IslamicFinance.de

Protestants are trying to block the National Assembly from approving an Islamic bond bill. Giving in to their pressure, the governing Grand National Party (GNP) has decided to stop deliberations on the bill.
Last week, the Christian Church applied more pressure on the government and the legislature, heightening tension over the issue. Rev. Cho Yong-gi, emeritus pastor of the Yeouido Full Gospel Church, has threatened to stage a campaign to force President Lee Myung-bak out of power unless his administration gives up the legislation bid for Islamic bonds.

National Bank of Abu Dhabi is ready to launch conventional and Islamic Real Estate Investment Trusts, or REITs, but is waiting for the right time to go ahead.

Pastor David Yonggi Cho has declared war against President Lee Myung-bak over the administration’s backing of a bill that will provide a tax exemption for the local issuers of Islamic sukuk bonds.
Sukuk bonds conform to an Islamic law that bans interest payments and instead offers bondholders dividends or leasing profits as compensation. The pending legislation would have offered tax concessions to Korean corporate issuers of sukuk bonds in order to tap funds from oil-rich Middle Eastern countries.

The demand for Shariah-compliant financial products is growing very rapidly which is expected to take the total assets of this sector up to USD 3 trillion by 2016.
Scientists working with the University of Zurich professor of economics, Ernst Fehr recently made a striking discovery; based on psychological experiments, they found religiosity to have a significant influence on economic action.

The dominant market position of Jordan Islamic Bank is likely to remain uncontested for the foreseeable future, enabling the bank to sustain its business expansion. This was the conclusion made recently by Cyprus-based Capital Intelligence, the credit-rating agency that specializes in emerging markets.
Despite the entry of an increased number of Gulf Cooperation Council-based Islamic banks, including Al-Rajhi Bank and Dubai Islamic Bank, in the domestic Islamic banking market, Jordan Islamic Bank (JIB) continues to control a substantial share of Shariah-compliant financing and deposits in Jordan.

Doha Bank wants to continue investing in Islamic finance even as it focuses on cross-border funding. The bank will also explore various other options including Islamic asset sales after the recent Qatar Central Bank (QCB) directive to commercial banks on their Islamic operations.
Doha Bank, which is predominantly a commercial bank with 89% of its assets in conventional side, is also planning to grow across the border.

Doha Bank wants to continue investing in Islamic finance even as it focuses on cross-border funding. The bank will also explore various other options including Islamic asset sales after the recent Qatar Central Bank (QCB) directive to commercial banks on their Islamic operations.
Doha Bank, which is predominantly a commercial bank with 89% of its assets in conventional side, is also planning to grow across the border.

Gatehouse Bank plans to bring a $96.77 million Islamic bond to market by the end of the first quarter.
Richard Thomas, speaking on the sidelines of an Islamic forum in Abu Dhabi, said the bank would also arrange a 25-million pound ($40 million) syndicated lease financing this year.

Qatar Charity (QC) has launched a drive to alleviate the sufferings of tens of thousands of people in Libya in the wake of the current unrest in that country.
The target sum of the campaign has been pegged at QR3.5mn. Aid materials, especially medicine and food, would be bought from Egypt.

The issuance by the Qatar Central Bank (QCB) of a directive requiring the country’s conventional banks which have opened Islamic banking windows (IBWs) to close them down by the end of 2011 may result in operational complexities in the implementation of the directive.
Both Professor Rifaat Abdel Karim and Islamic bankers such as Richard Thomas agree that the complexities lie with trying to match short-term deposits placed with the IBWs with their longer term liabilities.

ABC Islamic Bank has announced a net profit of $2.1 million for 2010.
ABC Islamic Bank's total assets declined to $1.21 billion as of 31st December 2010 from $1.32 billion at 31st December 2009 mainly due to decline in available-for-sale investments, Murabaha receivables and Ijarah assets as a result of further de-risking of the balance sheet.

The National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) will launch an Islamic repurchase agreement product which it plans to go live with in two weeks, a bank executive told reporters on the sidelines of the Global Financial Market Islamic Forum.

Some economists and bankers in Bahrain blamed the hesitant approach of the Central Bank of Bahrain for failing to identify problems in the country's banking sector in the lead-up to the crisis. That is the oppinion of WikiLeak.
The alleged cable was sent on November 24 2009 by Joseph Adam Ereli, the United States' ambassador in Bahrain to the US Secretary of State.

Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority has authorised Takaful International Company BSC ("TIC") to establish a branch within the Qatar Financial Centre.

British lender Barclays Bank has appointed Dominic Selwood as a director responsible for its Islamic products services.
Selwood joins Barclays as a director in the Financial Institutional Structuring Group (FISG) and is currently based in London.

The political conflict that has spread to Bahrain, Libya, Yemen and Morocco will make it more expensive for companies to issue Islamic bonds in the region and in Malaysia. The Asian nation is attractive to borrowers because of its lower yields.
But spreading unrest across the Middle East may be encouraging Shariah-compliant investors to increase purchases of Asian assets and will spur sales of Islamic bonds.

Bank Al-Jazira reduced provisions for bad loans by 75 percent in the fourth quarter. Provisions dropped to 65 million riyals ($17 million) in the three months ended Dec. 31.

Hajara Adeola is the CEO of Lotus Capital Limited, an ethical investment firm specialising in Shari’ah compliant asset management. She speaks on the challenges of Islamic finance practices in Nigeria and why the country should be part of the huge global Islamic finance market.
"I can use money, but I can't eat it. But I can buy rice at a cost and trade it at a premium and make my profit. Or I can build a house, and I can rent or lease it out. The fact that I have N7,000 for a bag of rice, I should not earn money just for having it in cash, as you do in the bank which is what interest is. You get a rate on money and that is what is forbidden in Islam." This is one of her many points of view.

Dubai Islamic Bank has been assigned an 'A' rating by Fitch Ratings, the New York and London-headquartered global ratings agency.

Board Members and Management of The Investment Dar Company K.S.C.C. and the Coordinating Committee met with TID's Banks and Investors in Kuwait to provide an update on the Company's restructuring process.
At the meeting, TID's Banks and Investors were presented with the headline terms of the agreed ESP, as previously disclosed together with illustrative business, operational and governance plans for its implementation. Updates were also provided on individual assets and outstanding issues.