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Industry experts and analysts said Abu Dhabi World Financial Market (ADWFM) and Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) will complement each other in attracting investments to the UAE. The focus of the ADWFM will be on energy, oil and gas, renewable energy, carbon credits and other new products, benefitting from the fragile recovery in the USA and European markets. Abu Dhabi will differentiate this centre in terms of capabilities in annual operational costs, prompting businesses from the region and from the EU and US to invest in the UAE market.Both DIFC and ADWFM will be housing regional headquarters for many of the world’s biggest banks and finance firms as well as energy companies. The ADWFM will have a positive impact on the UAE economy regarding per capita income and unemployment.

Liquidity Management Centre (LCM) has announced its results for the first quarter ended 31st March 2013. The insitution recorded a net profit of USD 1.427 million compared to a net profit of USD 0.511 million for the same period of the year 2012 resulting in a 179.25% increase in the net profit. The average interbank rate remains below 0.5%. Moreover, the total operating income recorded an amount of USD 3.181 million in comparison to USD 1.958 million for the same period in 2012. The positive results were due to various advisory services provided for transactions for Islamic Banks and corporations in the region and a portfolio of Sukuk and equities with a diversified investment approach. The Bank's balance sheet witnessed significant improvement in quality and liquidity. Furthermore, the Shareholders' equity increased by 2.7% during the same period.

The event to support "Generation F" on Tuesday 16 April at Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) saw a collection of 70 Kuwaiti female oil and gas professionals congregate to develop their financial skills necessary for smart wealth preservation. London-based Gatehouse Bank participated in the workshop. The company has a history of supporting Arab women through education. Encouraging female financial literacy and supporting the development of the financial skills necessary for long term wealth preservation is a core objective for the Bank. According to Vice President Ms Azeemeh Zaheer, Gatehouse Bank works with women on education programmes to demystify the financial markets, enabling women to make their own decisions about how to build and diversify their investment portfolios in the best possible way.

Global Banking and Finance Review has announced Medgulf Allianz Takaful BSC (c) as the winner of the award 'Best Bancassurance Distribution Network Bahrain 2013'. The award honours the company's distribution network and regional presence. Medgulf Allianz Takaful was selected by the judging panel of Global Banking & Finance Review considering quality, performance and community commitment.

London-based Gatehouse Bank plc (Gatehouse) has announced that its associate has successfully completed the sale of a real estate investment located in San Francisco's South Financial District in California. The total amount of the sale reached $71m (£46.4m), which yielded a profit on equity of 100% post costs and taxes. This real estate investment consists of two office buildings situated on a 15,306 sq ft parcel of land and is adjacent to the proposed Transbay Redevelopment Project. Gatehouse Bank and its associate were assisted by Arch Street Capital Advisors, L.L.C. and SKS Investments in this transaction.

The constant growth in global sukuk issuance is not necessarily a sign of healthy development for the Islamic finance industry, for three reasons. Although at first sight, it appears that sukuk issuers have the necessary internal fund resources to finance their investment projects, the massive sukuk issuance actually evidences the fact that many of them are facing a shortage of liquidity. The second reason is that 95% of the sukuk issued recently are non asset-based sukuk and thus regarded as unsecured debt. As such, they are identical to conventional bonds in terms of credit risk. Furthermore, a considerable part of the issued sukuk don't comply fully with Shariah guidelines and close monitoring is still absent. There is a need to rethink the entire sukuk industry in order to tend towards more Shariah compliance and mitigate the adverse economic risks associated with the current trend.

Saudi's Bank Aljazira has gotten the approval to sell shares in its insurance unit Aljazira Takaful Taawuni Co. The unit will offer 10.5 million shares at 10 riyals per share in IPO. Bank Aljazira plans to own 30 percent in the new firm. The new firm is to have capital of 350 mln riyals.

Independent consulting firm CSR Lebanon held the 3rd CSR Lebanon Forum on March 18 and 19 entitled "Corporate Social Responsibility in Times of Uncertainty". The fórum was attended by more than 500 leaders from the business community, government, civil society and academia. Among them, there were 30 international, regional and local corporate sustainability experts, along with chief representatives from the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). All speakers and international representatives provided business cases which Lebanon can build upon to promote responsible business practices and transparent sustainability reporting.

Qatar is set to become a "key international distribution hub" for Shariah-compliant products. While infrastructure projects will feed new alternative fund structures and boost public-private partnerships, Qatar also has a long-term interest in developing as a centre for Islamic finance, The position of Islamic finance in Qatar, according to Mena Asset Management Barometer, bodes well for the future, as demand for Shariah-compliant products grows. Qatar is ranked first in Mena and the second globally in terms of opportunities for infrastructure investments. The country has outlined public investment plans worth $95bn over five years to 2016, as it prepares to host the 2022 World Cup.

The Council of the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) has yesterday resolved to admit sevenorganisations into the IFSB membership. The newly admitted Associate Members are Indonesia Deposit Insurance Corporation, Banque Centrale Des Etats de L'afrique de L'ouest (Senegal), and the Central Bank of Tunisia. New Observer Members are SAB (France), Finance Accreditation Agency Berhad (Malaysia), RAM Rating Services Berhad (Malaysia) and Fajr Capital Limited (UAE). Consequently, the IFSB comprises now 187 members, consisting of supervisory and regulatory authorities, as well as international inter-governmental organisations, and market players.

Since the IMF deal might fail, Plan B could be the issuance of US$-denominated sukuk certificates to local Banks in turn for EGPC rights in upcoming oil/gas fields. This will be akin to monetizing production sharing rights owned by EGPC. This alternative will still require aggressive reduction in energy subsidies to ensure repayment of sukuk liabilities as they come due. The two prerequisites of Plan B success are 1) stability in the movement of FC customer deposits and 2) execution of energy sector reforms . Both actors ultimately hinge on political reconciliation.

Sharjah Islamic Bank (SIB) will issue a $500 million five-year sukuk on Tuesday after strong demand helped the lender to set price guidance at lower end of initial indications. Lead arrangers released official price guidance at 3.125 percent. The sukuk has attracted strong demand, with order books seen over $2 billion at the time official guidance was released. The deal size has been capped at $500 million. Abu Dhabi's Al Hilal Bank, HSBC Holdings, Kuwait's Liquidity Management House, a unit of KFH and Standard Chartered Plc are mandated lead arrangers on the sukuk.

President Mohamed Morsi has referred a controversial draft law on Islamic sukuk bonds to Al-Azhar for approval. The Shura Council approved the sukuk bond law last week, stating that it would not refer the bill to Al-Azhar for approval and sending it direct to president Morsi. The law allows the state and its related entities to issue Sharia-compliant debt both locally and internationally. The Ministry of Finance expects the first sukuk issue to take place within a couple of months and to yield $1 billion by June.

Qatar's QInvest announced the launch of the QInvest Managed Account Platform (QMAP). QMAP is the world's first open architecture Sharia'a compliant managed account platform. It provides investors with the opportunity to select from a range of funds that are managed by professional teams. At QInvest 's Annual General Assembly, H.E. Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jaber Al Thani, QInvest 's Chairman, informed shareholders about the launch of the account platform that allows shareholders and investors to invest in asset classes such as mutual funds and hedge funds, managed by globally recognized investment managers.

By the end of this year, the Islamic Economy Higher Committee will come out with a unified Islamic legislation to help encourage and support Islamic products in the emirate. The committee will also work on creating bodies or committees authorised to certify and check on the Islamic products. However this will be left optional, the Committee’s member and Director General of Dubai Department of Economic Development, Sami Al Qamzi said.

Islamic banking assets with commercial banks in the GCC grew by 14 percent in 2012, conventional banking assets grew by only 8.1 percent -- indicating the relative resilience and potential of the industry. Qatar was reportedly the fastest growing market where Islamic banking assets are expected to have grown by more than 23 percent during 2012. The outlook for the Islamic banking industry in the GCC is positive. However, Islamic banks remain technologically disadvantaged as software systems are primarily designed for conventional banking. Global Islamic banking assets with commercial banks are now at $ 1.55 trillion at end of 2012 and projected to exceed $ 2 trillion by 2015.

Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD) has launched the syndication of its new $2 billion conventional and Islamic financing facilities. The purpose of the facilities is to refinance the $2 billion five year tranche of the original $6 billion three and five year facilities signed on August 21, 2008. The new facilities will have a tenor of five years. The $4 billion tranche which was due in August 2011 was repaid in full. ICD will be hosting a bank meeting in Dubai during the week commencing March 24, 2013.

Tarek Ali Fadaak, a member of the Shoura Council, said the Kingdom is in need of 143,000 housing units annually. He commended the "constructive steps" taken to end the housing problem with the 500,000-unit free housing project and the adoption of a housing strategy that seeks to facilitate every citizen owning a house, in addition to the launch of the mortgage law and the Real Estate Development Fund facility. By contrast, Tunisia's Housing Minister Shahida Faraj Bouraoui said that the Tunisian government's efforts in the housing sector focuses on encouraging private companies to invest in the housing sector. Jaime Lerner, former governor of the state of Parana, Brazil, warned decision makers that their housing strategies should consider people's tastes.

Morocco's central bank has started talks with a body of Islamic scholars on establishing a central sharia board to oversee the country's fledgling Islamic finance industry. The board, composed of scholars and financial experts, would rule on whether instruments and activities complied with sharia principles. Moreover, the government plans to submit to parliament a bill regulating Islamic banks, which will be called participative banks under the legislation. Parliament's vote is expected by the last week of April.

Kuwait Intl Bk is planning to swap its 8.56% Stake in Warba for 33.6% of Islamic Insurer Ritaj Takaful Insurance Co. The Islamic commercial bank said in a statement posted on the Kuwait bourse website on Wednesday that it has decided to exit its interest in Warba.