IslamicFinance.de

The IFSB said the National Bank of Tajikistan, Prudential Hong Kong, along with Malaysia-based OCBC Al Amin Bank and the Islamic reinsurance unit of Germany's Munich Re will join as "observer" members,

The 4th executive summmary now focusses on over 220 Shariah scholars with exposure to the Gulf Cooperation
Council (GCC), including their international board memberships with 1050+ board positions in almost 300
institutions and 24 countries.

It is the single most detailed analysis on Sharia Boards and their scholars published.

Baku, Fineko/abc.az. GRBS jointly with Dar Al Istithmar, a UK-based Shari’a advisory firm and the global leader on Islamic Finance System, is to conduct "Global Islamic Finance System" Master Class in Azerbaijan for the first time.

For Immediate Release

March 8, 2010–CGAP, Deutsche Bank, Grameen-Jameel and Islamic Development Bank have joined forces to challenge the Islamic microfinance industry to develop new ideas for business models in the Islamic Microfinance Challenge 2010: Innovating Sustainable, Scalable, and Market-Driven Models. Islamic microfinance has gained some traction over the past few years, with a swift rise in the number of institutions offering microfinance products in compliance with Islamic principles. But the fundamental challenge for the Islamic microfinance industry remains meeting client demand with affordable, authentic, profitable, and market-driven products.

IslamicFinance.de has created a fanpage on Facebook - for all the users wishing to follow the news abstracts on the Facebook platform. Please join and enjoy!

The following borrowers are expected to sell Islamic bonds, which use asset returns to pay investors to comply with the religion’s ban on paying interest:

CAGAMAS BHD
LEBANON
WAHA CAPITAL PJSC
KUVEYT TURK KATILIM BANKASI AS
SAUDI ARABIAN OIL CO
LAFARGE MALAYAN CEMENT BHD
QATAR ISLAMIC BANK SAQ
PAKISTAN
TAIBA HOLDING CO
THAILAND
DEVELOPMENT BANK OF KAZAKHSTAN
KHAZANAH NASIONAL BHD

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank's (ADIB) rating at 'A+' with a Stable Outlook.

The global economy is facing a deep downturn as a result of the crisis. It was due to excessive
ability to create money and credit for earning increasing profits without creating anything of
value for use by the mankind. The system needs radical change in the approach, principles and
the operation of economic and financial systems. Creation of money, and lending it on interest –
interest based debts and financial obligations leading to undue receivables for the lenders, is
the biggest and primary problem of the conventional system. Islamic principles of finance
provide checks for the factors that have distorted the system. Enhanced supply of risk-related
capital, restricted risk taking, balanced return rate structure based on the real sector economic
activities, and supply of money commensurate with prospects of growth in an economy, provide
a sound basis for sustainable development. Hence, Islamic financial institutions and markets
have better ability to sustain in the hard times. Islamic banking industry should not only have
escaped unharmed during the crisis, it should also have availed the opportunity of developing

CGAP, Deutsche Bank, Islamic Development Bank, and Grameen-Jameel announced the Islamic Microfinance Challenge 2010: Innovating Sustainable, Scalable, and Market-Driven Models. The contest is a joint initiative to promote the innovative design of Shariah-compliant products for Islamic microfinance clients.

The organizers are seeking original Islamic microfinance business proposals which are profitable, sustainable, scalable, and Shariah-compliant. Finalists of this competition will be awarded with grant funds as well as need-based technical support to launch a pilot project of their proposed business idea.

It offers a unique opportunity to showcase innovative business ideas, gain industry-wide recognition, and benefit from the funds and technical expertise of leading institutions in the microfinance and Islamic finance sectors.

Medium-term growth prospects for the world's sukuk market are good, said Standard & Poor's Ratings Services in a report published today. In addition, we understand from unofficial market sources that about US$10 billion more could potentially enter the pipeline. If that comes to market, total sukuk issuance in 2010 could approach the current 2007 record of US$34.3 billion. The main uncertainty this year is market conditions.

The report on Social Responsibility Trends at Islamic Financial Institutions presents the results of an extensive survey on Social Responsibility at Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs) carried out during summer and fall of 2009 by DinarStandard and Dar Al Istithmar with the support of the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI).

Some key findings of the survey were:

Clients: 100% of respondents answered yes to having a policy to screen prospective clients which is actively implemented. Similarly 97% have an organizational policy that deals with client responsibly.

Employees: 83% of respondents’ state having policies that provide equal opportunity to all their employees, 93% have policies that ensures merit-based salary and promotion, and 86% having policies that specifically prohibits any kind of discrimination. However, when it comes to having policy to monitor employees from different backgrounds and gender, the response was mix with only 52% admitting to having such a monitoring policy and 48% not having any such policy.

IslamicFinance.de is calling Islamic financial institutions to become member of the UNEP Finance Inititiave to learn and contribute to international best practice in ethical and faith based finance:

"UNEP FI is a global partnership between UNEP and the financial sector. Over 180 institutions, including banks, insurers and fund managers, work with UNEP to understand the impacts of environmental and social considerations on financial performance."

membership information package:
http://www.unepfi.org/fileadmin/forms/MembershipInformationPack.pdf

Total investments in the Islamic Banking Institutions (IBIs) swelled to Rs 64.7 billion during the third quarter (July-Sept) of current calendar year 2009 as against Rs 53.5 billion in April-June this year.

PRESS RELEASE

Oak Brook, Illinois, January 13, 2010: The World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists (WCMP) expresses its utmost sorrow on the massive devastation caused by the earthquake in Haiti, a Caribbean nation suffering with utter poverty. To ensure rapid and effective response to this tragedy, we have established an emergency cell that will closely monitor and assess the situation on ground, and will serve as the bridge between the global community of donors and partner humanitarian agencies. WCMP anticipates working closely with the Organization of Islamic Conference, United Nations, Red Crescent Societies, and other reputable agencies present or familiar with the region.

WCMP urges philanthropists, foundations, and corporations in general and of Muslim world in particular to join us in this multi-partner relief effort. Please direct your communications to the following address:

WCMP- Haiti Emergency Cell
Imtiaz Khan, MD
ikhan@thewcmp.org
+1-630-242-2792

With best regards,

WCMP Secretariat

Madison-based World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) has received a $60.5 million federal contract to expand credit union services in southern and eastern Afghanistan.

The international financial services information company Thompson Reuters is planning to launch a news portal covering information about the Islamic financial industry in early 2010.

There has been a significant increase in syndication deals since the start of 2009, with a total of 36 deals announced or closed worth a cumulative total of $9.5bn. If the rest of the year continues as it started it would suggest that total Islamic syndicated loans for 2009 will end in the region of $21bn, which would be broadly in line with 2007 levels, analyses Paul McNamara from Yasaar Media.

The Zawya Collaborative Sukuk Report covers the following issues:

• What is the distribution of current and potential investors and what is their appetite?

• What is the appetite of the Supply side and what drives their need to issue?

• What are the challenges faced by the industry, what are the associated developments and what needs to be done to resolve them?

The download is free after providing contact details to Zawya:

Funds at Work, the strategy consultants analysed the Social Responsible Investment industry with their network analysis. Previously the firm did analyse the Sharia Scholars and their board positions. The report regarding the sister industry of Islamic finance can be downloaded for free.

The Financial Times produced a special looking into the Future of Islamic Finance.

The download is free of charge.