IslamicFinance.de

Sri Lanka's Commercial Bank of Ceylon stated that it will start an alternative banking services compliant with Islamic Sharia law, with a three member committee of scholars to ensure compliance.
The Sharia board includes: M M A Mubarak, Fazil Farook and M M Murshid, from Sri Lanka's All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama. As the bank underlined, the products operate on the Islamic principle of both the bank and the customer sharing returns as well as risks.

Kuwait's Investment Dar is aranged to pay some KD82m ($298.7m) to individuals and small non-financial institutions in the first year of its debt restructuring plan. The repayments will start on June 30.

Saudi-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has announced that it has allocated $2.5bn for development projects in Egypt over the next three years to support its economy.

Although regulators lag behind in customizing laws for the industry, russian borrowers are pitching plans to sell the nation's first Islamic bonds.
Executives from Gazprombank are now in Southeast Asia to look for support for issuance by as many as five companies. The statement was given by Alexander Kazakov, director of structured and syndicated finance at the bank.

Islamic Finance House (IFH) has appointed Mohamed Omar Ali Mubarak Keiti General Manager of the company that serves as a growing centre for Shari'a compliant financial solutions catering to a wide spectrum of clients in the UAE.
As General Manager of IFH, he will have an integral part in driving the company's expansion while positioning it as a growing financial entity.

The Algosaibi family has pulled out of a court case in London with five international banks. The banks that were battling were: Bahrain-based Arab Banking Corporation (ABC), ABC Islamic Bank, British Arab Commercial Bank (BACB), Credit Agricole and HSBC.
The case was expected to last for at least two months and has been waiting since two banks in Bahrain collapsed in 2009.

Despite having a population of about two billion and possessing enormous natural resources, the contribution of the Muslim world to global economy and world polity remains minimal.
The Muslim world has a lot of liquidity that now moves outside because it lacks new venture creation and a developed SME sector that is the backbone of any economy. Unfortunately, the Islamic world has not started out to be a true entrepreneurial society.

It seems that inspite the fact that London is retaining its top spot as the leading global financial center in 2011, European frontrunners are being challenged by fast developing nations in the Middle East.
Of the four Middle Eastern centers in the GFCI, Dubai has maintained a lead since the index first began in 2007. Qatar is only 8 points behind Dubai having been 135 points behind in the second GFCI in 2007.
The latest GFCI shows that Bahrain and Riyadh are still way behind two Middle Eastern leaders Dubai and Qatar.

A SR1 billion SME Fund is programmed to promote the growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, or SMEs.
Khaled M. Al Aboodi, CEO, and general manager of the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector, or ICD, private sector arm of the Islamic Development Bank Group stated that the fund should be Shariah-compliant and could take the form of a declining ‘musharaka’, which could address the issues.

In Judaism, Christianity and Islam renting the use of money is forbidden. Riba or ribbit means the act of renting the use of money at a price called interest rate.
Islamic banking connects to a system of banking activity that is consistent with Islamic law (Sharia’h) principles, called fiqh muamalat (Islamic rules on transactions), and guided by Islamic economics. With the rapid growth of the worldwide economy along with the expanding economy in the Islamic countries, Islamic banking is evolving to play a vital role not only in the Muslim community alone but also in today’s global village.
Islamic law also disallows activities dealing with alcohol, pork, gambling, pornography and anything which Islamic law deems unlawful.

The European Islamic Investment Bank (EIIB) has declared its first exit from an extremely successful oil venture in the US.
London-based EIIB had invested $17.5 million in acquiring a 78 per cent stake in TriTech. TriTech has now decided to sell its assets in the field for around $65m to JGC Energy Development (USA). Tha transaction is expeccted to be done within 45 days.

BRI Syariah came with a brand new product which allows its customer to buy gold in installments.
President director Ventje Rahardjo stated that the bank is planning to provide Rp 400 billion ($46.4 million) in financing for customers in order to buy gold.
The product uses two Shariah contracts, qardh and ijara . Under qardh, the bank loans money to the customer to buy the gold, and the debtor is only required to repay the amount borrowed. The customer must keep the physical gold in the bank’s vault which, under ijara, is rented out by the bank.

World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) revealed that between September and December 2010, 30 Islamic investment and financial cooperatives (IIFCs) in Afghanistan distributed loans worth USD 7.4 million to approximately 8,000 farmers and other small and medium-scale business owners, increasing cooperative membership by 10 %.
WOCCU began developing IIFCs, Afghan-owned credit unions, in 2004.

The Qatari central bank (QCB) sent inspection teams that are following up and making sure that all banks comply with the directive to reduce interest margins on personal loans to 6.5%.

Investors have been closely watching Dubai's move ver since Dubai World defaulted on that grim Eid weekend of November 25, 2009.
Dubai World has made up with its creditors and put into place a robust debt plan. Although it makes obvious changes, the markets have not forgiven Dubai.
According to CMA Datavision, Dubai remained among the 10 most likely countries (or city states) to default.

The London-based European Islamic Investment Bank (EIIB) is now focusing on the Islamic markets of the Middle East and Asia, changing the strategy used until now.
Part of the strategy is to relocate some of its key personnel from its London office to its representative office in Bahrain.

Capital Intelligence (CI) has lowered the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of Bank AlJazira (BAJ), based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to 'BBB' from 'BBB+'. The bank has now a stable outlook.
At the end of 2010, the Bank's total staff was 1,616.

It appears that after only four months after Qatar's controversial order for conventional banks to close their Islamic units, the decision may be proving less positive than expected for purely Islamic lenders.
The main problem is the fact that many customers remain unconvinced of the advantages of moving away from deposit accounts managed by non-Islamic institutions and are instead staying loyal to conventional lenders.

Elaf Bank has been given a license by the Ministry of Finance Malaysia to open a branch office in Malaysia. The license was handed during a formal ceremony held at Bank Negara Malaysia.
The bank wants to start its branch office operations in Kuala Lumpur immediately, now that it has fulfilled the formalities required for obtaining the license.

Islamic Finance was a growing sector in the UK before the 2008 credit crunch shook the banking industry. Firms had begun to respond to client demand, recruiting experts in Sharia law and putting in place support networks. Now economies are holding back.
The Big Four and top mid-tier firms all have experts that are waiting to engage with clients on the topic, but it is not clear how much business this generates. People with an interest include those searching to invest in Islamic markets and those hoping to attract finance from cash-rich Sharia-observing countries.