IslamicFinance.de

Filipino finance secretary, Cesar Purisima, is touting Islamic microfinance in the Muslim majority state of Mindanao as a way of alleviating poverty and increasing social cohesion. Pursima was speaking to local press as the Filipino government starts talks with the Islamic Development Bank in Manila.

Malaysia's Bio-XCell is finalizing the details of a yet undisclosed commodity Murabahah facility with a leading local bank.
The financing is estimated to be around RM250m ($82.2m). Details have not yet become available but signing of the agreements should take place in a few weeks.

The Securities and Exchange Organization of Iran has put on agenda to add new Islamic instruments such as Derivative Securities, Istisna and Murabaha in Capital Market as of the next Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2010).
Ali Saeedi, a senior official in Bourse Organization said the necessary grounds have been paved for the entrance of sukuk or Islamic bonds in Bourse Organization, adding BRokerage firms are considered as the main infrastructures for entrance of new monetary means to bourse. He gave news that Murabaha bonds would be issued next year.

Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) plan to issue up to two mega Islamic bank licences is still on progress. The right investors must be found.
Datuk Mohd Razif Abdul Kadir, the deputy governor, said BNM hoped to issue the licences this year.

Due to lack of information to assess the emirate, Fitch Ratings will withdraw the ratings of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) in the next two weeks.
While information flow from Dewa is regular and comprehensive, Fitch has considered it necessary to form a judgement on view of Dubai to complete the information profile for the issuer, for which levels of information are expected to be insufficient going forward.

Participants of the three-day meeting of the first West African Islamic Investment Forum have sought for a comprehensive investment map for Africa to be designed and a West African Islamic fund be established.
The participants also called on the forum and other stakeholders to initiate sponsorship for continued research, publication and capacity building on how to explore and harness investment opportunities in West Africa.

Bahrain's Gulf Finance House GFHB.BH (GFHK.KW) Chief Executive Ted Pretty, who cut costs and rolled over debt but failed to kick start revenues, has left the cash-strapped firm.
A second source confirmed the departure. The sources said that disputes with GFH's Executive Chairman Esam Janahi were the main cause for his departure.
GFH denied, however, that Pretty had left the company for good.

The front page pictures that appeared last Friday in newspapers across Korea of President Lee Myung-bak and his wife kneeling at the National Prayer Breakfast portray an image of contriteness and humility. It’s almost as if President Lee was asking for forgiveness from the Protestant church after he became the target of criticism for supporting legislation that would give tax breaks to Korean companies that issue Islamic sukuk bonds.
The pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Church, the largest Protestant congregation in the world, at first threatened to topple Lee over the issue, but he later backed away from that comment.

Buoyed by the response for its real estate mezzanine funding, QIB (UK) is showcasing the product at the annual MIPIM real estate conference that begins today in France. The product was introduced during 2010 and is focused upon the 60%-80% tranche within the capital stack.

Al Baraka Pakistan Limited (ABPL) will enter the mutual fund industry by June this year and funds will be established in collaboration with a well-established fund manager.
ABPL President Shafqaat Ahmed highlighted that the growth of Islamic income funds has outpaced the growth of the overall mutual fund industry in recent months.

The first Islamic bank in the Maldives opened today, promising Shariah-compliant banking services. President Mohamed Nasheed attended the opening ceremony this morning.
CEO of Maldives Islamic Bank (MIB) Harith Harun said the bank entered the market with capital of Rf150 million (US$12 million), and would operate current, savings and term deposit accounts structured so as to avoid the payment of interest.

The International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (IILM) is expected to issue the first Shariah-compliant financial instruments by year-end.
The minimum size of the instruments could be US$300 million depending on the market demand.
The IILM was established on October 2010 with 14 founding shareholders, comprising the 12 central banks of Indonesia, Iran, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Malaysia,Mauritius, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as well as two multi-lateral institutions, the Islamic Development Bank and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector.

Standard & Poor's commented today about the negative rating actions it has taken on several banks and insurance companies following sovereign rating actions in the Middle East and Africa since the unrest began: four banks in Tunisia, two banks in Egypt, two banks and one insurance company in Jordan, and four banks and three insurance companies in Bahrain.

HSBC Securities Services (HSS) together with HSBC Amanah today launched HSBC Amanah Securities Services, a global service for Islamic fund managers.
The Shariah-compliant securities services are available globally to Islamic investment managers and traditional investment managers, managing Islamic funds.

Nigeria wants to establish itself as the African hub for Islamic banking and is working on a regulatory framework to try to emulate the success of the industry in Malaysia.
Nigeria is home to the largest Muslim population in sub-Saharan Africa, with around half of its 150 million people members of the Islamic faith. It is also home to one of Africa's fastest growing consumer and corporate banking sectors.

Since the global economic downturn in 2008, Dubai has sought to display signs of financial improvement. And the glitzy sheikhdom of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has begun to demonstrate growth, except in real estate.
Despite the pessimism pervading the market, Dubai launched a Shariah-compliant real estate investment trust (REIT) in November. Emirates REIT, jointly developed by Dubai Islamic Bank and Eiffel Management, a French REIT specialist, joins a number of Shariah-compliant REITs that have been set up Asia and the Middle East over recent months. Governments and Islamic financiers alike hope the new products will spur investment from Muslims and non-Muslims into these regional real estate sectors.

Young working adults can now buy themselves a new home without having to pay anything in down payment.
The My First Home Scheme is launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and will enable them to buy houses costing between RM100,000 and RM220,000 with a repayment period of up to 30 years. The scheme sees the participation of 25 conventional and Islamic financial institutions including major banks like AmBank, CIMB, Hong Leong, Maybank, Public Bank, RHB and Standard Chartered.

Unicorn Investment Bank (Unicorn) announced in a press release on Tuesday its results for the year ended Dec. 31, 2010. The Bank has reported an annual net loss for the first time, reflecting the continuing effects of the uncertainty in the global financial markets.
Total income for 2010 was $12.3 million, down from $96.5 million in 2009. With limited exceptions, the reduction in income was due to a general lowering of deal flows, within a stressed financial and operating environment.

Kuwait Finance House's (KFH) Turkish unit will launch a 500 million US dollar Islamic bond by the end of the year.
Mohammed Al-Omar said the Islamic lender will issue the benchmark Sukuk following the success of Turkey's first Islamic bond offering, from lender Kuveyt Turk in August.
Al-Omar noted that the law is a significant step forward that reveals a great desire by many Turkish companies that have good assets but lack the suitable financing to expand locally and overseas to benefit from this new financing instrument; especially after those companies realized the numerous benefits of Sukuk, which include providing financing through Sukuk while neither hindering projects nor exhausting their budgets.

The Real Estate Development Fund (REDF) has approved 25,000 loans to help finance construction of 3,000 residential units in cities and provinces in the Kingdom in accordance with its priority list of loan applications.
Hasan Al-Attas, REDF’s Acting Director General, gave a statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) in which was said that the value of the loans amounts to SR7.5 billion, representing the second tranche of the generous support ordered by King Abdullah.