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Kuwait Finance House (KFH) CEO Mohammed Al-Omar stated that that the Fatwa and Shariah Supervisory Authority has embodied the moral and social responsibility towards the society as a unit that operates in harmony to protect the client by ensuring that all banking transactions are Shariah compliant. The authority has played a pivotal role in developing numerous products that caused a paradigm shift in the in the history of Islamic banking. He appealed to governments to resort to Sukuk, since Sukuk have greatly succeeded in financing many projects, which made Sukuk highly demanded by worldwide.
Al-Omar added in a paper that he presented during the Islamic Financial Institutions Forum in Beirut, that Sukuk are considered to be the Shariah compliant alternative for bonds, were not granted an opportunity to highlight its role as a suitable financing tool, despite the advantages that Sukuk have, such as creating assets that have a specific value, which makes the financing process based on real tangible assets, in addition to the fact that it does not burden governments and companies.

Persian Gulf issuers are choosing to sell non-Islamic bonds instead of sukuk in the borrowing rush that has followed Dubai World’s debt restructuring.
The abundance of liquidity in the non-Islamic debt market, the enforceability of investors’ rights in defaults and the extra cost associated with Islamic bond documentation are steering issuers away from sukuk, Unicorn Investment Bank BSC’s senior vice president of capital markets said.

THE Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank will be preoccupied with two developments in 2011 apart from its established plan of action. This is the progress toward the launch of its mega bank project and the other is the continuation of its trust certificate (sukuk) program.
The mega bank project was promoted by Saleh Kamel, head of Dallah Albaraka Group, who has been trying to get it launched for the last few years. But his failure to get the project started off through the support of both government and private investors saw the project somehow passed on to the IDB. The plan is to launch a mega bank that will effectively be an Islamic Interbank bank, with the aim of providing short-term liquidity to the global Islamic banking market and of promoting the trading of sukuk in the secondary market by acting as a market maker.
CIMB of Malaysia, Citigroup, HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank acted as joint lead managers and joint book-runners, and NCB Capital of Saudi Arabia acted as co-lead manager for this transaction. The success of IDB's transaction was underpinned by a comprehensive international road show covering Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Qatar Islamic Bank's (QIB) ratings as Long-term Issuer Default (IDR) 'A' with Stable Outlook, Short-term IDR 'F1,' Individual 'C,' Support '1' and Support Rating Floor 'A.'
The Individual Rating (or stand-alone strength) reflects QIB's position as the leading Islamic franchise with a nearly 50 percent share of Islamic assets and a nine percent overall market share of system assets, in addition to the Bank's high earnings power from core banking and healthy capital ratios.

On 18 November 2010 the "Islamic Finance Conference" will be held in Frankfurt am Main as part of the 13th EURO FINANCE WEEK (EFW) taking place from 15 to 19 November 2010 under the auspices of Dr. Wolfgang Schäuble, Minister of Finance of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The conference is organised in cooperation with the Union of Arab Banks. Institutional partner is the Institute for Islamic Banking and Finance.

The conference focuses challenges and opportunities of the Islamic Finance in Germany and in Europe and discusses investment trends, Sukuk’s opportunities as well as Islamic Wealth Management and last not least an Islamic Finance outlook.

Information about the event can be found under www.eurofinanceweek.com/islamicfinance

The organizer of the event, the Maleki Group, has offered a limited number of “Guest Ticket” exclusively for Islamic Finance group. Please note, admission upon the special guest ticket is very limited and the registrations will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis.

Recent developments in the Islamic finance market prompted the industry to rethink the role of Shari'ah scholars. Most Islamic financial institutions appoint a supervisory board or committee of religious scholars who are tasked with reviewing their transactions in order to ensure that they comply with the principles of Islamic Shari'ah in their business and financial dealings. A Shari'ah supervisory board or committee approves or rejects a transaction through the issuance of a fatwa (an opinion or proclamation about the Shari'ah compliance of such a transaction).
When issuing fatawa, Shari'ah scholars are practising ijtihad and they should enjoy complete freedom in their practice of ijtihad; their guidance and limitations should only come from the five sources of Islamic Shari'ah being:
* Qur'an (the holy book revered by Muslims);
* Sunna (the practice and traditions of the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him);
* Qiyas (a comparison, used to make a judgement on issues which have no clear-cut ruling in the Qur'an or the Sunna, by consideration of similar issues which do have clear ruling);
* Ijtehad (the diligent judgement of the scholars through reasoning and logic); and

Bahrain-based Shari'ah-compliant investment firm Gulf Finance House (GFH) plans to ask holders of its $200m Islamic bond to extend its maturity by three years to 2015 from 2012, as part of its debt restructuring, Reuters has reported.

Private Financial Services Department Manager at Kuwait Finance House (KFH) Talal Al-Nesf claims demand for private Islamic banking services has grown rapidly during the past two years, despite the impact of the financial crisis.
However, Al-Nest also pointed out that private banking clients have reassessed their objectives and strategies, becoming more conservative while also seeking profitable products with minimal risks. Such an approach is contrary to their approach before the crisis, where they were willing to take high risks in return for high returns in light of the available opportunities and liquidity.
KFH is currently considering new products from all aspects, especially the level of risk, the expected returns, and the estimated exiting time. Those products are expected to be offered through funds that invest in the sectors of Ijarah and shipping. In addition, Al-Nest stated that KFH is expected to boost the Sukuk market.

Gatehouse Bank plc (Gatehouse), a wholesale Shariah compliant investment bank in the City of London, recorded another successful property acquisition with the completion of the £32.65 million acquisition of the InterContinental Hotels Group Global Headquarters in Denham, Greater London, UK; to bring Gatehouse’s total property acquisition value to more than £160million.
In association with GSH Kuwait, Gatehouse has acquired the InterContinental Hotels Group headquarters building, a 97,340 sq. ft. property that is fully occupied by InterContinental Hotels Group until July 2022, providing a 12 years term certain income with no breaks.
Gatehouse continues to provide client service excellence through its nimble ability to respond to client requests for annualised returns with low risk.

Bankers in Islamic finance are increasingly outsourcing sharia supervision due to a lack of scholars in the industry, but critics say this is making the sector even less transparent and slowing its development.
Critics say growth and product innovation is being further stifled by the limited number of top scholars available to join the sharia boards of Islamic banks, some sitting on up to 80 boards.
Instead of maintaining their own costly sharia boards with prominent scholars, bankers are increasingly using consultancy firms that directly deal with the scholars.
During the boom years, scholars in the Gulf Arab region allowed investment firms to book large amounts of up front fees on the money they raised for property deals, violating the Islamic principle that risk and rewards should be shared.
Critics say sharia consultancy firms will not bring about any real sharia supervision. Currently, sharia boards only act as advisers and are not accountable for decisions as boards of directors would be.

Tata Group’s investment unit is seeking to attract about $100 million within three years to India’s first Shariah-compliant fund aimed at global investors, targeting equities in a country that lacks regulations for establishing an Islamic debt market.
The Tata Indian Shariah Equity Fund has $3 million after being set up in June to tap investment mainly from the Middle East.
India has no Islamic finance policies, restricting sales of Shariah-compliant bonds in a nation with 157 million Muslims, according to Paris-based BNP Paribas SA and Standard Chartered Plc.

King & Spalding announced today that Rizwan Kanji, a leading debt capital markets practitioner, is joining the firm as a partner in its Dubai office. Kanji will have a leading role in King & Spalding's debt capital markets and sukuk practice.
Kanji joins King & Spalding from Norton Rose, where he led its Middle East debt capital markets practice. He has advised on several recent landmark sukuk and conventional transactions, including the first Turkish sukuk.
King & Spalding has a team of nearly 30 lawyers in its Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Riyadh offices specializing in complex commercial, corporate and financial transactions as well as project development, construction and engineering, with particular emphasis on matters related to the energy industry.

Pakistan’s largest Shariah funds plan to bid for the 80 billion rupees of Islamic debt the government will offer in coming weeks after a 14-month suspension of sales.
Pakistan is selling the debt as the nation’s Islamic banking assets increased an average 30 percent in the past four years. Investors might prefer securities due in a year or less after record floods in August pushed up prices of goods and forced the central bank to raise its benchmark interest rate to the highest level in 17 months, according to Al Meezan and NBP Fullerton.

When Malaysian Aida Othman signed up for the new law programme at the Islamic university, she did not expect to become one the few women with their hands on the levers of the world's $1 trillion Islamic finance sector.
Rising global demand for scholars who can advise firms on compliance with Islamic legal principles called sharia is behind the quiet and almost accidental way in which women are growing into a small but powerful force in a male-dominated business.
There are 221 Islamic finance scholars globally but only a handful are in high demand, with the top six occupying almost a third of the 1,054 board positions open to Islamic experts, a Funds@Work report issued this year shows.
This small circle of men dominate the boards of Islamic banks but there are now about 10 women sharia advisers in Malaysia, home to the world's largest market for sukuk, or Islamic bonds.
The number of women sharia scholars in Malaysia has more than tripled in the last five years according to some estimates.
There are no official figures, but practitioners say there are no women sharia advisers in the Middle East.

Emirati housewife Sarah Alzarouni brushed past a group of women clad in traditional dress to enter through the frosted doors of one of Dubai Islamic Bank’s women-only branches.
Alzarouni greeted the female tellers and sat down to do business.
Many affluent Muslim women share Alzarouni’s sentiments and they are increasingly turning to Islamic banks to manage their money. These women are looking beyond basic banking services to sophisticated products to grow their wealth while complying with Islamic principals that include a ban on interest.
Financial institutions in the Gulf Arab region, where many women are reluctant to mix with men outside their families, are tapping into the niche, with women-only bank branches and investment funds mushrooming. Saudi Arabia is leading the charge.
Abu Dhabi-based Al Bashayer Investments, a conventional wealth management firm geared towards women investors, is also looking to launch Islamic products to address the needs of women in the region who prefer investments that are in keeping with their religious beliefs.

Interest-free pension funds have been making inroads into Turkey ever since the requirement necessitating holding at least 30 percent of Treasury bills and bonds in investment portfolios was lifted in 2008.
The Capital Markets Board (SPK) lifted the requirement that 30 percent of the funds in the pension funds pool should be in Treasury bills and bonds. With the new regulation, participation banks have begun offering retirement packages to customers who do not want interest-bearing accounts.
The primary investment tool used in the pool of these pension funds is income-indexed bonds (GES) since the Islamic mode of finance depends on assets and not on money itself. GESs distribute the revenues of the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO), the State Supply Office (DMO), the State Airports Management General Directorate (DHM?) and the Directorate General of Coastal Safety (KIYEM).
The pensioner will deposit, in most cases monthly, a pre-determined amount of money to the pension fund. The pension fund will then invest this pool of money in various investment assets such as commodities, stocks, interest-bearing tools or in companies which deal in fields prohibited by Islam.

Dubai-based Minhaj Sharia’h Financial Advisory and Bahrain-based Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOFI) have launched a set of 11 new Sharia’h standards for Islamic financial institutions.
Commenting on the launch, Minhaj and AAOFI said these Sharia’h standards will help FIs tackle contemporary issues of banking, finance and investment.
The new Islamic norms have been conceived in the wake of the challenges faced by the Islamic FIs in the current times and paves the way for them to sort out a variety of issues in the light of Islamic jurisprudence.

Recent initial public offerings (IPOs) were greeted enthusiastically by the market on their debut but for most of them, it appears the welcome ends there.
With the exception of two mega IPOs that are still holding up above their offer prices, others have pulled back after a strong showing on their first trading day, with some even falling below their IPO prices.
Meanwhile, new mainboard Chinese listings were given the cold shoulder immediately after their trading debuts. China's first aluminium producer to list here, XinRen Aluminum Holdings, also lost steam after a fiery run-up on its debut, eventually falling below the 55-cent offer price.
Other IPOs making their way to the market soon include South Korea's STX offshore unit, STX Offshore and Specialised Vessels.
For New Century Shipbuilding, this will be its second attempt to list here.
Analysts say that while the massive printing of money in the US is causing a flood of liquidity into Asian asset classes and bolstering their stock markets, uncertainties in the global economy and currency markets keep investors from taking on a longer-term view.

Manazil Hospitality, a new company specialising in hospitality was launched in Qatar recently.
The firm is looking for opportunities at managing hotel properties, especially in the region by extending superior hospitality services while preserving the culture and tradition of the country.
Presently, Manazil is managing a successful business-corporate hotel in Doha and have been in the hospitality trade for the past decade while being Shariah-compliant.
Manazil is readying their second property, a new hotel which is expected to open in the first quarter of next year. The group is also negotiating with a couple of other hotel owners in managing their properties.

THE best Islamic Finance principle to base the much-awaited Saudi mortgage law should be sukuk-based with a Shariah-compliant set of guidelines, Giambattista Atzeni, vice president and MENA business manager for corporate trust and a member of the steering committee of the Gulf Bond and Sukuk Association at BNY Mellon Corporate Trust in Dubai told Arab News.
A shortage of housing and rising land costs, according to a report released this month by CB Ellis states that the prices of housing are rising.
The report also confirmed in Jeddah alone there is a shortage of 300,000 dwellings.
Currently the debate on when the law will finally be introduced has been shelved until after the holy month of Ramadan.
In a previous interview with Arab News, Muhammed Al-Ghamdi, secretary-general of the Shoura Council has said that some of its members needed more time to discuss the proposed mortgage law concerning the country’s economy and this is why it has been delayed.