IslamicFinance.de

Tatarstan seems to be the first region in which Russia will launch an Islamic bond. The aim is to serve people that in the past were underserviced.
The experts say that Russia's position is very good for attracting Islamic investing and the country is rich in infrastructure and agriculture.

Pakistan will recieve $3bn from IDB for infrastructure, energy, agriculture, education and health projects. This is the largest commitment for IDB in the 35 years of partnership. This what soever doesn't mean that IDB will support the government of Pakistan budgetary.

F&C initiated a Shari'ah compliant global equity fund with a sustainable investment remit, named the 'Sharia Sustainable Opportunities Fund'.
BMB Islamic is monitoring the fund while it is being managed by Alice Evans and Sophie Horsfall. If any stocks from the portfolio ruptures the advisor's Shari'ah screens, 3 months will be given to the fund manager to clean.
The Middle East is the initial market for clients.

The attenders at the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) will be, among others, central bank governors, representatives from Bahrain, the UAE, Jordan, Malaysia, Nigeria, and Bahrain, and many international finance and economic experts.
The host of the conference will be the Central Bank of Luxembourg and the theme is "Enhancing Global Financial Stability. Challenges and Opportunities for Islamic Finance".

The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority and the Dubai Financial Services Authority made an understanding through a memorandum of understanding. The MOU was signed by Cindy Scotland, CIMA’s Managing Director.
This MOU adds to a list of other 20 existing MOUs and will help the cooperation and the exchange of information between the organisations.

The damage of the close-down of Kuwaits Wataniya Airways commercial operations brought with it damages of US$70 million for Alafco.
Under these circumstances Alafco agrees to negociate with Wataniya for a honest compensation.
The end date of Wataniya's commercial flights was March 15.

The idea of a halal food index came from the lookout for an expansion of the Islamic investing. At that point it was noticed that for the everyday Muslim there were no hedge funds or other turbo-charged instruments to relate to.
Seeing a brochure on ingredients, stunning, certification and US$640 billion (RM1.94 trillion) made Rushdi Siddiqui realize that he could create a halal food index that captures those companies and have it available for all investors of the world.

Al-Madina gave a report in which was stated that Finance and Investment Company KSCC lost 8.2 million Kuwaiti dinars, 22.2 Kuwaiti fils per share, for the period ending Dec. 31, 2010.
The company performs as contractor, and handels consumer goods through the Shariaa-compliant Murabaha system and monetary and operational lease.

The UK Treasury is searching for laws in the Finance Bill that can block means of escapes in taxes. That includes conventional and alternative (Islamic) real estate transactions.
Between others, they want to stop people that are using offshore vehicles in order to avoid the payment of full stamp duty tax (SDLT).
The manipulation of these means of escape by acute lawyers and tax accountants is wellknown by HM Treasury but numerous Chancellors failed to stop this.

Malaysian Rating Corp Bhd classified the sukuk AA+IS.
Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar is the president and CEO of Maybank Group. He states that the sukuk was very welcomed by investors.

The Islamic financial sector in Indonesia relies on a combination from infrastructure projects and regulatory reforms to convince the sharia-compliant lenders to go on with the rapid expansion.
One of the reform sugested by Bank Indonesia is is to cut taxes payable by banks and clients on income from Islamic finance accounts. Bank Indonesia is also trying to bring together a committee of experts in order to generate an approval process for new products that is efficient.

Arcapita Bank is an invest firm from Bahrain, which is optimistic for the future sales of additional asset. The bank has sold 80% stake in 72 storage sites to the Shurgard Europe company from Brussels.

In the annual report of Dubai Islamic Bank there was stated that while UAE's biggest Islamic lender tried to push mortgage financing in Dubai, the lender paid $102m in order to buy a controlling stake in Tamweel. This information was given by Bloomberg.

Rasheed Al Maraj led a high profile team from the Central Bank of Bahrain on a visit to the Bahrain Financial Exchange as part of a series of visits they will be making to key businesses of the Kingdom's economy.
The meeting discussed the current position of the economy and the business environment, and the Governor reassured the Bahrain Financial Exchange of the CBB's readiness to ensure the continuity of all of Bahrain's economic sectors.

Saudi Arabia's Bank Aljazira sees first quarter earnings from 2011 beating that of the fourth quarter. The bank's one billion riyal Islamic bond, or sukuk, will help raise its lending ratio to 10 per cent from five per cent over the coming year.

Norton Rose (Middle East) LLP has advised Citibank as arranger in relation to a US$300,000,000 dual tranche Murabaha syndicated facility for Turkiye Finans Kat?l?m Bankas? A.S., an Islamic bank in Turkey 60% owned by the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia. It is the largest Islamic syndication in Turkey to date.
The initial transaction size was increased to US$300,000,000 due to high interest from banks in Europe, Middle East and Asia.

Kuwait Finance House appointed Dr Ojail Al-Nashmi as Head of the Fatwa and Shariah Supervisory Authority after Sheikh Ahmed Al-Yasseen retired. The authority's general assembly elected Al-Nashmi, Dr Khaled Al-Mazkour, Dr Mohammed Al-Tabtabaie, Dr Anwar Abdul Salam, and Dr Mubarak Al-Harbi.

The central bank of Somaliland expects lawmakers to enact a draft banking law by June, enabling commercial lenders to extend credit to borrowers for the first time.
Somaliland is in talks with Banque pour le Commerce et l’Industrie, based in neighboring Djibouti, and two other lenders to grant them banking licenses immediatly.

Mauritius' first fully-fledged Islamic bank launched operations on Thursday, as the Indian Ocean island seeks to become a regional Islamic banking hub.
Hesham Shokry is the chairman of Century Bank. He points out that its first two to three years would focus on wholesale banking and treasury and wealth management, which would comprise debt and equity capital markets and fund management.

Amanah Syariah, will allocate Rp 18.5 billion (US$2.12 million) in sharia-based credits to small- and medium-scale enterprises this year through state financing and investment firm PT Permodalan Nasional Madani (PNM) under a profit-sharing (mudharaba) agreement.
PNM currently operates 378 branches throughout Indonesia, seven of which provide sharia-based microfinance services in.