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The sales of Persioan Gulf Sukuk are notably higher than Shariah-compliant loans in the Middle East, Europe and Africa. This has not happened since 2006. The reason pointed out is that borrowers seize on tumbling yields to finance roads and airports. The sukuk sales in the GCC are almost four times larger this year, to a large extent due to the sales of Saudi Arabian state-run Civil Aviation Authority and of the Qatari government. Compared to that, Shariah-compliant loans show a growth of only 57%.

Read more on: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-10-10/gulf-sukuk-beat-loans-for-fi...

SMEs move from their entrepreneurial phase to a professionally-managed phase. As a result, there is a huge necessity for them to adopt the concept of corporate governance. According to a report by Capita Group International (CGI), Gulf SMEs are not particularly efficient. There is a huge difference between their share of employment and their share of gross domestic product (GDP) to GDP's disadvantage. National Commercial Bank (NCB) shows in a report that the majority of GCC businesses, especially SMEs, demonstrate low efficiency, low growth, little innovation and weak management.

Read more on: http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/challenge-of-entrepreneurship-in...

In accordance with his tendency to use his fortune to solve global problems of the world’s underprivileged, Bill Gates has turned to Islamic Development Bank (IDB). The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has signed an MOU with IDB which aims to fight communicable disease and food insecurity in poor countries. In a five-year plan established by the MOU, projects concerning agricultural development, malaria prevention and elimination as well as polio eradication will be worked on. Third World countries included in the plan are Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.

Read more on: http://www.theislamicglobe.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article...

Event marks opening of world’s first global Islamic asset manager

Riyadh, 8 October 2012: The Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Riyadh will be the site of the grand opening launch ceremonies for Safa Investment Services on 8 October 2012. The event will include presentations from leading specialists in Saudi banking and finance.

Safa Investment Services is the newest part of the growing financial market activities at The Investor for Securities (“The Investor”), a CMA-licensed investment company founded in 2007 in Riyadh. Over the last two years The Investor has become what is considered the most profitable investment company in Saudi Arabia, with now over $1 billion in total Assets Under Management (“AUM”).

After a ranking of the top 50 banks in the Middle East by assets for the period H1 2011 it became clear that Saudi banks are leaders in profitability. Throughout the period they have been maintaining strong asset quality and adapting adequate lending practices and underwriting standards. As the main reason for the success of Saudi banks the traditional conservative fiscal polices together with the billion-dollar government budget are pointed out.

More on: http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20...

The Savola Group will be host to the second meeting of the GCC "Board Directors Institute" (BDI) GCC Roadshow programme in Riyadh. The leading topic of the event is the importance of corporate governance and the effectiveness of Board of directors, which kicked off in May in Manama, Bahrain. The purpose of the roadshow is to promote healthy communication among BDI members in order to to share ideas and best practices.

More on: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-savola-group-hosts-the-second-bdi-m...

Saudi Arabia boasts with good news: home lending is growing rapidly in the second quarter of this year, faster than during any period in the last over four years. This is an indication that banks are open and willing to take risk as the nation's mortgage law comes into effect. Central bank data show an increase in the mortgage lending to 48 billion riyals (US$12.8 billion) which constitutes 83%. Copmared to this, the increase for the same period in UAE was lower than 1% and 34% in Qatar.

More on: http://www.irealtytimes.com/articles/2781/20120917/middle-east-real-esta...

Baker & McKenzie assisted Saudi Binladin Group with a SAR 1,000,000,000 short term sukuk al murabaha. The sukuk was issued by SBG Sukuk Limited as an exempt offering in Saudi Arabia. The sole Lead Manager in relation to the transaction is HSBC Saudi Arabia.

More on: http://www.zawya.com/story/Baker__McKenzie_act_for_Saudi_Binladin_Group_...

According ot a report by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, a trend to develop and globalize the sukuk market is being set. Since conventional banks worldwide tend to producing fewer and shorter loans, companies look for an alternative in terms of financing. In this case, it is very probable that Islamic financial instruments become a significant source of funding, particularly in the GCC and Asia. While these regions mark the center of a huge estimated $1 trillion market, they also need high capital for developing their infrastructure.

Capital Market Authority (CMA) of Saudi Arabia issued a strongly worded warning towards companies that operate without a license, thus surprising many people in the Gulf region. In the warning notice CMA states that non-licensed operations will be sanctioned since they are considered violating the relevant provisions of the capital market law and its implementing regulations. The problem that rises from this warning is obtaining a licence to operate in Saudi Arabia. For this purpose, an office and a minimum number of staff are required.

Saudi Automotive Services' shares decreased by 0.50% to SR19.95. The company announced that it signed up for a SR255m Islamic credit facility with Banque Saudi Fransi. The financial means will flow into the realization of expansion plans.

Saudi Arabia has recently introduced several reforms which shall lead to greater certainty and predictability on the market. Due to them, several new committees shall be created with aim to restructure the Saudi Arabian judiciary system and make the decision-making system more clear. The duration of banking disputes has been limited to five years after the date of knowing the incident that gave rise to the dispute.

Islamic lending companies from Dubai’s DIFC Investments LLC to Saudi Arabia’s Etihad Etisalat take advantage of falling borrowing costs. As a result, Islamic syndicated lending in Europe, the Middle East and Africa rose to a four-year high this year. Shariah-compliant transactions this year are as high as $8.37 billion (Dh30.74 billion). The largest share belongs to Etihad Etisalat and is worth 10 billion-riyal ($2.67 billion). This year’s lending is over $3 billion higher than last year's.

Political, humanitarian and financial aid to the victims of violence in northwest Myanmar is being organized by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. According to Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the dimensions of the violent conflict between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingyas are hardly known. Therefore, the call for help including housing, food, medical help and political support must be answered.

Islamic Development Bank (IDB), based in Jeddah, is willing to spend almost $1 Billion USD for development projects in a number of countries. The sum of $912.8 million USD will be used for projects regarding water, energy, food and security in countries in Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.

At the 12th meeting of the Centennial Fund's board of trustees works of the fund and a strategic plan until the year 2020 were revisited. The goal of the plan is to boost small and medium enterprises (SMEs). A large number of projects will receive money from the fund. The new strategy also aims to increase the amount of jobs and to fight poverty and unemployment.

S&P Indices made an anouncement that a new Index will be launched due to increase in the demand for a shariah-compliant benchmark in Islamic countries. The new S&P/OIC COMCEC 50 Shariah Index will measure the performance of 50 leading Shariah-compliant companies from members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Eligible countries and territories for the Index are: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Morocco, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

Capital Intelligence (CI), the international credit rating agency, announced that it has affirmed the ratings of Bank AlJazira (BAJ), based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The Bank's successful development of itsnew markets in terms of loans and deposits, its continually improving asset quality and its improved capital profile supports the Financial Strength Rating of 'BBB'. Moreover, the factors mentioned above affirm the Long-Term Foreign Currency Rating at 'BBB+' and the Short-Term Foreign Currency Rating at 'A2'.

The third annual Invesco Middle East Asset Management Study shows that strong corporate returns are constraining the flow of year-on-year capital within family offices in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) from ­personal assets to corporate (family business) assets.
Two-fifths (40%) of family offices interviewed noted a strong shift from personal to corporate assets. Moreover, high net-worth assets in the Middle East account for nearly 4% of the global high-net-worth asset pool.

Temenos revealed that United Installment Sales Co. Ltd. (UIS) and Lexus & Daihatsu in Saudi Arabia, has signed an agreement to utilise Temenos’ market leading core banking solution, T24, for its Islamic Real Estate Financing & Vehicle Leasing transactions.
The latest version of T24 contains significant enhancements that allow Temenos to improve its Islamic Banking offering, including Sharia-compliant automated workflows, permitting Islamic Banks to streamline processes such as booking Murabaha, Mudaraba, Istisnaa or Ijara contracts with enhanced operational efficiency.