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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.

As Islamic finance is growing very rapidly in the United States, the US-based Florentez Investment Management Inc. (ShariahShares ETF) is set to launch a family of Shariah-compliant exchange traded funds (ETFs) on the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange).

The Islamic Financial Services Board has issued a guideline to credit rating agencies on how to recognise, and classify or treat the Islamic products.

Press Release

The report provides investors with an in-depth overview of the various asset classes in Islamic wealth management along with a synopsis of the market scenario during the past 18 months. The report also explores the concept of estate and succession planning, which Sarasin believes is insufficiently addressed in the Islamic finance industry and is a key element of Sarasin’s Islamic wealth management offering. Finally, the report provides an insight into the bank’s economic outlook for 2010.

The key issues and challenges addressed in the report are:

• how Sharia screening reduced the downside in volatile markets and how it affects the finance industry and investors,
• the behaviour of direct real estate investments in comparison with real estate funds and Sharia-compliant real estate investment trusts,
• the income-related role of Sukuk within Islamic balanced portfolios and the probability of defaults,
• a comparison between various Islamic investment funds ranging from income-oriented to commodity, real estate and equity funds,
• the size and future of the Islamic private equity and venture capital industry,
  

Allianz Takaful is in talks with a regional Islamic institution, urging it to issue a sukuk bond earmarked for the industry, as it struggles to find long term issues in the market, its chief executive said. It has been difficult for takaful - or sharia compliant - insurers to sell products like annuities and pension plans because of the lack of long term Islamic bonds to match such liabilities.

Deutsche Bank expects to bring to the market a "major" Islamic bond in Saudi Arabia by the end of the first quarter, as part of a wider push into the world's largest oil exporter, a company executive said on Tuesday.

The limited number of Sharia scholars has meant the same group of men are on various advisory boards which has led to criticism that people can go “fatwa shopping” and that scholars are in it for the money. Not so, says Harris Irfan, head of Islamic products at Barclays Capital.

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.

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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

Saudi Arabian Oil Co. or Aramco, the world’s biggest crude producer, and Total SA hired Deutsche Bank AG, Samba Financial Group and Calyon to sell and manage the mainly domestic bond sale, to help fund the construction of a $12 billion oil refinery.

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

A discussion was held between Mr. Peter Casey, Director, Policy & Head of Islamic Finance for the Dubai Financial Services Authority, or DFSA); Dr. Hussein Hamid Hasan (appearing in his private capacity) and Mr. Muddassir Siddiqui, who also heads the Islamic finance Middle East practice for the law firm of Denton, Wilde & Sapte; Messrs. Jawad A. Ali of King & Spalding; Michael J.T. McMillen of Fulbright & Jaworski; Anzal Mohammed of Allen & Overy; and Richard O’Callaghan of Linklaters and Ms. Shaheen Pasha, a Reuters Islamic finance journalist. The session was moderated by Westlaw's Business Legal Editor Jack Bunker.

The panel discussed on the following:
i) the Dubai World restructuring; and
ii) the underlying Nakheel sukuk.

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

The Kazakh city of Almaty will host an international conference on development of Islamic finance in the Commonwealth of Independent States, Azerbaijan's news agency AzerTac reported Friday.