IslamicFinance.de

It seems that the private sector funding arm of the IDB Group, is entering a new strategy to take its financing directly to its constituencies and to make its financing impact more on the real economy through the generation of employment and promoting growth.
This contains opening regional offices; setting up two new departments at the ICD; launching more Ijara (leasing companies) in diverse markets such as Albania, Saudi Arabia and Algeria; establishing SME investment funds including a SR1 billion fund for Saudi Arabia; and establishing a mortgage finance company in Saudi Arabia in anticipation of the long-awaited mortgage law.

It seems that Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (Adib) rose the most in three months, as the country's second-biggest Sharia-compliant lender continued with its roadshow to sell a $500 million five-year sukuk.
The sale will be oragnized by Citigroup, HSBC Holdings, Standard Chartered, Nomura and National Bank of Abu Dhabi.

Experts oppinion is that the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) mortgage market is set for double digit growth. They added that it was time developers laid stress on affordable housing rather than those out of reach of most.
The event was held at the Diplomat Radisson Blu Hotel, Residence and Spa, and was put together by Cityscape, under the patronage of the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB), and in partnership with Sakana Holistic Housing Solutions and Naseej Properties.

Kuveyt Türk Chairman Mohammed Al-Omar, Vice Chairman Abdullah Tivnikli and CEO Ufuk Uyan was present at at the signing ceremony and press conference for the second "Sukuk" issuance that accepted great interest from the Gulf Region and European investors.
Other officials from lead arranging banks also attended: Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Commerzbank, HSBC, Liquidity Management House and Standard Chartered Bank.

It seems that Kuwait's role in the fast-growing global market for sukuks could become larger, if lawmakers expand and administer a more robust legal framework to regulate the issuance of sharia-compliant debt.
However, during this time, Kuwait-based Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC) and Kuveyt Turk participation bank have raised funds in the last months by selling sukuks.

A consortium of Islamic banks and financial industry associations launched the industry's first international Islamic interbank rate presenting a sharia-compliant alternative to traditional interest-based benchmarks.
The Islamic Interbank Benchmark Rate (IIBR) is the average expected return on sharia-compliant, short-term interbank funding.
IIBR addresses a source of tension within the Islamic finance industry, which is believed to have reached $1 trillion in assets: Islam forbids the use of interest in any transaction, but the industry has long used the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), a system of interest rates, as a benchmark in the absence of sharia-compliant alternatives.

M$2.5bn (US$783.7m) of Islamic MTNs will be printed in 16 tranches on November 29 by new toll-road operator Anih. The notes will resolve at par on a bought-deal basis with joint leads CIMB Investment Bank and Maybank Investment Bank subscribing to the total size on an equal basis.

The prime theme of this event will be the impact of the recent rapid changes on the
Islamic finance sector in all pertinent aspects. The Conference will consider the
spectacular political and socio-economic developments that we have been witnessing and
their probable effects on the performance and future position of Islamic financial
institutions (IFI’s), the regulatory set-ups, and popularity of Islamic products being
offered to the public, governments and business firms.

The Conference is being organised by Emerald Group Publishing, the world’s leading
scholarly publisher of journals and books on business and management. Over 220
academic journals are currently published by Emerald, covering some 24 managerial
disciplines, in addition to a strong and growing presence in other related fields such as
LIS, social sciences, and engineering.

This Conference follows on the success of the Global Islamic Marketing Conference held
in Dubai over the period 20-22 March 2011, organised by Emerald in association with the
United Arab Emirates University.

Conference Objective

The chief objective of the forthcoming Conference is to assess the future of this sector,

University Strassbourg is conducting a conference about Islamic retail banking for France, an opportunity to invest? The event is in French. More details below:

Nous vous invitons à participer à la *36ème Conférence PHARE* organisée par l'/Ecole de Management de Strasbourg/ et /E.M. Strasbourg Partenaires /*à l'occasion de l'ouverture de la 4ème promotion du Diplôme d'université Finance Islamique* en janvier 2012 *sur le thème :

*"La banque de détail islamique en France :
un nouveau marché à investir ? "**

Jeudi 1er Décembre 2011 à 18h00 à l'EM Strasbourg - 61, Avenue de la Forêt-Noire*/ Cette conférence sera suivie d'un cocktail offert par EM Strasbourg-Partenaires dans les locaux de l'EM Strasbourg/
*
_Animée par :_
. Michel STORCK, Professeur des universités affilié à l'EM Strasbourg, Co-responsable du Diplôme d'Université (D.U.) «Finance islamique»***

_Intervenants :_
** .** Sâmi HAZOUG, Coordinateur pédagogique du D.U. «Finance
islamique»* - EM Strasbourg
**.** Laurent WEILL, Professeur des universités affilié à l'EM Strasbourg,Co-responsable du D.U. «Finance islamique»*
**.** Le représentant d'une banque

**

The International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (IILM) is assumed to launch its first sukuk in the next six months, as it will contribute to better liquidity management. The statement was given by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) Governor Tan Sri Zeti akhtar Aziz.
IILM has the purpose to enhance the availability of liquid Shariah-based Islamic financial market instruments. This is a crucial step in promoting more efficient cross-border liquidity management for Islamic financial institutions to sustain increased cross-border flows.

Al Hilal Bank has chosen three banks to arrange its debut sukuk. The deal is forseen to emerge in the first quarter of 2012.
Standard Chartered, HSBC and National Bank of Abu Dhabi have been assigned by unlisted Al Hilal for a benchmark-sized deal under a bond programme which could be worth up to $3 billion.

Indonesia sold $1 billion of sukuk at half the rate of its 2009 debut and more than two percentage points lower than a sale by Italy, sustaining the Asian nation’s claim for an investment-grade rating.
The 2018 dollar securities were sold at 4 %, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The nation launched $650 million worth of five-year sukuk in April 2009 at 8.8 %.
Indonesia’s currency reserves have more than doubled since 2009, while President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is aiming economic growth of 6.5 % this year, the fastest since the Asian financial crisis in 1998.

The Board of Directors of Barwa Real Estate has agreed with the organisation's new corporate strategy and growth plan, which is built on a platform of disciplined and sustainable growth.
Barwa Group CEO Abdulla Abdulaziz Al Subaie revealed the strategy to Barwa corporate and subsidiary employees in a town hall meeting. The new corporate strategy will center on the planning and execution capabilities of the company's core business – real estate development, while optimising and leveraging synergistic businesses that have an appropriate strategic fit.

Despite previous high depletion of shareholders' funds due to start-up and early operational costs, Weqaya Takaful Insurance & Reinsurance Co.'s capitalization remains strong relative to risk.
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services announced that it has assigned its 'BBB' long-term counterparty credit and financial strength ratings to Riyadh-based Weqaya Takaful Insurance & Reinsurance Co. (Weqaya Takaful), with a stable outlook.

The Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK), wishes Islamic finance institutions to take responsibility for upgrading the skills level among their staff to guarantee that accounting standards in Shari'ah compliant companies are up to international financial reporting standards.
Kenya has experienced real growth in Islamic finance and questions are being asked on the availability of talent that comprehends Shari'ah compliant financial processes.
Kenya's Islamic finance industry consists of two banks and an insurance company plus several Shari'ah compliant windows of about a dozen conventional banks.

The governors of central banks and monetary authorities of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member countries are convening brought together for a meeting hosted by Bank Negara Malaysia, the central bank, at its plush new conference centre in Sasana Kijang in Kuala Lumpur.
The official theme of the meeting is “Central Banking and Financial Sector Development”. But is is inevitable that discussions will also concentrate on how the global financial crisis, the euro zone sovereign debt crisis and the fallout of the so-called “Arab Spring” are impacting on OIC member countries, and on some alternative solutions to deal with some of the impact of these developments.

Five billion dollars in bonds will be launched in the current Iranian calendar year (to end March 20, 2012) to speed up the implementation of South Pars gas field projects. Iran will also launch $15 billion in sukuk bonds in the current year to be invested in the domestic oil industry. The statement came from the National Iranian Oil Company’s managing director Ahmad Qalebani.

The Islamic Development Bank’s community development workshop has the purpose to empower Muslim NGOs in different parts of the world by offering them necessary training to boost their leadership skills.
Prominent leaders of Muslim organizations and institutions in 14 countries including Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, c and the Philippines who had come to the Kingdom to perform Haj this year, including professor Siddique Hassan, vice president of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, will be included in the program.

One of the disadvantages of the Shariah concept is that it limits the investment horizon for a fund manager due to restrictions against investing in certain sectors considered morally deficient under Islamic religion, thus posing a challenge to produce returns.
Despite the restrictions some of these schemes have significantly outperformed not only their benchmark Shariah indices but also the broader markets. In 2010, BSE Bankex index made around 32% gains, while benchmark Sensex posted nearly 17% returns. During the same period, the Shariah funds from Tata and Taurus, which have no exposure to the banking sector, returned 20-24%.

It appears that a small window of opportunity has arised for Malaysia to spread its Islamic finance wings internationally.
Global University of Islamic Finance (Inceif) president and chief executive Daud Vicary Abdullah second that, adding that Malaysia should grab the chance to promote its Islamic finance sector globally, before the Middle East took hold of the international Islamic finance.