IslamicFinance.de

The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) has given $450 million in investment guarantees to support the expansion of telecommunications services in Indonesia.
MIGA’s guarantees are backing a $450 million Murabaha financing facility underwritten by Deutsche Bank and Saudi British Bank (SABB). The new financing is going to help the company increase network quality, expand coverage, and build more network capacity.

Gasprombank is building support for Sukuk but Russian legislation is missing. Executives from Gazprombank have been collecting interest in South East Asia. It seems that Alexander Kazakov, director of structured and syndicated finance at the bank, is claiming up to five companies were interested in Sukuk issuance.
AmanahRaya is also working to establish Kaz Haj, a pilgrimage fund, along with Kazakhstan's Islamic asset management company, Fattah Finance.
On the other hand, Aznan Hasan, Associate Professor at the International Islamic University Malaysia, warns that Russia will need to address its legal framework before Shari’ah-compliant transactions can go ahead.

WS Atkins recovered £8m ($12.9m) in outstanding debts from clients in the Middle East. Through this debt recovery the company rose to 70% in regional full-year profit. The debt recovery included payment of outstanding fees from government and semi-government firms.
Atkins reported total underlying pre-tax profit for the year to end March of £102.7m against £93.9m in 2010. Profit for its Middle East unit reached £23m.

Bahrain decided to end the three-month state of emergency and therefore the confidence in the island nation’s Islamic bonds is being restored.
The notes returned 4 percent this quarter, compared with 3.2 percent for sukuk in Dubai, 2.5 percent for Malaysia and 1.7 percent in Indonesia.
Yields on Bahrain sukuk climbed to 4.45 percent on March 15, the highest level in a year.

Kerala is going to be the host of a national seminar on interest-free institutional mechanism for banking, finance and insurance on July 4.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will be the on to open the seminar.

Richard Thomas, CEO of Gatehouse Bank, was awarded the OBE (Order of the British Empire) in the recent Birthday Honours list of Queen Elizabeth II on behalf of the UK Government. Thomas becomes the first UK royal award for civic excellence in Islamic finance.
Fahed Boodai, Kuwaiti chairman of Gatehouse Bank, stated that this recognition is honoring his leading contribution to the development of Shariah-compliant financing over the past 30 years.

The ASEAN Equity fund will target medium- to long-term capital growth by investing in a portfolio of equities in the ASEAN markets with specific focus on the markets of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Thailand.
The fund has an offer period to June 26, 2011.

Adnan Al-Musallam, chairman of The Investment Dar (TID), fought off any attempt from the last two years from some creditors to put TID under administration or declare it bankrupt.
On June 2, 2011, the Islamic investment company was admitted under the FSL following the approval of the restructuring plan, which was submitted by the company to Kuwait’s Special Circuit Court of Appeal on May 5, 2011.

The Shoura Council has asked the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) to make a detailed study on consumer credit and investor credit in the Kingdom. They think such a study would shed light on the future prospects of credit schemes.
Under the Kingdom's investor credit program, the Saudi Industrial Development Fund is the most important of the credit institutions in the country. It provides marketing, technical and financial advice to all projects it finances to enhance their chances of success.

King Abdullah has launched a Royal Decree allocating SR476 million a year to the Takaful Charity Foundation set up to support needy pupils in public education schools.
Prince Faisal Bin Abdullah, Minister of Education and chairman of Takaful and its Trustees Council, stated that the foundation will provide assistance to orphans and pupils in over 30,000 Ministry of Education schools for boys and girls. It will also work in collaboration with the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation and private institutions to hold training courses to give students practical skills required in professional life.

Nakheel stated that it has paid AED5bn ($1.36bn) in overdue payments to its trade creditors.
Through the restructuring proposal trade creditors will receive repayment through 40 percent cash and 60 percent in the form of an Islamic bond, or sukuk.

As reported by Nomura, Indonesia has tremendous investment potential. It is well known by analysts that Indonesia has made a big progress, regaining also its appeal to investors. Teh report reaveals the fact that the country delivers regular annual GDP growth rates of 7%.
Until now, Indonesia has built up record foreign exchange reserves and has attracted higher levels of foreign direct investment.

Submission deadline 15 September 2011

Palgrave Macmillan is pleased to announce a call for papers for the Journal of Derivatives & Hedge Funds

For Islamic banking to grow further and develop there are many challenges relating to financing instruments, market structure and market regulation. The aim of the special issue is to provide a central platform and communication channel for researchers, academics, business leaders and industry practitioners relating to Islamic Banking. The key contextual challenges in the Islamic finance industry today include the innovations and developments at the leading edge of the field, and the long-term impact, scope and authenticity of these ideas in the context of an Islamic community and way of life. View full details at:

http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jdhf/jdhf_cfp_islamic.pdf

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

- The Shari'ah requirements in Islamic banking and risk identification.
- Current practices of asset management and portfolio management in Islamic banking
- Need of financial innovation in Islamic banking.
- The impact of the Basel Accords on Islamic banking
- Islamic banking and corporate governance

A branch of Banque Populaire du Maroc offers French retail customers Islamic current accounts. More details on their website: http://www.chaabibank.fr/Harmonis/Harmonis.html

Source: http://www.al-kanz.org/2011/06/17/chaabi-bank-agence/

Banque Populaire du Maroc aims to convert 10 % of their 300.000 clients to the new account type. Further the bank plans to offer short term Islamic mortgages (4-5 years) towards end of the year and long term mortgages next year, reported AFP on 20 June.

Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iX5kUdQ-c0SLwTFkJfm6x...

Banque Populaire du Maroc has a pan European strategy aiming for 40 branches throughout Europe it was announced during the opening in 2009 in the Netherlands.

Source: http://www.iamsterdam.com/en/business/news2009/december/banque-chaabi

Mulya Siregar, Bank Indonesia’s sharia banking director, announced that the central bank supports sharia banks managing hajj funds. He thinks that only now can this become something possible.

Kuwait Finance House will focus on the retail banking services in its future expansion plans with a view to increase its activities and revenues.
As KFH Chief Executive Officer Mohammad Al-Omar stated, KHF’s excellence in the retail banking market and possession of an effective market share, are based on several strength factors, such as the legitimate platform where all KFH’s products and services are launched, which prompts clients to trust the Islamic bank.

Takaful Gambia Limited held on June 16 Takaful Gambia Limited, the only Islamic insurance company in the Gambia, on Thursday, 16 June, held its 2nd annual profit sharing with its clients. The ceremony was held at the company’s head office at Dobson and Anglesea Streets in Banjul.
Mr. Momodou Joof, the Managing Director of the Takaful Company, revealed that this year they will be sharing over 2.5 million dalasi with the clients who have been insuring with them. He added the fact that Takaful is based on profit sharing and not charity. He underlined the fact that it is an obligation for them as an insurance company to share out profits among their clients based on the values and ethics of fairness in Islam.

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon is launching ‘Sharia Compliant Banking’ with the purpose to better serve an important segment of its customer base that requires Sharia-compliant financial products based on Islamic principles.
The three members of the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama who will serve on Commercial Bank’s first Sharia Board are Sheikh M M A Mubarak, Sheikh Fazil Farook and Sheikh M M Murshid.

Emirates Islamic Bank(EIB) has signed an agreement with the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) to start a chair in Islamic banking and to provide HCT students with opportunities to develop skills and careers in the growing UAE Islamic banking and finance sectors.
The agreement was signed by Shaikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and HCT Chancellor and EIB CEO Abdulla Showaiter.

Taking into consideration the increasingly shaped by a company’s reputation and impact on the environment consumers choise, the need to adopt sustainable business practices is more important than ever.
The Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Sustainability Network has the goal to advance corporate social responsibility, or CSR, across the UAE by bringing together top business executives to network, share experience and demonstrate CSR leadership.
The pressure to act is coming from stakeholders, employees, customers, governments, investors, the media, and society in general.