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Bahrain's Gulf Finance House will study the continuation of its equity listings in London and Kuwait. The investment firm is listed in four places, a potentially costly arrangement: Dubai Financial Market, where its shares are often the market's most heavily traded, Bahrain, Kuwait, and London in the form of global depository receipts. Moreover, shareholders approved reducing the firm's capital to $598 million from $1.49 billion to eliminate accumulated losses, and the company will change its name to GFH Financial Group. GFH did not give details of what its review would involve or say when it might be completed.

Bahrain Kuwait Insurance Co has raised its stake in local peer Takaful International to 40.9 percent, a move that could herald the start of wider consolidation in the sector. Last week, BKIC had taken an initial 10.8 percent stake in Takaful International, the largest Islamic insurance firm in a market. BKIC bought 18.8 million shares of Takaful International valued at 1.88 million dinars ($5 million) from three Bahraini and Kuwaiti institutions. BKIC now becomes the largest shareholder in Takaful International, displacing Bahrain Islamic Bank which has a stake of 22.75 percent.Takaful International swung to a loss of 1.7 million dinars in 2014 from a profit of 300,000 dinars a year earlier.

Kuwait investment firm Aayan Leasing and Investment has asked creditors to reschedule its remaining debts worth 176 million dinars ($587 million), chairman Fahd Ali al-Ghanim said. As part of the restructuring plan, Aayan planned to liquidate some of its portfolio of listed Kuwaiti companies, Ghanim said. However, many of the shares are still trading below the value at which they were bought, Ghanim said, adding this helped to explain why Aayan was seeking a further debt rescheduling. Despite rebounding slightly in 2013 and 2014, Kuwait's stock market is still trading 60 percent lower than its June 2008 peak.

Russia is trying to increase its cooperation with the UAE, especially in Islamic finance, as the country is seeking to strengthen its trade ties with the UAE and other Gulf countries, according to Igor Egorov, the Chairman of the Russian Business Council. Egorov said the country has brought in new regulations to attract Islamic financial institutions from the Middle East and Asia as demand for financing grows in Russia. He added that the trade figures between Russia and the UAE stand at $2 billion and are set to grow in the coming days. Moreover, the Eurasian Economic Union provides opportunity for UAE companies to invest.

Bahrain-based Waqf Fund hosted its eighth Shari'a Scholar session with Islamic finance scholar Professor Dr. Akram Laldin from Malaysia. Dr. Laldin serves on several Shari'a Boards including Bank Negara Malaysia's Shari'a Advisory Council, AAOIFI and a number of Islamic financial institutions in Malaysia and globally. The topic under discussion was "The Challenges of Achieving Shari'a Compliance in Islamic Finance". Dr. Laldin made a presentation on the key challenges in Shari'a compliance and narrated a number of real life cases from his experience as a Shari'a Board member. This was followed by an interactive session during which the participants asked questions and gave their comments.

Al Hilal Takaful, the insurance subsidiary of Al Hilal Bank, signed a distribution agreement in Abu Dhabi with Euler Hermes, a trade credit insurance company. The collaboration is expected to position Al Hilal to deliver better credit insurance solutions, and secure a stronger position in the takaful market. It will also allow Euler Hermes to enhance its presence in Abu Dhabi. The partnership allows Al Hilal Bank’s Abu Dhabi customers access to a range of trade credit insurance solutions for business-to-business trade receivables offered by Euler Hermes.

Financial institutions and banks are hiring at the fastest pace in the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries as the regional economies show sign of improvement, according to the data released by recruiters Monster Worldwide. Demand for banking and finance professionals jumped in March, with a 65 per cent increase in job postings from a year earlier while job listings for the same sector climbed 38 per cent in the UAE, the Monster Employment Index Middle East revealed. Online hiring in Saudi Arabia and Egypt is soaring, with an increase of 30 per cent and 28 per cent respectively, in job listings. The UAE registered a modest growth of 17 per cent.

It was reported that Standard Chartered PLC’s Chief Executive Officer for Bahrain, Hassan Jarrar, is leaving to head Bahrain Islamic Bank BSC. Standard Chartered confirmed his departure. Jarrar served as CEO of its Bahrain unit since November 2011, and was earlier the head of origination and client coverage for the lender’s wholesale banking unit in the UAE. Jarrar’s departure comes amid a shake-up in top management at the London-based lender after profit slumped. Chairman John Peace, CEO Peter Sands, Asia head Jaspal Bindra and Viswanathan Shankar, head of Europe, Middle East, Africa and Americas, are all leaving the bank.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has met with President of the Islamic Development Bank Group Ahmad Mohamed Ali in Jeddah. They expressed their satisfaction with the cooperation between Azerbaijan and the Islamic Development Bank. It was noted that the ongoing development processes in Azerbaijan gave a push to the expansion of the bilateral relations. Azerbaijan and the IDB cooperate in the fields of oil and gas, power industry, water supply, road construction, implementation of infrastructure projects, agriculture and industry, and investment making. The parties exchanged views over the issue of involving other partners in the bilateral cooperation.

National Bank of Abu Dhabi managed around $3.9 billion (Dh14.3 billion) of international Sukuk issuance in the first quarter of 2015, representing about 69 per cent of the global market by value. In the first three months of 2015, NBAD worked on four major deals. In addition to acting as a bookrunner on the UKEF-backed Sukuk closed by Emirates Airlines, the Bank also acted as Joint Bookrunner on International Sukuk issuances by Dubai Islamic Bank, Islamic Development Bank and the Government of Ras Al Khaimah.

The only two central banks in the Gulf with products that allow Islamic lenders to make short-term investments are expanding their offerings as demand for cash-management tools rises. Bahrain’s central bank started a seven-day Islamic deposit facility last month, and the United Arab Emirates broadened the range of collateral Shariah-compliant lenders can use for overnight lending effective 1 April. Bahrain’s one-week facility is based on a wakalah contract, where the regulator invests cash on behalf of the lender. In the UAE, the central bank has expanded the list of eligible collateral for its Shariah-compliant overnight facility to include assets other than the regulator’s Islamic certificates of deposit.

Saudi Arabia’s Bank Aljazira has appointed the investment banking arms of Gulf International Bank and Riyad Bank to advise it on a SAR3 billion ($800 million) rights issue. The price and number of shares to be issued under the offering, which will be arranged by GIB Capital and Riyad Capital, is still pending approval from the relevant authorities and shareholders, the bank said in a bourse filing. The rights issue by one of the Kingdom’s smaller lenders by assets will be used to strengthen its capital base and finance its activities, the bank added.

Islamic International Rating Agency ( IIRA ) has assigned ratings of 'A/A1' (Single A / A One) to Dubai Islamic Bank ( DIB ) on the international scale. On the national scale, ratings have been assessed at AA-(ae)/A1+(ae) (Double AMinus / A One Plus). Outlook on the assigned ratings is 'Stable'. Ratings are supported by DIB 's strong franchise and retail market presence, ensuring steady access to cost effective funding. The recent tier-1 capital issue in early 2015 has reinforced capital adequacy ratio to 18.5%. The fiduciary score has been assessed in the range of '76-80', which indicates strong fiduciary standards, wherein rights of various stakeholders are well defined and protected.

Bahrain-based Ithmaar Bank has announced that the strategic decisions taken by the Bank's Board of Directors early in 2014 have already started yielding results. The decisions, which aimed at turning the Ithmaar Group around by significantly transforming operations, included initiatives for increased revenue, improved margins, divestment of non-core assets and cost reductions across the Group. Ithmaar Bank 's financing business in Bahrain increased by 23 percent to US$914 million at the end of 2014. This growth in 2014 was driven mainly by Home Financing and Personal Financing. Similarly, total customer current accounts, savings accounts, Thimaar and URIA deposits, increased by 11 percent in 2014.

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) has offered 1.25 dirhams per share in cash to buy the remaining shares in its mortgage unit Tamweel. The offer will be open for one month until it expires on April 30. DIB currently holds 86.5 percent of Tamweel and is in the process of buying the remaining 13.5 percent. It took a 57.33 percent stake in 2010, a move that rescued the mortgage lender, which was struggling during a crash of Dubai's property market. The bank's board in January 2013 approved plans to fully acquire Tamweel.

Dentons has advised Ajman Bank on $155 million Islamic financing facilities made available by a syndicate of banks. The facilities comprise of a dual commodity Murabaha and Wakala arrangement with a two year lifespan. Noor Bank acted as the arranger and bookrunner for the deal, and along with Emirates Islamic Bank, First Gulf Bank, United Arab Bank and Warba Bank which participated in the facilities. This transaction follows on from the $200 million Shari’ah-compliant syndicated facility to Ajman Bank that Dentons worked on in December 2014.

Saudi Arabia-based investment bank Sidra Capital is changing its Islamic trade finance fund, initially established as closed-ended, to an open-ended format as it sees growing appetite from regional investors in the Gulf, its chief executive Hani Baothman said. The first tranche of the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) investors came with $50 million, and the firm expects more and more interest to come through. The fund, launched in 2012 with an initial $15 million in assets, has received approval from the Luxembourg regulator to become open-ended and it expects the Saudi regulator's approval as early as April, Baothman said.

This is Ras Al Khaimah's first sukuk issuance since October 2013, when the UAE emirate of Ras Al Khaimah sukuk was priced at 3.297% (MS+175bps) with a total of USD500m which garnered orders over USD5bn, which represents much stronger demand than the currently launched 10y sukuk. Also launching this week was the Emirates airlines sukuk which is to fund the orders for A380-800, as Emirates seeks USD107.5bn worth of aircrafts from Boeing and Airbus. This is the first time for UK Export Finance (UKEF) to guarantee a sukuk.

Ras Al Khaimah is planning to open books on a 10-year, US dollar-denominated sukuk – a sign of the local economy’s continued development. A document from lead arrangers Al Hilal Bank, Citigroup, J.P.Morgan and National Bank of Abu Dhabi outlines meetings have been arranged for investors, with the final one set for next Monday in London. It is thought that the emirate is planning a benchmark size offer, which could be upwards of $500 million (£337.4 million). Two years ago figures showed that property values in Ras Al Khaimah grew by 16%. With this ongoing investment, the strength of a sukuk, and with more people moving to the area to live as well as for vacations, investors could be set to see greater rates of returns over the next few years.

In EY’s World Islamic Banking Competitiveness report, EY monitored 55,884 Islamic banking customer sentiments in the UAE on social media as part of a wider study. According to the study, UAE banking clients were most satisfied with customer service. Customer feelings were mixed with respect to branch experience, online banking and phone banking. The study of social media comments has revealed an improvement opportunity for Shariah-compliant banks with respect to products and services, which were ranked the lowest in terms of customer satisfaction.