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Maybank Islamic Bhd issued its maiden Tier 2 Capital Islamic subordinated sukuk of RM1bil.
The subordinated sukuk, which is based on the Islamic principle of musyarakah, was rated AA+IS (outlook stable) by Malaysian Rating Corp Bhd and carried a tenure of 10 years from the issue date on a 10 non-callable five basis. It is lead arranged by Maybank Investment Bank Bhd.

The oppinion of Prime Minister Najib Razak is that the government may sell ringgit-denominated Islamic bonds to help finance construction of a mass railway system in Kuala Lumpur. The project will be the country’s single biggest infrastructure development.

Pakistan's biggest Sharia- compliant debt funds are posting the best returns for sukuk investors this quarter as an export revival boosts bonds sold by the government and agricultural companies.
The JS Islamic Pension Savings Fund-Debt and the NAFA Islamic Aggressive Income Fund recorded gains of 3.9 per cent and 3.2 per cent.

The implementation of iMAL modules has been achieved ahead of schedule and budget allowing MIB to go live within 2 months time. It is one of the market benchmarks with regards to core banking implementations.

Nakheel has made payments of Dh4.6 billion to its trade creditors so far. The statement also announced that the property developer is expecting to finalise its restructuring before the end of first half of 2011.

KFH Bahrain announced that the Board of Directors of Kuwait Finance House - Bahrain agreed in a meeting to build around 2,500 crafted affordable housing units within its flagship real estate project, DIYAR AL MUHARRAQ.
The investment is a further indication of the resolve and commitment of KFH Bahrain to invest in the Kingdom of Bahrain and of the confidence it places in the country's growth and prosperity.

A seminar organized by Al-Rajhi Capital disclosed in Riyadh that the Saudi government has been extremely serious about exploiting its investment potential for the benefit of investors and nation at large.
But there is a need to exert more efforts to enhance customers’ awareness about local and international investment potentials and to assist them in taking the right investment decision.
Al-Rajhi Capital, the investment banking subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Al-Rajhi Bank, has launched a program under which eight investment seminars are being organized across the Kingdom.
A seminar will be held on April 2 in Jeddah at Al-Rajhi Capital Center, while another seminar will be organized in Dammam on April 23.

Morocco's central bank is in talks with the country's banking industry group GPBM on regulations that would allow sukuk.
The central bank started only in late 2007 to allow some banks to provide Islamic finance products, but does not issue licences for fully fledged Islamic institutions.

Al-Jazira Bank completed a $267 million 10-year Islamic bond sale which was four times oversubscribed.
The issuance subscriptions were four times more than the amount approved by the Saudi monetary agency.

Al Baraka Turk Participation Bank showed an increase in total operating income of three per cent. After deducting expenses, provisions and taxes, net income increased by 35 per cent for the period.
Turkey is considered as one of the key markets for the group because of the diversity and abundance of economic activities and huge promising opportunities that it offers.

Sharia'h compliant insurance products will now be available in the market with the entry of Takaful Insurance of Africa.
In a speech read on his behalf by Tourism Minister, ccc, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka noted that Takaful encourages policyholders to cooperate among themselves for their common good, pay subscription to help the needy, spread liabilities and losses according to community pooling system besides eliminating uncertainties in respect to subscription compensation among others.

Rage at Bahrain’s Sunni ruler, King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa, permeated the March 22 funeral of the first woman killed after his crackdown against the opposition a week earlier. The slogans show how protesters have been radicalized by the violence against them: When Shiites started rallying in February they were asking King Hamad for rights, jobs and Cabinet changes, not demanding his overthrow.
The Al Khalifa family’s decision was to quell the protests, arrest their leaders and invite a Saudi-led force to help restore order may backfire on the island nation’s economy.

Islamic finance has been given the boost it needed in the Gulf by a Qatari ban on conventional banks offering sharia-compliant services.
Qatar’s move last month draws a line in the sand between Islamic banks and their conventional peers, which control 83 percent of the region’s banking assets.
Even before Qatar’s shock decision, the Islamic finance industry was expected to grow by between 15 to 20 percent a year.

Educational courses on Islamic economy are going to be eld by the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) in Paris, France. The participants will become familiar with Islamic Shari’a in economic fields.

A first fully Shariah-compliant insurance cover initiative has been launched in Kenya. The Takaful Insurance of Africa Limited has introduced an insurance package grounded in Islamic Muamalat, the Islamic Banking Principles espoused in Islamic law and aims at serving all Kenyans across religious faiths. The Vice President called for a through study into principles that guide various insurance systems with a view to instilling best practices in the industry.

Qatar National Bank Group Chief Executive Officer called on GCC banks to integrate. Ali Shareef Al Emadi expressed his oppinion and said that banks in the region are relatively small compared to institutions in many other parts of the world. To overcome this, we must consider integrating the banking sector of the region to not just increase access to markets but also encourage consolidation.

The number of projects registered under the Dubai Land Department’s (DLD) Tayseer programme has reached 114 and the first funding agreement under the scheme is expected to be finalised soon.
Until now, seven banks have signed with the DLD for financing under the Tayseer initiative. The banks are: Emirates Islamic Bank, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Noor Islamic Bank, Mashreq, Dubai Bank and Ajman Bank.

The slow rate of reforms on laws governing Islamic banking is holding back the sector’s growth potential in the region and its contribution to the economy.
As a result, Kenya risks losing investment to Uganda that has fully revised its banking rules and regulations to cater for Islamic financial institution needs. The country has attracted the attention of investors from as far as the Middle East who are now eyeing establishing banks in the neighbouring country.

Qatar Exchange (QE) along with the Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry (QCCI) in conjunction with The Qatar Institute of Directors (QID) is organising a Conference on Corporate Governance for Family-Owned Companies at the Doha Sheraton Hotel.
The conference will be opened by Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani, Chairman of the QCCI, and will have reputed speakers from Qatar, Gulf and the Middle East. The list of speakers includes prominent figures like Dr Talal Abu-Ghazaleh who will speak of his personal experience the guiding criteria of good governance around the world.

Kuveyt Turk Participation Bank (KTPB) has set the tone by venturing abroad into Germany, Dubai, Bahrain and Kazakhstan and by pioneering new products based on physical gold and exporting them to markets in Malaysia and elsewhere through the global network of KFH. These include gold-backed exchange traded funds (ETFs), gold-backed banking accounts and sukuk. Ufuk Uyan, CEO of Kuveyt Turk Participation Bank has been at the forefront of the expansion of KTPB, taking it to the top 10 tier of Turkish banks. Here Ufuk Uyan discusses with Arab News the state of the participation banking sector in Turkey, the performance of KTPB in 2010 and the prospects and challenges for the industry in 2011 and beyond.