IslamicFinance.de

One of the important issues to appear from the second annual meeting of the Aman Union is the increased request for political risk insurance especially insuring risks in post-conflict countries and those undergoing economic and political transformation. The meeting was held in Istanbul under the aegis of the Turk Eximbank.
Turk Eximbank signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC). Abdel Rahman El-Tayeb Taha, the chief executive officer of ICIEC, and Hayrettin Kaplan, the general manager of Turk Eximbank were the one that signed the MoU.
The two companies have the purpose to help Turkish investors and contractors doing business in the member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation's (OIC). ICIEC, specifically aims to supply political risk insurance (PRI) to Turkish companies doing business in ICIEC member countries.

Junaid Ahmed, President & CEO Dubai Islamic Bank Pakistan Limited, revealed the prospects of finding shari’a compliant solutions in the banking industry in an interview given to Profit.
He stated that DIBPL has always looked for its strength in its slogan and being the first Islamic Bank of the world and having a global presence in the UAE, Jordan, Turkey, Sudan and Bosnia, the bank is in a position to present the best mix of banking services to their customers.

Real Estate Department at Kuwait Finance House will participate in the real estate and investment expo organized by Top Expo Group at the Fair Ground. KFH will introduce its financing services for all kinds of real estate, such as residential, investment, commercial, and industrial for local real estate; in addition to financing real estate in most countries worldwide.
Furthermore, KFH presents clients the possibility to acquire real estate in Bahrain through Murabaha and Ijarah.

It is possible for Turkey to appear as a key market for Islamic finance while Asia continues to drive the industry’s growth but markets are still evaluating the full impact of the global downturn on the sector.
Because of the recent growth of the sector together with the launch of several Islamic funds and a law granting tax neutrality to sukuk products, it is tought that Turkey will be the next growth market for sharia finance.

Bahraini group is helping universities begin courses in Sharia-compliant business practices to avoid a shortage of experts in the US$1 trillion (Dh3.67tn) market.
Khairul Nizam, the deputy secretary general of the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions, stated that the industry will need 15 % more personnel over the next five years and 25 % more in a decade.
Countries like Nigeria, Thailand, Australia and France plan to present legislation to facilitate Islamic financing, moves that will increase demand for scholars to certify that the products meet requirements on no interest payments.

London Central Portfolio has issued a sharia-compliant residential London property fund.
It seems that the fund will be adressed to some of the more wealthy clients, both domestic and overseas investors, who are looking to invest in property in the capital. The statement was given by Naomi Heaton, chief executive for LCP.

The Second Annual Islamic Finance Forum will gather investors, borrowers and regulators in the same place to accomplish a better understanding of existing instruments of Islamic Finance and to find answers to problems encountered frequently in the course of doing business.
The forum delegates is amde of representatives from the Embassies of UAE, Malaysia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Russia, Kyrgyzstan and other countries.

Oasis Group Holdings is the developer of Shariah-compliant asset management, retirement and investment fund products in South Africa since it launched its first Islamic fund in August 1998, the Oasis Crescent Global Equity Fund.
In the last few years, the group has taken a chance abroad and now aspires to build the first global Shariah-investment fund brand, complete with a global distribution capability and a global asset management capacity.
It also seems that it is in the process of opening an office in London to spearhead its operations in the UK and EU market, which as a Muslim population of 2.8 million and 12 million respectively.

The 2nd Quarter 2011 issue of the Malaysian ICM quarterly bulletin published by the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) is now available online at:
http://www.sc.com.my/eng/html/icm/11_2Q_msianicm.pdf

Arcapita Bank had a net income of $50.2 million, registering a return to profitability for the bank, which along with its peers in the private equity industry, has gone through a tough operating environment in the aftermath of the financial crisis which began in 2008.
Beside its core business of deal-by-deal investments, Arcapita has made advancement in building its funds product offering, building on its track record in the industrial warehousing sector to expand several funds during the year, in Asia, in Europe and in the Middle East.

Dow Jones has issued a family of risk control indices and one targeting the Islamic investment market. The Dow Jones Volatility Risk Control offers access to Europe, the Eurozone and the Bric countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) through the Dow Jones Europe Titans 80, Dow Jones Eurozone Titans 80 and the Dow Jones Bric 50
It seems that this is the first risk control index under the Dow Jones brand.

Mohammad Yahya Maroufi, secretary general of Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), revealed that his organization has agreed to certify a bank to promote economic cooperation with banks in the Islamic countries.
He added that the plans include to open a trade market for its member states.
The ECO curent members are: Islamic Republic of Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

The Oasis Group is advancing very fact in expanding its overseas operations and plans to open an office in London later this year as part of its expansion strategy.
Michael Bear, the Lord Mayor of the City of London, stated that high level financial and business services in South Africa and London are on a fast track for much closer cooperation. He also added that this will benefit both countries.
Oasis made its most critical move when it opened its office in Ireland, Dublin. Today it has six funds listed on the Irish stock exchange including its two flagship funds - the Oasis Global Equity Fund and the Oasis Crescent Global Equity Fund; the Oasis Crescent International Property Equity Feeder Fund; the Oasis Crescent Global Income Fund; the Oasis Crescent Global Low Equity Balanced Fund; and the Oasis Global Money Market Fund.

Bank Mellat prooved to have the the biggest increase in profits among all banks active in Turkey over the first six months of the year. It had profits in Turkey of 32.6 million liras ($18.5 million) in the first half, a 217% increase over last year's figure for the same period of 10.3 million and the biggest increase among banks in Turkey.

Mefcom Capital Markets together with UK-based merchant bank Beaufort will supply various cross-border financial services to corporates and other investor classes. Furthermore, they will arrange Sharia- compliant investment products and plans to give the investors access to markets in India, Mid-East, the UK and Europe.
Mefcom-Beufort would provide its clients services allied to cross-border corporate advisory and due diligence work, brand franchising and international licensing transactions, listing and capital raising activities, private equity, investor roadshows, wealth management and stock broking and more others.

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Service (S&P) has the strong oppinion that Turkey's Islamic banks could persist recent strong growth if they can cultivate stronger ties with their international owners and create a sustainable brand image.
Besides the growth of the total sector assets accounting for about five % of total system assets, this sector has also encountered other developments like: A law conferring tax neutrality on Sukuk products;A $100 million debut Sukuk by Kuveyt Türk (not rated); the launch of several Shari’ah-compliant funds; and The creation of a domestic index of Shari’ah-compliant banks and companies by the Istanbul Stock Exchange.

Sarasin-Alpen LLC, Oman, is a subsidiary of the private bank, Bank Sarasin & Co Ltd, Switzerland. Capital Market Authority approved that the bank markets Islamic securities, products and services to its clientele, along with its existing advisory services in private banking.
Sarasin-Alpen also influences the existing Investment Banking business of its associate, Alpen Capital LLC (Oman). Sarasin Alpen Group also has offices in Bahrain, India, Qatar and UAE.

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.

Bank Asya is arranging a small acquisition of between $10-20 million in a Balkan country in partnership with the Islamic Development Bank.
hief Executive Abdullah Celik stated that Bank Asya itself was always drawing attention of bid offers but these were well below the bank's potential.

Dear All,

as salamu alaikum wa Ramadan Karim,

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Wa at taufiq min Allah,

Best regards,

Michael Saleh Gassner