IslamicFinance.de

LOLC Al-Falaah, the Islamic Business Unit of Lanka ORIX Finance Company Ltd., has made significant progress in terms of taking Shari'ah compliant Islamic financial services to the masses.
At a recent gathering of the members of its Shari'ah Supervisory Board (SSB), business activities and processes of LOLC Al-Falaah were reviewed. At this review meeting, LOLC Al-Falaah recieved congratulations for its commitment to Shari'ah compliance, and the progress it had made as an industry's trend setting Islamic financial entity.

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) made an announcement that it had closed Dh250 million syndicated Islamic financing deal for Emirates National Factory for Plastic Industries (ENPI).
ENPI is majority owned by Qatar First Investment Bank (QFIB).

Gulf Investment Corporation GSC Kuwait (GIC) had on Tuesday, March 1 issued its first local currency Sukuk amounting to RM600 million in the Malaysian market.
The GIC stated that this would be its third bond offering in Malaysia.

National Bonds Corporation has announced a profit of 3.78 per cent for its bond holders despite a challenging year in 2010.
The CEO of the leading Shariah compliant saving scheme in the UAE, discussed a variety of subjects concerning the National Bonds and their customers as well as plans for 2011 and beyond.

Emirates Post has decided to abandon plans for a public listing after toying with the idea for past few years.
A National Commercial Bank report said that the "much anticipated" issue was of Emirates Post which was expected to raise more than $270 million.
Government support has been critically important for IPO activity in the GCC during the crisis.

First Energy Bank (FEB) held its first Board Meeting for the year on the 9th of February, 2011, during which the board discussed the Bank's recent performance as well as the Bank's plans for 2011 and further.
In addition to that, the board of directors unanimously appointed Khadem Abdulla Al Qubaisi as the Bank's new chairman, following the recent departure of the Bank's former chairman, Esam Janahi.

Al Baraka Banking Group announced that it has achieved a net income of US$ 193 million in 2010, an increase of 15% on the income achieved in 2009. Similarly, balance sheet items witnessed notable increases.
The financial statements of the Group for 2010 showed that the continued expansion in business reflected positively on income, with total operating income of US$ 659 million in 2010, an increase of 4% over 2009.

The Finance Ministry’s debt management office plans to introduce new sharia-compliant debt instruments, including project Islamic bonds (sukuk) designated for infrastructure projects and sharia short-term Treasury bills.
The ministry was also studying plans to introduce one-year sharia and regular T-bills to meet demands for short-term sharia notes and to help the liquidity management of sharia banks.

STOXX has launched three Shariah-compliant indices in Europe.
The new indices are the STOXX Europe Islamic Index and its two blue-chip sub-indices, the STOXX Europe Islamic 50 and EURO STOXX Islamic 50.

Referred to as the Bursa Malaysia Sovereign Shariah Index (BMSSI), the new Malaysian ringgit sukuk index was developed with the help of the Association of Islamic Banking Institutions Malaysia (Aibim) and will form part of Bloomberg's Islamic Finance Platform which seeks to leverage on the growing demand for information for syariah-compliant products and services.

Dow Jones Islamic Market Index (DJIM) suffered the largest losses in February. Political crisis and civil unrest in Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, Yemen, Morocco, escalating even to a civil war like in Libya, weighed on the markets.
The turmoil led the DJIM Kuwait Index to drop 8.64% . DJ Dubai Financial Market (DFM) Titans 10 Index lost 4.83%.These declines stand in stark contrast to the rise in energy prices, which usually lift Middle Eastern markets.

National Bank of Bahrain B.S.C. : A3 long-term local and foreign-currency deposit ratings and C- BFSR.
BMI Bank B.S.C. : Baa3/Prime-3 local and foreign-currency deposit ratings and D BFSR.
BBK B.S.C. : A3 long-term local and foreign-currency deposit ratings and C- BFSR.
Moody's decision to place the ratings of NBB, BBK and BMI on review for possible downgrade follows a similar action taken by the rating agency on 23 February, when it placed the sovereign rating of the Bahraini government on review for possible downgrade.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services placed its 'BBB' long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings on Bahrain-based insurer Takaful International Co. BSC on CreditWatch with negative implications.
This rating action follows the recent downgrade of the long-term local currency sovereign rating on the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Kuwait's Investment Dar has proposed some $1.69bn in asset sales over three years to creditors as part of a $3.58bn restructuring plan, Reuters has reported, citing banking sources.
Dar will sell its stakes in Kuwait's Boubyan Bank and Bahrain Islamic Bank.

Deutsche Gulf Finance, a joint venture between Deutsche Bank and a group of Saudi investors, won the “leader in Islamic Home Finance” award at a recently concluded building and infrastructure summit in Riyadh.
The summit also addressed the infrastructure and real estate market within the Kingdom.

Saba Islamic Bank topped the local Islamic banks for the 12th straight year in terms of the profit rates on the investment deposits in 2010.
The Bank also posted a record increase in deposits and returns. As it continues success, Saba Islamic Bank plans to plans to open new branches in the country and the African horn and launch new services for individuals and institutions and residential cities to meet the demands of its clients.

Capital Intelligence (CI) has affirmed Tadhamon International Islamic Bank's (TIIB) Long-Term and Short-Term Foreign Currency ratings at B and B respectively.
The outlook on all ratings is 'Stable'. The operating environment remains very challenging with difficult banking conditions, and this position is reflected in the bank's ratings.

Capital Intelligence (CI) has affirmed Tadhamon International Islamic Bank's (TIIB) Long-Term and Short-Term Foreign Currency ratings at B and B respectively.
The outlook on all ratings is 'Stable'. The operating environment remains very challenging with difficult banking conditions, and this position is reflected in the bank's ratings.

Conventional banks were allowed to have Islamic operations to help them have diversified sources of revenue and make the local banking industry more competitive.
Islamic banks in the country had small capital base then and that was another reason why their conventional counterparts were permitted to offer Islamic banking services.
Abdullah bin Khalid Al Attiyah thinks that the banks dispensing credit should rely more on their own judgment and risk managing abilities than on the directives of the QCB.

The government is keen on improving the lives of Filipino Muslims and efforts on this are expected to have more meaningful results as the government starts talks with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB).