IslamicFinance.de

Turkey’s Islamic banks want to take advantage of the lowest borrowing costs in more than five years and the rising demand for the country’s securities by salling sukuk.
The Turkish government takes in consideration to change tax laws in order to encourage sukuk sales.
Bebinning with last april the government also allowed companies to to issue debt in accordance with Islamic finance rules.

Standard & Poor's Ratings published a report named "Social Unrest Rattles Middle East And North Africa Real Estate Markets", in which they analize the current landscape in property markets in the Arabic-speaking countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
Because of the political unrest and demonstrations that took place recently, some real estate companies are obligated to cover damages from building destruction. It seems like this problems are causing the turists to avoid countries like Egypt and Tunisia.

Socially responsible investing (SRI) report about an investment strategy that seeks to maximise both financial return and social good.
The most prefered corporate practices are environmental stewardship, consumer protection, human rights, and diversity.
The rise of SRI funds
The European SRI market value was estimated at US$7trillion at 2010 end-year. The prognose is that it will change magnitude to US$26.5 trillion by 2015.
SRI in Malaysia
With continuous progress in business sustainability practices in Malaysia, the request for SRI funds is growing.

The fastest growing segment of the insurance industry in Saudi Arabia is takaful. The reason that it grows so fast in Saudi Arabia is because premium paid by the insured people is considered as donation and not premium.
Also, health insurance sector is expacted to grow very fast as the private companies are involving and the foreign nationals and foreign pilgrims are compelled to buy insurance covers.

In order to pay Iran for the import of oil, India looks at the possibility of opening ccounts in banks like Dubai-based Noor Islamic Bank. National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) is also looking at opening an account in a UAE or Turkey based bank to receive direct money transfer from oil companies.

Malaysia wants to sell RM30 billion (S$12.48 billion) of local-currency Islamic bonds under a programme. The purpose is to help finance a mass-transit railway in Kuala Lumpur.
There is a possibility that domestic sources will subscribe to the sukuk issuance.
the estimation of the government on the cost of the network and rolling stock is RM48 billion. The railway will cover a 20-kilometre radius around Kuala Lumpur's city centre and carry two million passengers a day.

It appears that the debut sukuk of Senegal in 2011 will be around $200 million.
Although the madate has been signed, the time is unknown yet.

It appears that Liquidity Management House, a unit of Kuwait Finance House (KFH), is going to issue $1 billion in sukuk. KFH's Turkish unit announced in March that they will establish $500 million Islamic bond by end-year.

Noor Islamic Bank doesn't plan to extend for now.
The deal size on the two issues owned by Noor Islamic Bank, one in the Gulf region and another one in Turkey, is between $250 million to $300 million.

The CEOs of Bahrain's major foreign banks are supporting the Kingdom's economic development. They stated that they will work with their peers to raise growth.
This statement was brought up when the CEOs met with Economic Development Board CEO Shaikh Mohammed bin Isa Al Khalifa at a roundtable discussion organized by the Bahrain Association of Banks (BAB). The aim of the meeting entitled "outlook of the foreign banks in Bahrain" was to help the industry in disseminating the message to the public as well to the government about the current situation.

Dubai Group is one step away from signing a restructuring deal with lenders.
Hussain Al Qemzi, the chief executive officer of Noor Islamic, one of the creditor banks, stated that an agreement could be signed in the second quarter of 2011.
A bank committee for debt restructuring at Dubai Group was established since last year. Noor Islamic Bank has two Islamic bond mandates, one each in the Gulf region and Turkey. The deal on both issues would be between $250 million to $300 million.

In order to develop roads in the entire state, Kerala government is planning to utilise Shariah based funds from Islamic countries. Rs 1000 crore is to be generated from the Shariah based funds. The total budget will be around Rs 40000 crore.
Al Barakh Financial Services Limited will be the financial institute from which they willl take the money.

After completing its share-subscription exercise that gives the group a 20% stake in bank, it seems that Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd is now the single largest shareholder in Sri Lanka.
Based on the statement of managing director Datuk Seri Zukri Samat the total cost investment for the 20% stake in Amana Bank is RM22.6mil.

The statement of Iqbal Belath, Deputy Governor, Bank of Mauritius, points out the fact that the bank has already given licences to two banks to launch Islamic banking services. The statement was given at the International Conference on Islamic Banking and Finance organised by AlHuda Centre of Islamic Banking and Economics Pakistan in Mauritius.
The prpose of organising the conference was to promote Islamic banking in Mauritius and other African countries.

The central bank of Uganda (BoU) announced that it is in the proccess of developing a new national Islamic finance institution, the National Islamic Bank of Uganda. The only thing that stops it for now is the fact that only in early 2012 the country's lawmakers will pass the legislation to authorize Islamc banking.
They say that first existing commercial banks will be able to open up Islamic windows and second new investors will be able to set up standalone Islamic banks.

The US$52 billion international Islamic funds industry is being advised to give more forward-looking areas of investment and to expand into so far unexploited geographical markets by world-renowned Shariah scholar Dr Mohammed Daud Bakar.
Dr Bakar is a Shariah board member of the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI), the International Islamic Financial Market, the Securities Commission of Malaysia, Morgan Stanley and Bank of London and Middle East and many others.
At the Amanie-Failaka Symposium 2011 discussions from top executives in the field of Islamic finance, including Yavar Moini from Morgan Stanley, Dubai and Datin Maznah Mahbob of Am-Investment Bank Group, Malaysia and many others will appear.

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank anticipates to post single-digit credit growth in 2011 and that's why it will continue to book provisions going forward.
The impact of new central bank rules that will limit loans to individuals and service charges is beeing studied by ADIB. The central bank has capped personal loans at 20 times the salary or the monthly income of a borrower with a repayment period set at 48 months.
ADIB had a profit of Dh250.6m ($68.23m) in the three months to December 31.

It is thought that islamic insurance contributions worldwide will rise by 31% this year. In 2010 the growth was 33%.
Ashar Nazim, executive director and Islamic Financial Services Leader at Ernst & Young, has the strong oppinion that key takaful markets are leading to a positive outlook for the sector as a whole because of its low insurance penetration rates and comparatively high rates of economic growth.

Following the partnership between Sesame and Islamic Bank of Britain for Islamic mortgage alternative, Sesame Network members will have the opportunity to access the full range of IBB’s Sharia compliant mortgage alternative, the Home Purchase Plan.
IBB has an intermediary helpline (0121 456 7842) and the only dedicated intermediary Islamic finance website (www.ibbintermediaries.com) in the UK. Furthermore, brokers will be supported by the Bank’s intermediary team in earning ompetitive procuration fees.

After Egypt was forced to postpone plans to introduce Islamic bond regulation because of the political unrest, it doesn't look very good for the country that tries to attract Muslim wealth.
Nigeria, a competitive country, plans to license at least two Shariah-compliant institutions by the end of the year. Mauritius set minimum disclosure standards for financial statements from banks offering Islamic services.
Therefore, it looks like Egypt will loose in front of theese countries.