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Fitch Ratings has downgraded UAE-based Dubai Bank's Individual Rating to 'D/E' from 'D' and maintained it on Rating Watch Negative (RWN).
At the same time, Fitch affirmed Dubai Bank's Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'BBB-', Short-term IDR at 'F3', Support Rating at '2' and Support Rating Floor at 'BBB-'. The Outlook on the Long-term IDR is Negative. The ratings on Dubai Bank's Sukuk Programme were also affirmed at 'BBB-', although there is no outstanding issuance.

The recent inflow of funds into the Malaysian sukuk market from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is temporary, fuelled by the build-up of investable funds in the GCC from the hike in crude oil prices amid the political upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa region.
Industry observers and analysts viewed the withdrawals of funds from the region and their inflows into the domestic sukuk market and other more stable ones would depend on the severity and duration of the region's ongoing political turmoil.

The scale of the sukuk market and regulations in place mean profit from issuing Islamic bonds wouldn’t end up in terrorists’ hands.
Hawala is an informal remittance system, which, evidence shows, is used for money laundering. Nearly all sukuk are purchased by institutional investors, mostly central banks, banks and Islamic insurance companies, and almost none goes to private portfolios.
All those entities have strict anti-money laundering procedures in place and are fully compliant with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) regulations.
The FATF is part of the OECD with the global anti-terrorism financing regulatory power.

Political unrest and the resulting economic impact in some countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are proving detrimental to sovereign credit quality in the region. This is written in the following two reports of Standard & Poor's Ratings Services: "Credit FAQ: Middle East Unrest's Credit Impact: How We Assess The Political And Economic Risks In Sovereign Ratings," and "Report Card: Middle East And North Africa Sovereign Ratings Dip As Political And Fiscal Risks Intensify."
Almost all sovereigns in the region, including wealthy oil-exporting countries, share, to varying degrees, some or many of the political and economic risks that we believe underlie the unrest.

President Lee Myung-bak called for a greater role for the Christian community in addressing social conflicts, in an apparent appeal to some church leaders who have opposed the government’s plan to give tax benefits to holders of Islamic bonds, or “sukuk.”
The meeting drew keen attention amid controversy regarding collective action by some Christian groups to nullify such a plan aimed at attracting investment from oil-rich Muslim countries.

ABC Islamic Bank expects to expand its customer base and develop new products this year as customers' appetite for borrowing returns.
The subsidiary of Bahrain-based Arab Banking Corporation on Thursday posted a net profit of $2.1 million this year compared to $10.1 million in 2009.

Bank Asya, one of Turkey’s four Islamic banks, has mandated ABC Islamic Bank, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Standard Chartered to arrange its $150m dual currency one year murabaha loan.

The Turkish banking sector will shrink this year if the Central Bank increases the required reserve ratio for banks in a bid to control the already-high credit expansion. This statement was given by Fahrettin Yah?i, general manager of the Albaraka Türk Participation Bank.
Albaraka plans a sukuk, or Islamic bond, sale in September or October, Yah?i said Wednesday on CNBC-e television. The bank may offer at least $100 million of sukuk this year.

Global sales of Shariah-compliant bonds surged to $2.8bn in the first two months of this year, compared with $676mn in the same period of 2010. This statement was given by Bloomberg.
Badlisyah Abdul Ghani, chief executive officer at Kuala Lumpur-based CIMB Islamic Bank Bhd has the oppinion that the rising yields are deterring potential issuers.

Turkish Islamic lender Bank Asya has appointed ABC Islamic Bank, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Noor Islamic Bank and Standard Chartered Bank as initial mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners for a US$150m syndicated dual currency murabaha financing.

Max Linnington is head of Bloomberg for the Middle East and North Africa and South Asia. He makes a statement about the launch of the company’s new Islamic finance platform.
Bloomberg’s platform is trying to give customers the tools that they need to make the very best investment decisions when it comes to investing in a Sharia-compliant way. Because this community is a little bit disparate, Bloomberg also try to connect the community together.

Saudi King Abdullah’s pledge to increase spending on housing by 55 billion riyals ($15 billion) probably will do little to relieve the country’s home shortage unless it’s coupled with long-delayed changes in mortgage financing laws.
The kingdom’s 86-year-old monarch last week announced plans to spend about 110 billion riyals on programs aimed at boosting housing, education and social welfare. Governments from Jordan to Yemen have offered concessions to quell public discontent after popular uprisings toppled leaders in Tunisia and Egypt last month and sparked protests across the Middle East and North Africa.

The launch of an interest-free financial firm in the south Indian state of Kerala would have a dramatic impact on development activities in the state.
Opening a seminar on "Prospects of interest-free banking" at the Town Hall here, Isaac said the availability of funds without interests would boost development projects across the country.
The seminar was organized by the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC), which has 11 percent stake in the newly launched Al-Baraka Financial Services, which operates on Islamic principles.

Indonesia's finance ministry sold 1.15 trillion rupiah ($130.36 million) of 25-year sukuk.
The ministry received offers for more than four times that amount. The 25-year sukuk yield was slightly higher than the country's 20-year conventional bond.
Indonesia aims to issue global sukuk in the second half this year and is finishing regulations for the issue.

Gulf Investment Corp GSC Kuwait (GIC) has issued its maiden local currency sukuk yesterday, making it the first Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) issuer in the Malaysian sukuk market.
The RM600mil sukuk is an inaugural issue from GIC’s RM3.5bil sukuk medium-term note programme.
The Royal Bank of Scotland Bhd (RBS) is the sole principal adviser and sole lead arranger. RBS also acted as joint lead managers and joint bookrunners alongside Maybank Investment Bank Bhd.

Academics and industry participants in Malaysia are advocating further developments of treasury and money market products, notably via a new exchange initiative. But commodity murabaha structures developed to facilitate liquidity management by banks based on palm oil have attracted criticism from some quarters.
That’s why the Malaysian authorities are pushing ahead with efforts to make the country a world-leading Islamic financial hub. One of its latest initiatives has been to establish interbank money market instruments based on palm oil to satisfy the treasury needs of Islamic financial institutions.

International Islamic (QIIB) has got shareholders’ approval for issuing sukuk the bank can utilise to boost capital, if required, at a later stage.
Addressing the shareholders earlier, QIIB chairman Sheikh Dr Khalid bin Thani al-Thani said the bank kept strengthening its position as leading Islamic bank in line with the requirements of a rapidly developing economy.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Tuesday accepted bids worth Rs 47.539 billion for 3-year government of Pakistan Ijara Sukuk against the bids offered worth Rs 56.839 billion.
The SBP further announced that the cut-margin will be applicable to all accepted bids and the benchmark is 6-month Market Treasury Bill (MTB) auction weighted average yield.

The report, "Global Standards Needed To Give Breadth And Depth To Growing Sukuk Market," says that issuance reached a record high of $51.2 billion in 2010--including those issued and matured that same year.
In 2011, Standard & Poor’s believes that the depth and breadth of Sukuk issuance will continue to hinge on the extent of the global economic recovery.

The UAE will not follow Qatar in banning conventional banks from operating Islamic services, as its financial system has a different legal framework. Conventional banks will remain free to offer Sharia-compliant banking products. That is the statement of the Central Bank Governor, Sultan al Suwaidi.
Islamic finance banks based in the Dubai International Financial Centre are required to operate within AAOIFI guidelines.