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The Bahrain Businesswomen’s Society in collaboration with the UNIDO organized the “Women Entrepreneurship and Innovation” Conference which coincides with the Global Entrepreneurship Week in Muharraq. The forum aims to will inspire women entrepreneur’s participants to achieve their potential in business and train them to be innovative and take advantage of business networks and how to communicate with investors and sponsors, and how to discover new opportunities and possibilities. The Minister of Industry and Commerce Dr. Hassan Fakhro said that the number of individual institutions that belong to women in the Kingdom of Bahrain has increased by 10.3% in 2013 compared to 2012.

EIIB-Rasmala, a Dubai-based investment bank and asset manager, is moving to buy the remaining 49 per cent of an associate company based in Egypt. The takeover of Rasmala Egypt Asset Management (Ream) follows new strategic initiatives for next year. EIIB-Rasmala is now opening discussions with potential joint venture partners to expand its investment activities in both Egypt and other parts of Africa, its chief executive Zak Hydari said. In November, EIIB-Rasmala announced it was finalising the launch of two leasing fund strategies and planning to expand its UAE property business. The Dubai investment bank also said it expected to raise about US$1 billion for its growing leasing and alternatives business and approximately $250m to invest in a broad mix of property transactions in the United Kingdom.

The Bahrain-based Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) will revise four of its standards in the first half of next year while expanding its guidance for Islamic bonds. AAOIFI's new secretary general, Hamed Hassan Merah, said the standard setting body is looking at the possiblity of developing clearer guidance on sukuk that will incorporate accounting, legal, technical and tax-related aspects. Besides, a revised investment accounts standard is to be released by the end of 2014. Consultations on takaful, ijara and murabaha will be conducted in the first half of 2015, AAOIFI said. On takaful, AAOIFI is considering how to extend its guidance to retakaful, and clarifying the definition of benevolent loans (qard hassan).

Kuwaiti firm Investment Dar is making a renewed legal push to secure ownership of a major asset at the centre of its long-running restructuring process. The case is a rare test of Kuwait's Financial Stability Law, introduced in 2009 to assist debt renegotiations. The firm has been embroiled in litigation over a stake in Kuwait's Boubyan Bank, which it sold to Commercial Bank of Kuwait (CBK) in 2008, with the right to buy it back. CBK currently holds a 19.9 percent stake in Boubyan. Investment Dar hopes to sell the stake to repay creditors. For its part, CBK said last week it cancelled a proposed 120 million dinar capital-boosting bond due to "legislative and technical issues".

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) and Air Arabia announced today the signing of an aircraft financing deal to facilitate the delivery of six new Airbus A320 aircrafts in 2015. The US$230 million Ijara facility will finance the delivery of a new aircraft every two months starting January 2015, the program culminating with the final unit being handed over by the end of the year. Air Arabia, recently named amongst the Global Growth Companies (GGC) by the World Economic Forum, has seen its route network expand rapidly in 2014 with the addition on new routes such as Cairo in Egypt, Antalya in Turkey, Tbilisi in Georgia, and Samara in Russia. The low-cost airline pioneer now serves 100 destinations from its four hubs in the UAE, Morocco and Egypt.

Bahrain-based Gulf Finance House has completed a capital reduction plan, a move that helps the Islamic investment firm to cut accumulated losses. It had received approval from the Bahraini authorities for the step, which reduces the nominal value of its shares by 13.8 per cent to $0.265 per share from $0.3075. As a result, paid-up capital had been reduced to $837.9 million from $972.3 million. Accumulated losses on GFH’s balance sheet had been reduced by $134.4 million under the measure. The reduction doesn’t involve any cash transfer and doesn’t impact on shareholder positions as the bank’s net equity remains unchanged.

The GCC economies are dominated by Sovereign Wealth Funds that account for more than 30% of the global SWF assets, valued at $6tn, said Doha Bank Group CEO, Dr R Seetharaman. He was delivering the keynote address on “Uncertain times — can GCC banking take off?” at a conference hosted by the ICAI Abu Dhabi Chapter recently. Gulf SWFs have invested in a wide range of industries and high-risk assets with higher expected return. The assets under management growth in the GCC will be mainly driven by positive economic outlook, family businesses & entrepreneurship and the population demographics, Seetharaman said.

The Arabia CSR Network brings the GRI G4 training in the Arabic Language for the first time to the Arab world. The training will be held on the 17th -18th December in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The move is a significant step for Sustainability reporting in the region and will support the regional and national strategies that call for organisations to report on their sustainability performance. The training course will be attended by multi-sectoral participants who will benefit from cross fertilization of ideas and experience. G4, GRI's latest sustainability reporting framework was released last year.

Saudi Arabia's Jadwa Investment says it is planning to invest in domestic real estate as it expands into new asset classes, hoping to cash in on booming demand for new homes. Tariq al-Sudairy, managing director and CEO of Jadwa, said the group will focus on the asset class and target major cities like Riyadh, Mecca, Madina. Jadwa would partner with real estate developers to select and execute projects on behalf of clients. Funds would be set up as projects were selected and the size of the investment would be determined on a case-by-case basis. Sudairy said private equity in the kingdom offered significant potential as well. Jadwa itself hopes to seal an unspecified deal as early as the first quarter of 2015.

Bahrain’s Arcapita Bank BSC has raised $100 million from shareholders to fund a return to dealmaking a year after it emerged from bankruptcy. The new equity will be used to fund Shariah compliant private equity and real-estate investments in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait. Arcapita will also look at U.S., Asian and European investments at a later stage. Arcapita emerged from bankruptcy in September 2013 after securing a $350 million loan from Goldman Sachs Group. Under the terms of its debt restructuring, a new company called RA Holding Corp. was created to manage Arcapita’s $3 billion of assets. Arcapita earned $10.1 million in the fiscal year ended June, mostly from fees for managing RA on behalf of creditors.

A source at the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) said a number of insurance companies that have incurred huge losses may be forced to halt operations to protect their clients. The source added that many of these companies’ financial situations are continually deteriorating, they have not committed to presenting a strategic plan to correct their situation and, at the same time, they have refused to merge with other companies. Insurance experts said there are six companies that have incurred losses of 55 to 75 percent: Salamah, Wafa, Arabian, International, Amanah and Inmaa. SAMA has seized the operations of Sanad and Wiqayah insurance companies due to their huge losses.

R Hotels is to develop the first sharia-compliant, four-star resort and spa on Palm Jumeirah, with the company targeting a Q4 2016 opening following AED500 million (US $136.2 million) of investment. Located on the East Crescent of the man-made island, the hotel will be the sixth property for R Hotels, the hospitality management division of R Holding. No operator has been confirmed yet, although a spokesperson said that it will be an international hotel brand. Aimed at leisure travellers, iIt will feature 259 rooms, modern recreational facilities and family-friendly entertainment. Besides, R Hotels is currently developing a hotel on Al Mina Road in Jumeirah, expected to open in the second quarter of 2015.

Emirates Islamic has announced a philanthropic community initiative to collect donations on behalfof Dubai Health Authority (DHA) for their MOSA'ADAH charity programme. MOSA'ADAH aims to help patients and familieswho cannot afford medical treatment,as well as contribute to projects in support of hospital equipment and medical facilities. As part of this initiative, Emirates Islamic customers can donate funds to MOSA'ADAH under a specially created charity account: Emirates Islamic 0384 540010 001 under 'MOSA'ADAH'. Donations can be made through any Emirates Islamic branch, ATM or CDM across the UAE or via online banking and by SMS. Previously the Bank made contributions to DHA to support Dubai Hospital and Rashid Hospital in purchasing new medical equipment.

In line with BBK’s strategic initiatives for a brighter community, Dr. Jamal Hijris- General Manager- Support Group welcomed at the Bank’s Headquarters, representatives from various societies dedicated to the philanthropic and development work to receive BBK’s contributions for their requests. The entities that have benefited from the BBK support totaling BD12,500 are: Al Noor Charity Welfare, Drug recovery association and Bahrain Philanthropic and Social Work Society. Troughout the years, BBK has supported entities including major clubs, charity funds and social initiatives. These initiatives are aimed at achieving the sole goal and vision of a brighter future and community in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Drake & Scull International PJSC (“DSI”) announced the issuance of a US$ 120 million unrated senior unsecured 5-year certificates by way of private placement. The Sukuk will be due on the 12th November 2019 and redeemed fully at maturity. DSI mandated Emirates NBD Capital Ltd. and Mashreqbank PJSC as Joint Coordinators on the deal while also acting as Joint Lead Managers with Al Hilal Bank PJSC and Noor Bank PJSC. The 5-year Sukuk structured under the Sharia principle of Murabaha, represents the first Sukuk based on Murabaha trades of Sharia-compliant certificates on the NASDAQ Dubai Murabaha Platform. The proceeds of the transaction will be mainly used to capitalize DSI's business.

Reach Out to Asia (ROTA), a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, held its fifth Gala Dinner and charity event on Sunday night in Doha. This year’s Gala Dinner theme was “Plant a Book, Harvest a Future.” The event aimed to raise funds for ROTA’s educational activities and projects in Asia and to support the educational needs of children who have been affected by wars and political conflicts in Asia. Collected funds are used for building and renovating schools, encouraging their reentry into education as well as providing employment opportunities for workers in the field of education. The charity auction was also held for the first time to support, through pledges, ROTA’s education projects in Syria, Palestine, Tunisia, Nepal and Pakistan.

The Islamic International Rating Agency (IIRA) has reaffirmed a national scale rating of A+/A-1(sr) (A plus/A-One) to Bank AlJazira ( BAJ), incorporated in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. IIRA has also reaffirmed the bank's international scale ratings at A-/A-2 (A Minus/A-Two). Outlook on the ratings is 'Stable'. BAJ has posted continued business growth over the years. Moreover, capital adequacy ratio (CAR) has remained consistently above 15% over the last 5 years, sustaining the increased business levels. BAJ 's fiduciary score has been assessed in the range of '71-75', reflecting adequate fiduciary standards. The overall governance framework and practices are largely at par with international best practices.

As oil prices plunge to four year-lows, the big news in the Gulf's debt market is that it is outperforming most of the rest of the world. Although the Gulf's oil exporters will suffer from low oil prices, Gulf bond prices have mostly been firm since June, for two reasons. One is that most investors and economists think the big Gulf Arab economies are not seriously under threat; they have amassed huge financial reserves. Also, Gulf funds and investment institutions have large amounts of free cash - the result of the region's economic boom - which they are happy to use to buy local bonds whenever foreign investors are tempted to sell.

One of the major reasons why Saudi Aramco's investment wing Wa'ed became a partner in PayTabs was because PayTabs has the ability to build entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia. PayTabs can help build businesses and make entrepreneurs by tackling one of the major problems people face when they start an online business; collecting payments online. PayTabs is a payment gateway with its instant online invoicing system PayPage and ready to integrate eCommerce APIs/Plugins. PayPage can be used even without a website. With additional features like Express CheckOut, PayTabs has introduced some features enabling the customer to pay without leaving the merchant's website.

Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University (HBMSU) and Paris Dauphine University (UPD) have entered into a landmark agreement to extend cooperation in Islamic Finance education and training. Both parties will work closely to design programs and initiatives in Islamic Finance tailored for the GCC and MENA regions. They will also jointly develop curricula that will give full credit for courses taken in either of the institutions.