IslamicFinance.de

Newly launched Saudi bank Alinma said on Saturday its fourth quarter net profit fell 85 percent from the previous quarter due to increased operational costs.

Emirates Global Islamic Bank has launched a BancaTakaful product ‘Sarparast Family Takaful Plan’ in collaboration with Pak-Qatar Family Takaful and FWU AG a global facilitator of BancaTakaful.

Dubai Bank confirmed today that its current Chief Executive Officer, Salaam Al Shaksy, will be leaving the Dubai-based Shari'a-compliant financial institution to assume the role of Chief Executive Officer at National Bank of Oman.

Eastern District Cooling Co. Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Zamil Industrial Investment Company (Zamil Industrial), has signed with The National Commercial Bank (NCB), the first non-recourse project financing done in the region for a district cooling project. In November 2007, Zamil Industrial signed a 22-year Energy Performance contract with Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) for the complete outsourcing of process and comfort cooling, including the building of a central cooling plant to supply 20,000 tons of refrigeration within the premises of
Saudi Iron & Steel Company (Hadeed) in Jubail Industrial City.

Sime Darby Bhd yesterday listed its Ringgit Malaysia Sukuk Programme on Bursa Malaysia with a combined master limit of RM4.5bil under the Exempt Regime.

Moody's Investors Service today downgraded the ratings for Aldar Properties PJSC (Aldar), the Trust Certificates (sukuk) issued by Sukuk Funding (No. 2) Limited and the guaranteed Notes issued by Atlantic Finance Limited, to Baa2 from A3. Ratings have been kept on review for further possible downgrade as part of the ongoing review of government support for Abu Dhabi and UAE corporates initiated by Moody's on December 9, 2009.

Medium-term growth prospects for the world's sukuk market are good, said Standard & Poor's Ratings Services in a report published today. In addition, we understand from unofficial market sources that about US$10 billion more could potentially enter the pipeline. If that comes to market, total sukuk issuance in 2010 could approach the current 2007 record of US$34.3 billion. The main uncertainty this year is market conditions.

Financial regulators in Brunei have placed restrictions on how small the amounts credit card issuers can set for monthly repayment of credit card debts, according to a directive from the country’s Ministry of Finance. Cardholder incomes also will determine credit card spending limits, the directive states.

India is planning to overhaul regulation of its financial system to attract investments from the Gulf and to encourage its largely unbanked Muslim population to save money in a way compliant with their religion, a senior government adviser has said. K Rahman Khan, deputy chairman of India's upper house of parliament, told the Financial Times that the ruling Congress Party is proposing reforms to the finance ministry, the Reserve Bank of India and Securities and Exchange Board of India to allow for the introduction of Islamic financial services.

For the second year in a row Al Rajhi Bank has achieved first place ahead of 80 other large Saudi companies participating at the Saudi "Competitiveness for Responsibility" awards. Held as part of the Global Competitiveness Forum activities, the ceremony honouring the participants was organised by Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority with the support of the King Khalid Charitable Foundation.

Press Release

Bahrain-Based Gulf Finance House Lowered To 'SD/SD' (Selective Default) On Partial Debt Extension

*Bahrain-based Gulf Finance House (GFH) yesterday extended the maturity of $100
million of its $300 million syndicated loan by six months. *Because we consider the
partial debt maturity extension a "distressed exchange", we are downgrading GFH to
'SD/SD' (selective default) from 'CC/C'. *We expect GFH to soon extend the maturity
of another facility (subject to final approval from all syndicate members). Once the
maturity extension is finalized, we plan to reassess GFH's credit standing and
change the ratings accordingly.

PARIS (Standard & Poor's) Feb. 10, 2010--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said
today it lowered its long- and short-term counterparty credit ratings on
Bahrain-based Gulf Finance House G.S.C. (GFH) to 'SD/SD' (selective default) from
'CC/C'.

"The downgrade to 'SD/SD' follows GFH's completion of the extension of maturity of
$100 million of its $300 million syndicated loan facility due Feb. 10, 2010," said
Standard & Poor's credit analyst Emmanuel Volland.

Bahrain-based Islamic lender Al Baraka is in talks to buy a stake in Malaysia's Bank Muamalat, its chief executive said, with a source adding it could buy up to 49 percent in the lender.

Noor Investment Group's Noor Islamic Bank and Noor Takaful announced the creation of a new social media online forum shapeyourcountry.com to connect people living in the UAE across nationalities, age and econ-omic status, as well as Emiratis residing abroad.

King & Spalding, a leading international law firm, said it had advised Riyadh-based Jadwa Investment Company in the acquisition of a significant equity stake in Gulf Union Foods Company (GUFC), a top producer of juices and beverages in Saudi Arabia.

Faysal Bank Ltd., a Pakistani lender, plans to participate in the process to acquire a majority stake in the Pakistan unit of Royal Bank of Scotland Plc, according to a notice issued today.

The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), the private sector arm of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), said it was committed to ensure that its plan to set up an Islamic bank in the Maldives in partnership with the government of the island would materialize soon.

The United Kingdom government is deciding to issue sukuk which would:

* Diversify its investor base- not a bad prospect for an indebted country- standing a chance to attract further liquidity.

* Show it is not complacent and really means business creating a benchmark in Europe, where no significant sukuk issuance occurred, excluding a 100 million euro issuance in 2004 in German region Sachsen-Anhalt. Pre-crisis rumours had it that the UK would issue sukuk worth £2 billion in short term notes making a real statement about its Islamic finance ambitions.

* Provide help to the five stand alone Islamic banks, which are required by the market regulator to put in place liquidity buffers, consisting of government bonds or cash. Because there is no sovereign sukuk, these shining monuments to London’s superiority in Islamic finance depend on debt issued by the Islamic Development Bank.

* Encourage corporate sukuk issuance, which is not too probable without the government leading by example.

Islamic Finance Expert reported that Ningxia Bank has been identified by the relevant ministries in China to develop a pilot project in Islamic finance.

Indonesia has set the yield on the retail sukuk due to be issued next month at 8.70 percent. Indonesia, which has the world's largest Muslim population and wants to develop the domestic Islamic finance market, plans to sell 3 trillion rupiah ($321.2 million) worth of retail sukuk next month.

Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI), the international standard-setting organisation for Islamic finance, has published its new standards publications. It is entitled Sharia Standards 2010 and Accounting, Auditing, and Governance Standards 2010. The Sharia Standards 2010 publication contains 41 Sharia standards including 11 new standards.