the economy. The merger would have been the nation’s largest ever M&A transaction. Central bank Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz first raised the idea of an Islamic finance megabank more than five years ago. A license slated to be awarded in 2011 for a multinational lender to be formed between Asia and the Middle East didn’t materialize, depriving the $1.7 trillion global industry of a growth engine. Nevertheless, RHB said in a statement that the parties were still in discussions.

Bank Islami Pakistan aims to raise Rs3.5 billion ($34.8 million) via subordinated sukuk. With Basel III global banking standards being introduced around the globe, several Islamic banks have issued such capital-boosting instruments, including those in Turkey, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Last week, Bank Islami’s board of directors approved a plan to raise Tier 2 capital in tranches of Rs500m to help fund its expansion, the Karachi-based lender said in a bourse filing.

According to Behnam Gurbanzadeh, IBA Islamic Finance Department Manager, the idea to establish the CIS Islamic Development Bank, proposed by IBA several years ago, has become attractive for their Russian colleagues. The interest of Russian banks for instruments like Islamic financing has suddenly increased. Russian banks have problems with funding and are actively looking for alternative sources of financing, Gurbanzadeh said. Last November he revived the idea of the CIS Islamic Development Bank and Russia together with Kazakhstan. IBA agreed to work on the establishment of a Working Group on Islamic financing under the CIS Financial and Banking Council.

Nasdaq Dubai said on Wednesday flydubai listed its $500 million (Dh1.8 billion) sukuk on its exchange. This is the 18th Sukuk to have listed on Nasdaq Dubai since the beginning of 2014. The emirate is one of the three largest venues in the world for Sukuk listings, with current nominal value on its two exchanges totalling $24.05 billion. The sukuk saw a geographic distribution of 64 per cent to Middle East accounts, 25 per cent to European accounts, 7 per cent to Asia, and 4 per cent to US offshore.

The first sukuk auction this year, held on Tuesday, attracted incoming bids of Rp 13.7 trillion (US$1.1 billion), representing a more than sixfold oversubscription, with the government having set an issuance target of Rp 2 trillion. In comparison, incoming bids in the previous sukuk auction on Oct. 21 barely reached Rp 3.5 trillion. In response to the high demand, the Finance Ministry then decided to upsize the issuance, selling Rp 6.8 trillion of sukuk bonds. Nevertheless, the government will first assess upcoming auction results before deciding to raise more financing from sukuk this year. The high demand could be a seasonal phenomenon due to the market’s long closure for the year-end holiday.

Oikonomos is a film about the growing movement to transform economics education. There is an increased criticism of economics and economists not adequately dealing with our societal issues. That's why there is a strong plea to make economics education more pluralist and related to the real world, giving economists-to-be a bigger toolbox and wider range of perspectives when dealing with increasingly complex economies and societies. This project attempts to tell the story of this movement, and asks why and how students, academics, educational institutions and citizens are working to change economics education.

Tamkeen and Family Bank signed an agreement to add BD2 million to the microfinance support scheme, bringing the programme’s total portfolio value to BD 5 Million. The agreement is part of Tamkeen’s and the Family Bank’s efforts to provide customised Sharia-compliant financing solutions to help micro enterprises, including productive families, to grow, in addition to enabling low-income Bahrainis to establish small businesses. Under the programme, Tamkeen supports 50% of the loan profit. Finance amounts range between BD500 and BD5,000. Tamkeen also provides advisory services to customers.

The Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry honoured 18 companies for their corporate social responsibility and sustainability efforts during a recognition ceremony held at its premises on Tuesday. The CSR Label is open to all organisations, private or public, regardless of their size, sector or operations and can make a major difference to a company’s reputation, efficiency and productivity and its success depends on how the CSR objectives are set and communicated to all of their stakeholders. Some of the honourees inlcuded BETA Information Technology, Zulekha Hospital and Qurum Business Group.

Pakistan Mobile Communications (Mobilink) plans to raise Rs6.9 billion ($68.6 million) via Islamic bonds this quarter. The sukuk will help fund the network expansion of Mobilink, a subsidiary of Global Telecom Holding, and majority-owned by Russia’s VimpelCom. The credit guarantee will be extended by Mauritius-based GuarantCo, a specialised financial guarantor, indirectly owned by the development agencies of Britain, Switzerland, Sweden and the Netherlands. Credit guarantees for sukuk are rare because of the profit-sharing nature of Islamic finance, but they could prove to be an important development, attracting a wider range of corporate and sovereign issuers to the Islamic bond market.

Bank AlJazira reported Q4 net profit of SAR 199 million, up 32.67 per cent compared to one year ago and up 323.4 per cent on the previous quarter. However, the bank’s full year net profit was down 12.14 per cent at SAR 572 million. Total assets rose 10.97 per cent to SAR 66,554 million but investments were down 10.02 per cent at SAR 11,335 million. Loans and advances were up 17.86 per cent at SAR 41,245 million and customer deposits rose 13.49 per cent at SAR 54,569 million. Moreover, Bank Aljazira’s Extraordinary General Assembly approved the increase of the bank's capital from SAR 3,000 million to SAR 4,000 million, an increase of 33.33%.

Universiti Islam Malaysia (UIM) and CIMB Islamic have put in place agreements for their cooperation in promoting the development of higher education through a special endowment grant to establish the Chair for Waqf and Islamic Finance Management Studies as well as the establishment of CIMB Islamic Primary Resources for Islamic Finance Special Library. UIM President, Tan Sri Prof. Dr. Mohd. Yusof Noor and Chief Executive Officer of CIMB Islamic, Badlisyah Abdul Ghani signed two documents of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Both initiatives aim to enhance knowledge and capacity in the field of Islamic Finance and Waqf management.

While securities exchanges have been facilitating financial market transactions for centuries, the first social stock exchanges were officially launched only recently. These sorts of exchanges aim to connect social enterprises with so-called "impact" investors. Broadly, such an exchange enables private capital to be mobilised for public good. Yet we also need to recognise criticisms of such exchange platforms, as well as unintended consequences. We also need to ensure that mobilising private capital does not lead governments to shirk their responsibilities in dealing with those social and environmental problems that will not be addressed through market mechanisms.

The successful roll-out so far of a new “smart card” system to distribute subsidized bread has been a major achievement for Egypt’s government, saving money while earning praise from families who no longer have to wake early to fight for loaves. While the government still has a long way to go to roll out the new system countrywide, success so far marks an important civilian achievement for the president. The cards have so far been introduced in 17 of Egypt’s 29 provinces and consumption in those areas is already down between 15 to 35 percent. However, there are still worries whether the new smart card system is air-tight enough to squeeze out middlemen working the black market.

Islamic International Rating Agency (IIRA) has reaffirmed ratings of Bahrain Islamic Bank (BIsB) at BBB/A2 on the national scale and BBB-/A3 on the international scale. Outlook on the ratings is 'Stable'. IIRA has also reassessed BIsB's fiduciary score at '65-70'. There has been gradual improvement in the bank's funding access, as well as an improved earning capacity. Meanwhile, the bank has maintained strong control on operating expenses, which is beginning to reflect in overall profitability. However, prior year losses have depleted equity levels and recapitalization is required not only to financially reinforce the bank, but also to benefit from a growing market and expand business operations.

International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) plans to target the UAE and other Gulf investors as it plans to issue $200-$300 million debut sukuk this year, its senior manager Behnam Gurbanzade said. He further said the bank would issue sukuk in the second half of this year in order to widen its credit policy, develop business and attract alternative sources of financing. The bank, 50.2 percent owned by the Ministry of Finance, holds 40 percent of banking assets in the country. In 2014, IBA raised $252 million through an Islamic syndicated loan from UAE-based Al Hilal Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank and Noor Bank.

While all of Bank Asya's partnership negotiations with foreign and local banks have failed within the past year, it has sold four of its subsidiaries and decided to increase its paid capital by 25 percent. Bank Asya first sold its 21.8 percent stake in Yeni Ma?azac?l?k A.?. (A101) worth TL 350 million ($152.2 million) on April 25, 2014, and then it sold its shares of Tuna GYO (Asya Termal) and Nil Yönetim Hizmetleri A.?. in July. Six months after these sales, Bank Asya is now selling its 40 percent share of Tamweel Africa Holding S.A. to the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD). Therefore, the combined revenue earned is now TL 568 million when the last sale is included.

Head of the Egyptian Islamic Finance Association (EIFA), Mohamed El-Beltagy, said that Islamic banking clients in Egypt estimated approximately 2.5 million, constitute about 20% of the Egyptian banks clients. After the 2008 global financial crisis, international interest in the Islamic banking and finance industry increased. With the Muslim Brotherhood coming to power in 2012, Islamic banking’s importance grew once more. The move towards Islamic banking encouraged some conventional global and local commercial banks into setting up branches offering Islamic banking services. El-Beltagy said that the size of Islamic deposits as of 30 June 2014, about EGP 115.8bn, accounting for 8.3% of the Egyptian banking market size.

Pakistan's federal government on Friday launched the third round of Financial Innovation Challenge Fund designed to promote Islamic financing. The fund was launched with the assistance of the United Kingdom under the UKAid-sponsored Pakistan Financial Inclusion Programme being executed by the State Bank of Pakistan. The earlier two rounds focused on promoting innovative agricultural and rural financing in the country. Meanwhile, a steering committee constituted to promote Islamic banking has prepared an interim report and its recommendations will help in setting a roadmap and deciding a future course of action for providing an enabling environment for the growth of Islamic finance.