IslamicFinance.de

Daud Vicary Abdullah is the ew president and chief executive officer of the International Center for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF), the Islamic finance education arm of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM). He requested a much closer alignment between the global Islamic finance industry and the providers of human capital development.
Vicary added that he is worried about global standards in Islamic finance and strongly believes that the development of standards in many areas, are vital to the continuing growth of the industry.

Nakheel launched the Dh3.8 billion (US$1.03bn) Islamic bond as a part of its financial restructuring. Through this the company is underscoring investors' continued doubts about the embattled property giant's finances.
Ahmad Alanani is a senior executive officer in the fixed-income department of Exotix in Dubai. He states that retail buyers were taking shares from contractors at about 84 cents on the dollar, sending yields skywards. He predicts prices of 70 to 80 cents on the dollar in the future.

BIMB Holdings Bhd had RM62.84mil in net profit on revenue of RM502.26mil mainly because of higher operating results registered by the Islamic financial services group’s subsidiaries – Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd and Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Bhd.
Johan Abdullah, BIMB’s group managing director and chief executive officer, stated that growth in net income was encouraged by higher profit from the continued growth in financing, higher non-fund based income and improved asset quality in Bank Islam, as well as higher profit generated from takaful businesses.

Sakana Holistic Housing Solutions recently gained access into commodity murabaha financing facility with Khaleeji Commercial Bank for BHD 4 Mil (equivalent USD 10.6 Mil) over 4 years.
The attendents at the signing ceremony were: Mr. Reyadh Yousif Sater - Chairman, Sakana, Mr. R Lakshmanan - CEO, Sakana, Mr. EBRahim Hussain EBRahim - CEO and Board Member, KHCB, Mr. Jassim Awadh - AGM Corporate & Wholesale Banking, KHCB, Mr. Khalid Turki - Executive Senior Manager - Corporate & Wholesale Banking, KHCB and Mr. Khalid Bucheery - Manager Finance, Sakana.

Nowadays, most of the giant international banks provide either an Islamic Commercial Bank (ICB) or an Islamic Business Unit (IBU).
A report named “Islamic Banking Statistics April 2011”, which was launched by Bank Indonesia (BI) on June 15, 2011, found that ICB increased from only three banks with 304 offices in 2005 — when Islamic banking was born — to 11 banks with 1,215 offices by December 2010.
The number of IBU became larger, from 19 units with 154 offices in December 2009 to 23 units with 262 offices in December 2010. The current total of IBU remains unchanged at 23 units.

The planned merger of two Bahraini banks, besides having the aim to create the largest Islamic lender in the Gulf Arab kingdom, has the possibility to break the ice for more consolidation in a regional industry frozen in its tracks by unrealistic valuations and ownership limits.
The proposed tie-up between Bahrain Islamic Bank and smaller rival Al Salam Bank to develop a $4.5-billion (U.S.) entity is a big test for the region after the last attempted merger, between two Qatari banks, was a failure.

Egypt has renewed interest in the growing sector of Islamic banking and finance in an effort to rebuild the economy of the country using internal methods of financing.
Part of the country's pursuit will be to launch a sovereign Sukuk, or bond, program within months. It would be Egypt's first sovereign Sukuk, ahead of country states including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Jordan aditionally mature markets such as Great Britain and France.

Moody's Investors Service reaffirmed Islamic Development Bank for the sixth consecutive year "Aaa" long-term and P-1 short-term foreign currency issuer rating with a "stable" outlook.
In Moody's oppinion, IDB reflects the presence of strong shareholder support, a high level of liquidity, the tested preferred creditor status and a low level of debt partly because of the Islamic (asset-backed) nature of its operations that makes it unique among MDB's.

Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo stated that Indonesia has nominated three arrangers for the planned global sukuk, likely to be issued in the third quarter.
Unfortunetly, the names of these arrangers weren't given.

Standard & Poor's kept Al-Arkans Long-Term Corporate Rating "BB-",retaining a Stable Outlook.
The reaffirmation was given, taking in consideration that DAAR's financial performance during the second quarter improved in comparison to the first quarter in terms of margins, collection of trade receivables and operating cash flow generation.
Moreover, DAAR has managed its cash consumption during the second quarter. Account receivable balances were collected and decreased from their peak during the first quarter of 2011, by slowing down land acquisitions.

Officials from Sulaimani state that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is trying to encourage foreign and local investment in the province.
Sulaimani is way behind in development and investments, if we compare it to the regional capital Erbil.
But the Kurdish authorities promised from now on to equally distribute investment to Kurdistan’s cities.

Three banks were picked by Saudi Aramco and France's Total to arrange an Islamic bond (sukuk) and to finance their joint venture in the kingdom.
Lead managers were appointed and joint bookrunners for the sukuk: Deutsche Securities Saudi Arabia, Samba Capital and Saudi Fransi Capital.

Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Berhad (Takaful Malaysia) fed 66 children of Al-Khaadem Home Of Hope. They also received duit raya. The children were between four and 16 years.
Takaful Malaysia board member Zakaria Ismail also introduced the company's zakat (tithe) contribution to the foundation which was represented by its president, Ustaz Hussain Yee. The zakat contribution will be used to support the daily administration and management of the home, especially in providing education for the children.

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah issued the national fundraising campaign for famine-hit Somalis by donating SR20 million.
The telethon has been granted one more day.
Crown Prince Sultan contributed with R10 million to the fund while Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior Prince Naif donated SR5 million. Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) announced it was going to give SR5 million.

It seems that Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) has arranged successful Suhoor for ultra high net worth ladies of Al Ain. Holy Quran launched the event with a recitation, followed by Dr. Mohamed Sultan Al Ulama, Dean, UAEU Libraries, speaking about the importance of safeguarding family wealth and appreciated ADIB’s achievements.
At the end of the event, each guest received a token of appreciation from ADIB.

Barwa Bank was advised by Eversheds to procure Al Yusr.
This is the first purchase of an Islamic finance window by an Islamic bank in Qatar, and also the first deal of its kind in the region.
The development is now that Barwa Bank is able to accelerate its growth and expansion plans in the local market to position itself as one of the leading Islamic banks in Qatar.

Alhaji Sani Aminu Dutsinma is a financial analyst and politician and the former State Co-ordinator of poverty eradication programme in Katsina State. He gives his strong oppinion about Islamic banking and other issues related to Nigeria's economic policies.
He states that non-interest banking is a universal concept of banking which has been introduced for more than six to seven decades ago. He also underlined the fact that there were some few obstacles within the Banking and Other Financial Institutions (BOFI) Act then which restricted naming a bank Islamic, Christian, biblical or Qur'anic. He affirms that the idea was to build a bank that is in conformity with what is being practiced in USA, UK, Saudi Arabia and South Africa and over 75 countries around the world today.

SEDCO Capital has been launched as wealth management company focusing on super and ultra high net worth individuals, sophisticated institutional investors and family offices. This comes a year after the grant of the Saudi Arabian Capital Market Authority.
Bin Mahfouz family are the owners of the company.

Central Bank of Oman is in the action of composing a central national committee for determining the legal regulations and standards for Islamic banking in the country.
H E Hamoud al Zadjali, CBO executive president, stated that coordination with Grand Mufti's Office has already begun. He added that the bank will pursue efforts for crystallising the Islamic banking sector within a legal regulatory environment.

The Securities Appellate Tribunal of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has rejected six appeals by Parsoli Corporation Limited and its two main promoters Zafar Sareshwala and his brother Uves Sareshwala against a ruling by SEBI that Parsoli and its promoters/directors violated several provisions of the regulations and perpetrated "fraud of the worst kind on the shareholders of this company who were deprived of their shares and when caught, the directors compensated the shareholders by crediting shares in their demat accounts through off market transactions."
It appears to be the end for Parsoli Corporation and for the Sareshwala brothers.