IslamicFinance.de

A study published by the Islamic Finance Advisory & Assurance Services shows that a strong appetite among Omani consumers for Islamic finance existats, with many looking forward to take it up as soon as it becomes available on the market.
The report examines the retail market for Islamic Finance in Oman across all sectors including banking, finance and insurance. As a conclusion, it seems that 85% of consumers in Oman expressed an interest in Islamic Finance products, of which 59% were very interested and 26% quite interested.

It seems that Bank Indonesia (BI) plans to launch a regulation to limit the pawning of gold at sharia banks, as most of bank customers are inclined to use the service for speculation.
Three sharia banks—Bank Syariah Mandiri, Bank Rakyat Indonesia Syariah and Bank Negara Indonesia Syariah—want to end their gold-pawning services following the central bank’s move, being aware of the risks pawning gold carries.
The central bank’s new regulations will influence 137,272 customers who hold sharia pawning accounts.

Developer Nakheel has negotiated contractor demand worth Dh1 billion so far and hopes to launch the second tranche of its Islamic bond within the next six months. This statement came from Ali Rashid Lootah, its chairman.

The 18th Shariah Supervisory Board meeting of Meezan Bank Limited took place at the Darul Uloom Korangi on 5th january.
Shariah Board stated performance and growth of the bank and expressed satisfaction with the Shariah-conformity of the bank's products and overall business and transactions. The statement added that several important matters containing the proposal for an Ijarah-based financing product for manufacturing companies of the SME sector and the establishment of an Islamic Counter at the Karachi Stock exchange were reviewed by the Shariah Board.

European Islamic Investment Bank is going to invest $16 million over 12 months in Rasmala Holdings Ltd through a financing facility convertible into shares representing about 35% of the group's enlarged capital.
Rasmala chairman Ali Shihabi stated that Rasmala chief executive Anwar Abu Sbaitan would continue in that role.

UM Financial came up for Canada’s 1.3 million Muslims with mortgages that don’t charge interest. But its failure last year has started a dangerous debate about whether Islamic banking should be banned, or whether it’s still a potentially lucrative industry in need of better regulation.
Mortgages with UM Financial were set up so that lender and borrower byed the house together. The homebuyer pays rent to the mortgage issuer, while gradually buying off the outstanding share of the property. After it is fully paid, ownership is transferred to the borrower.
Although UM’s troubles were many, for Islamic finance they probably won’t be the last word on a system that will remain in demand with a growing part of the population.

Following the failure of the company to supply details on how it plans to repay $1 billion of sukuk maturing in October, Dana Gas Islamic bonds surged to a record.
Dana Gas shares fell 2.2 per cent, the most in more than a week.
It seems that the company's board considered updates on its stake in Mol Nyrt as well as on financing projects in Egypt and the UAE.

The Autoriti Brunei Darussalam (AMBD) has revealed the successful pricing of $100 million worth of sukuk or Islamic bonds. This will carry a maturity of 91 days that will end on 8 March 2012.
The latest issuance of the securities have a rental rate of 0.17 per cent.

While uncertainty continues to agitate global markets, driving many investors into full retreat, one part of the financial sector is developing exponentially and that is the Islamic-law-compliant financial assets.
This asset class, which is distinguished by shared risk between institutions and clients, avoided many of the most severe consequences of the global financial crisis.
The fact that Islamic finance gives priority to asset-backing, thereby ensuring a direct link between financial transactions and real economic activities and the fact that lenders and borrowers share risks and rewards, has helped Islamic financial institutions to remain stable.

It's time to apply for the 2013 Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship. The application process for the 2013 Skoll Awards is open until March 1, 2012.
The Skoll Award consists of a core support grant to the organization, to be paid over three years, and a noncash award to the social entrepreneur presented at the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship in the spring.

Some customers of commercial banks’ Islamic windows have switched their accounts to conventional operations of these very banks.
After a talk with local banks, The Peninsula has found out that more or less all the banks have decided to change the Islamic branches into conventional ones to retain the assets, staffs and the valued customers.
With an delusion of Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) acquiring IBQ’s Islamic banking corporate portfolio (Al Yusr) and Barwa bank procuring the retail operations, the rest of the banks have decided not to sell out their branches.

According to an interview with the CEO of Qatar Islamic Bank the bank signed with Banque Populaire Caisse d’Epargne an agreement to establish the first Islamic bank in France 2012.

The source is not confirmed by other media and similar news appeared in 2011 before.

The 1st Ernst & Young World Islamic Banking Competitiveness Report 2011 presented at the 18th Annual World Islamic Banking Conference stated that Islamic banking assets with commercial banks globally will reach US$1.1 trillion in 2012, a significant jump of 33% from their 2010 level of US$826 billion. In the MENA region, Islamic banking assets increased to US$416 billion in 2010, representing a five year CAGR of 20% compared to less than 9% for conventional banks. As new geographies open up to Islamic banking, the MENA Islamic banking industry is expected to more than double to US$990 billion by 2015.

Sheikh Salem Abdul Aziz Al-Sabah, governor of the Central Bank of Kuwait, chairman of the board of directors of the Kuwait Institute of Banking Studies (IBS), noted that the Kuwait IBS will work with Harvard Business School for the third year in a row to offer an executive education program for banking and finance executives in the GCC (gulf Cooperation Council) region.
Al-Sabah underlined the fact that the program is one of the strategic developmental projects the banking sector is following, conducted by the Central Bank of Kuwait, organized by the IBS and financed by the IBS member banks - Central Bank of Kuwait, National Bank of Kuwait, Gulf Bank, Commercial Bank of Kuwait, Burgan Bank, Al-Ahli Bank of Kuwait, Ahli United Bank, Kuwait International Bank, Industrial Bank of Kuwait and Boubyan Bank.

Allianz SE is searching to further develop its takaful, or Islam-compliant insurance, in the Asia-Pacific region, using its experience in Indonesia where it sees substantial market demand for comprehensive and affordable plans.
Kamesh Goyal, regional chief executive of Allianz Insurance Management in the Asia-Pacific, stated the fact that they are watching Malaysia very closely and would be ready to include takaful in their portfolio when the opportunity comes.

The World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists (WCMP) and Pakistan’s Islamic microfinance institution Farz Foundation have signed a Memorandum of Understanding. The foundation and the WCMP will cooperate in developing Shari’ah-compliant product based on need and innovation. WCMP will copy Farz methodology in Pakistan and outside, especially in the less developed Muslim countries.
Farz Foundation represents Pakistan’s first Shari’ah-compliant Islamic microfinance institution.

Africa is mooving its economic attention away from the west to the Middle East and Asia as a primary source of capital raising. This shift in alignment partially explains the expected launch of a number of Sukuk across the continent in 2012.
Countries that have announced sovereign Sukuk to raise capital for their budgets are: South Africa, Senegal, Nigeria and Kenya. This move is especially welcomed by sovereign wealth and Islamic finance institutions - especially in the GCC.

The deadline for financial institutions to submit proposals for advising the South African government on the structuring and issuance of its debut sovereign Sukuk will expire on Dec. 21.
Shortlisted candidates will be informed by Jan. 20, 2012, which means that the global mandate may take a few more months to be launched. Taking into account the structuring of the issuance, the documentation and the investor road shows, realistically, the South African debut benchmark issuance may only happen by the middle of 2012. The only one who can speed up the process is the South African National Treasury in Pretoria.
According to an official statement, the request for proposals is in line with the National Treasury's intention to mix up its funding and investor base.

It seems that, even after his retirement, Mahathir Mohamed, the former Malaysian prime minister, is still giving advice whether on the global financial crisis, on the future of the Islamic banking industry, on the Islamic gold dinar, on the future of US dollar as an international trading currency, or on his celebrated spat with arch speculator and fund manager, George Soros, in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis in 1998.
Mahathir noted in an exclusive interview that the Islamic banking industry should learn from the mistakes of conventional banking if the same fate is wished to be avoided. He is convinced that the Islamic system for economic and financial management has something to offer to the world and therefor encourages countries to resort more to using Islamic finance in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

Islamic Banking Department was set up in Pakistan on 15th September, 2003 and has been authorized with the task of promoting & developing the Shariah Compliant Islamic Banking as a parallel and compatible banking system in the country. Islamic Banking is one of the arising field in global financial market, having more and more success throughout the world.
At this point there are six licensed fully fledged Islamic Banks and twelve conventional banks with standalone Islamic Banking Branches with the total branch network of over 336 branches performing in more than 50 cities of all the four provinces.