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In some countries such as Indonesia, creating shariah-compliant insurance products can touch the lower middle income people. However, awareness for micro insurance, in general, and Islamic micro insurance in particular is still very low. This will affect SME's decision to buy Takaful products, although the affordable premiums and significant benefit are the main determinant of preference between conventional insurance and Islamic insurance. In order to rise the awareness of Islamic micro insurance among BMT and insurance companies, the Islamic Economic Society (MES) held business matching events which were attended by dozens of BMT. Through these efforts, MES hopes to lead Indonesian BMT opinion that Islamic micro insurance is very important as one of the risk mitigation strategy for business customers.

The volume of finance provided by Saudi banks to Kafala-supported small and medium enterprises (SMEs) grew by 28 percent to SR 571.8m in the first quarter of 2014 compared to SR 448.3m in the same period last year. The Kafala Program, meanwhile, issued 652 guarantees for SME projects in Q1, an increase of 34 percent compared to Q1 last year. The value of those guarantees stood at SR 311.6 million. The National Commercial Bank ( NCB ) ranked top supporter to the Kafala Program during the first quarter of the year at 36 percent of the total guarantees, followed by Riyad Bank (22 percent), Rajhi Bank (17 percent), Saudi Hollandi Bank and Samba Financial Group (5 percent for each), whereas the remaining 15 percent of finance went to other banks.

DAMAC Hotels, the hospitality arm of DAMAC Properties , has officially launched the first fully certified Sharia-Compliant serviced hotel apartments in Dubai during the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) Exhibition. Constella is a luxury tower under construction in the thriving community of Jumeirah Village. The full management of the project will be carried out on Sharia principles which results in the issuing of a Sharia Certification by 'Dar Al Sharia'. Constella will have separate swimming pools, gymnasiums and saunas for men and women. The restaurant will also have a single section for men and separate family section. There will be dedicated floors provided for ladies that will be served by female only staff. In addition, Constella will also fully comply to Islamic financing principles, with all funds for the project managed by an Islamic Bank.

In some countries such as Indonesia, creating shariah-compliant insurance products for the lower middle income people is a necessity that slowly started to gain attention and priority. Awareness for micro insurance, in general, and Islamic micro insurance in particular is still very low. This will affect SME's decision to buy Takaful products. In order to integrate equation viewpoint of Islamic micro insurance between BMT and insurance companies, the Islamic Economic Society (MES) actively held business matching events which were attended by dozens of BMT. Through these efforts, MES hopes to make Indonesian BMT aware that Islamic micro insurance is very important as a risk mitigation strategy for business customers.

The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector ( ICD ) together with Al-Nouran Multitrading (ANM), Egypt's private sector sugar trading house, have announced the signing of the Islamic Senior, Mezzanine and Working Capital Facilities Agreements for a new mega sugar production facility in Al-Sharkia Governorate. A total of $372 million will be invested into building this facility, which is expected to produce and refine more than 500,000 metric tons of sugar annually. ICD supported the project by a package including equity investment, mezzanine financing and standby
guarantees of up to $46 million. Further, ICD played a key role in arranging and structuring equity investment and mezzanine financing as well as supported ANM in negotiating and closing remaining financing package.

Pak-Qatar Takaful Group recorded a strong growth with a combined turnover of Rs5.5bn ($54m) for the year ended December 31, 2013. The Group made a profit of Rs74m ($0.7m) during the year. Pak-Qatar Takaful Group, which comprises of Family Takaful and General Takaful, reviewed and approved the financial statements of Pak-Qatar Family Takaful and Pak-Qatar General Takaful for the year during the group's board meeting held recently in Doha. The company's paid-up capital is in excess of Rs710m, with credit rating of 'A' (Stable Outlook) by JCR-VIS Credit Rating Co Ltd.Pak-Qatar Family is recipient of several domestic and international awards and nominations.

The General Assembly of the Arab Orient Takaful Insurance Company approved to surge its capital to become EGP77.330 million, through pumping EGP12.330 million which started from April17 2014. Mohamed Akef, deputy executive director of financial and administrative affairs said that the Assembly decided financing the increase of cash distributions to shareholders, noting Arab Orient pumped EGP15 million at the end of the last year. The Extraordinary General Assembly agreed to move the company's main headquarters to El-Manial instead of Masr El Gedida (Heliopolis) starting next May, pointing out that the members, shareholders and representatives from the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) have attended the two assemblies.

Ajman Bank has signed a strategic alliance with Al Ramz Capital, aiming to provide Ajman Bank customers with the services to trade in the UAE's stock market. The alliance has been officially signed by Mr. Mohamed Abdulrahman Amiri, Ajman Bank 's CEO and Mr. Mohammad Murtada Al Dandashi, Partner and Managing Director, Al Ramz Capital. Ajman Bank has launched a share finance product to invest in the UAE's financial markets based on Murabah. This product will double the investors purchasing power in the financial market by offering finance amount equivalent to the market value of the client's stock portfolio. Customers will be also able to trade with their own shares in addition to the finance provided by the bank.

King & Spalding advised Turkiye Finans Katilim Bankasi A.S. in relation to the issuance of US$500 million senior unsecured certificates due 2019, listed on the Irish Stock Exchange. The certificates are issued through TF Varlik Kiralama A.S., a Turkish incorporated asset leasing company. Rizwan H. Kanji led the team handling the Turkiye Finans issuance. He was assisted by senior associate Lidia Kamleh. The joint lead managers on the transaction were Citigroup Global Markets Limited, EmiratesNBD, HSBC and QInvest. Co-managers Dubai Islamic Bank and Commercial Bank International were advised by Clifford Chance LLP.

A meeting of the 58th session of the Permanent Council of the Islamic Solidarity Fund of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation reviewed the current financial situation of the Fund and the projects it is executing for member states and Muslim communities in non-OIC member states. OIC Secretary General Iyad Ameen Madani called for the mobilization of support for the ISF to overcome the limitation of resources in the face of growing needs, adding that many humanitarian issues were awaiting the attention of the Fund. He called for the establishment of a work group to identify projects for the ISF and unify efforts. The ISF has so far built 2,418 projects at a cost of $207 million in 130 countries throughout the world.

The Deloitte Islamic Finance Knowledge Center (IFKC) in the Middle East and the Islamic Research & Training Institute (IRTI) held on March 27, 2014 the "Restructuring Sukuk- the Islamic Way" workshop in Dubai, the first of a series of executive workshops targeting industry practitioners, investors and issuers. The event tackled the Sukuk market trends and the key Sharia' and regulatory considerations for restructuring activities. The participants discussed actual restructuring case studies with analysis of risks associated with transactions and lessons learned. The event also provided practitioners the opportunity to hear different perspectives in discussions facilitated by leaders from Deloitte, DFSA , IDB Group , Islamic International Rating Agency, FWU Global Takaful, and Clifford Chance .

The Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) successfully organised the 6th IFSB Seminar on Legal Issues in the Islamic Financial Services Industry (IFSI), themed "Innovation in Sukuk Securitisation and Islamic Hedging Instruments: Developments and Challenges" on 25 March 2014 in Brunei Darussalam. This Seminar is a part of the IFSB seminar series on legal issues in the Islamic financial services industry. Speakers shared their insights on the legal challenges faced by asset securitisation and Sukuk structuring. Moreover, discussions focused on the need for establishing international standards governing transactions of Islamic hedging instruments in order to reduce the legal uncertainty. In the last session, speakers discussed the Shari`ah governance structure and the role of Shari`ah supervisory boards in assisting the innovation and development of these evolving markets.

BLME, Europe's largest Islamic bank, has been selected to co-lead the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) US$1.5 billion five-year Sukuk. The bank's representative office in Dubai was appointed in to handle the issuance. DB Sukuk is the largest ever Islamic bond issued from the AAA rated supranational lender in 2014. It is also the largest Sukuk issuance BLME has been appointed to act as co-lead manager on to date. The IDB issued 16 Sukuk in London since 2005 which raised around US$7 billion. It has a US$ 313 million programme listed in Malaysia and has raised 700 million ringgit since 2008 via three Sukuk. BLME listed on NASDAQ Dubai in October 2013, and announced a strong performance for the full year on 3rdMarch 2014.

Qatar-based Islamic Holding Group reported a net profit of QR2.96bn for the first quarter of 2014, up 40 percent compared to QR2.11bn in the corresponding period in 2013. Dr Yousef Ahmed Al Neamah, Chairman and Managing Director of the group, said during a meeting of the board of directors that these positive results are an indicator of growth potential. He added that there was a sense of optimism, especially at the Qatar Exchange. The group seeks to discover new opportunities for investment, achieving better growth and adequate return for the shareholders.

Islamic banking in Oman is growing at a slower pace than expected and requires new legislation and stronger public awareness of the industry to flourish, Bank Nizwa CEO Jamil El Jaroudi said. He added that there is also a skills shortage in the Omani market. The legal and regulatory framework in Oman supports the launch of the Islamic banking industry but further development of legislature is needed for the sector to mature. Bank Nizwa, Oman's first independent Islamic bank, started operations in January 2013 and raised OMR 60 million in an initial public offering of 40% of its shares in May 2013. Jaroudi said the bank had no plans to issue new sukuk, or Islamic bonds. He said the bank planned to launch Internet banking services and other shariah-compliant products.

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has approved $515.6 million to fund several socioeconomic development projects. The funds consist of $490 million for the energy sector, divided into $220 million for a power plant project in Pakistan, $90 million for a similar project in Morocco, $83.4 million in Senegal, $60 million for power plant expansion in Mauritania, and $36 million for rural electrification project phase II in Cameroon. The education sector received $17.8 million consisting of $7.5 million for a project in Burkina Faso, and $10.27 million for Suriname. In the transport sector, the Board approved a $6 million technical assistance loan to the Republic of Niger. IDBs Waqf Fund had approved $780,000 as a grant for Muslim communities in non-member countries for educational projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, India and Malawi.

Companies in the UAE will require a lot more than 8,000 new employees trained in Islamic finance next year as Dubai positions itself as the capital of the $8 trillion Islamic economy. The bulk of the additional manpower will be required by banks offering Sharia-compliant products and services. Recruiters in the UAE are already seeing a 50 per cent growth in demand for candidates with Islamic finance experience. Many companies are currently looking to fill positions across all levels, from relationship management, project management to risk management and marketing. The talent shortage can be addressed by utilising the existing pool of professionals working in banks and financial services firms, and providing them with Islamic finance training.

According to the GCC Wealth Insight Report 2014 by Emirates Investment Bank (EIB), 59 per cent of the GCC millionaires prefer a local bank to help them manage their money. 38 per cent of the respondents cited perceived security and trust as the main reasons for their preference. Nearly three in ten (28 per cent) said they believe local banks have a better understanding of the local regulations or the market. When choosing a bank to manage their money, the millionaires consider an institution’s level of service, brand and reputation and fees before making a decision.

Abu Dhabi-based Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC) received cash injection of over Dh2 billion from the government in 2013, Fitch Ratings said. The state has consistently provided TDIC with substantial direct financial support, including the provision of free land, recognised by TDIC as equity contributions. In 2013, the government provided cash contribution of more than Dh2bn, according to the ratings agency. Fitch also affirmed TDIC rating with stable outlook. The ratings are aligned with the Abu Dhabi sovereign (AA/Stable/F1+), reflecting strong ties with the sovereign. Fitch said TDIC is unaffected by the emirate's recently approved public debt policy.

Jamal Darwiche, acting CEO of alizz islamic bank, has resigned from his position for personal reasons. The bank said that the board is engaged in filling this role permanently, but added that Saif al Yarubi will take on this responsibility during the interim period. Before joining alizz islamic bank in July 2012, Darwiche held the position of chief operating officer and general manager of retail banking at Masraf Al Rayan Bank in Qatar. Saif al Yarubi was appointed as chief financial officer at alizz islamic bank in September 2013. He joined alizz islamic bank after serving five years as finance director at Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD).