IslamicFinance.de

Since Malaysian home takaful market is bound to tight rules, Islamic insurers direct their expansion towards neighbouring Indonesia aiming to tap three times faster growth. Great Eastern Takaful Sdn Bhd already has a facility in Jakarta and now intends to address low-income people in the region. Etiqa Takaful Bhd also plans expansion in Indonesia - it focuses on buying an Indonesian Islamic insurer.

More on: http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/20120927105638/Art...

Turkish Bank Asya considers a sukuk issuance worth up to 150 million lira ($83 million) by the end of the current year. The money gained from the sukuk is to be used for finance investments.

More on: http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/09/25/bankasya-sukuk-idINL5E8KP5EE201...

Standard & Poor’s has rated Turkey's debut $1.5bn Sukuk lease certificates that fall due in 2018 'BB'. The issuance of the Ijarah certificates will be conducted by Hazine Mustesarligi Varlik Kiralama Anonim Sirketi. The assets underlying the lease consist of buildings and land owned by the country. The transaction further allows the state to sells a pool of property assets to the issuer.

More on: http://www.theislamicglobe.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article...

A new guide to responsible investing in 10 major commodities sectors has been introduced by the Worldwide Wildlife Fund (WWF). The guide was launched at the Global AgInvesting Asia conference, where hundreds of allocators, fund managers, and industry executives gathered to discuss the burgeoning asset class of agriculture and other related topics. As a field guide, The 2050 Criteria adresses mainstream investors such as banks, investors, and financial analysts. Its goal is to help them mitigate the primary sources of environmental and social risk for investors in these sectors.

More on: http://www.bikyamasr.com/78403/wwf-delivers-guidelines-for-responsible-c...

Brunei Darussalam strives to become a knowledge-based economy. Information and communications technology shall be a pillar for this ambition, which is why the country has been strongly supporting innovation in the industry and has benn investing in its infrastructure. However, Asian rivals make out huge competition in the field of software, which the Sultanate was hoping to boost its expert economy. In August, Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry informed about grants for the businesses as high as BN$250,000 ($197,930).

More on: http://www.oxfordbusinessgroup.com/economic_updates/brunei-darussalam-se...

The Co-Lead Manager for the Republic of Turkey's debut $1.5 billion Sukuk is appointed to be Barwa Bank of Qatar. Also, a number of high profile arranger positions for the bank follow the appointment. What is more, Barwa Bank has received following ratings by Bloomberg: sixth in international Sukuk, tenth in global Sukuk, and eighth in MENA region bonds and Sukuk. Since Turkey is believed to be one of the most prestigious issuers in emerging markets, it is a further testament for the bank to be apointed by them.

More on: http://www.cpifinancial.net/news/post/15819/barwa-bank-appointed-co-mana...

The products Bank Muamalat is planning to launch are intended to be competitive not only in terms of returns, but also in terms of corporate social responsibility. The bank wants to concentrate on products it can channel towards corporate social responsibility, what they call ethical banking. The reason therefor is that Islamic banking is pereived to be ethical banking in its core and Bank Muamalat believs there is a market for such products.

More on: http://www.cpifinancial.net/news/post/15773/bank-muamalat-to-issue-more-...

The home to most millionaires in the world changes from the US to the Asia-Pacific region. Already the millionaire population in the Middle East is 2.7% higher with 450,000. Wealth rose 0.7%, thus reaching $1.7 trillion. This information given by Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management is an indication of growth of the investable wealth of the region's high net worth individuals independent from the Middle East's vulnerability to protests and demonstrations.

More on: http://www.zawya.com/story/Middle_East_millionaires_get_wealthier_USD1tr...

The issuance of Turkey's first sovereign sukuk this week marks a shift in the government's policy. For ten long years Tayyip Erdogan's government backed away from Islamic finance in order to maintain state secularism. However, the sukuk will help the country to large amounts of money from Islamic investment funds and will become a benchmark for the pricing of future Islamic bond issues in the Turkish private sector. Further development in the offered Islamic financial products is expected.

More on: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/19/turkey-islamic-finance-idUSL5E...

Offers for strategic partnerships with foreign investors in plantation projects have been put up by Indonesian Islamic banks among which Bank Mandiri. This way, the Islamic banking platform shall be strengthened. Loan syndication for the purpose of financing medium and large scale projects is proposed. This kind of cooperation would result in an increase in the efficiency and better risk management as well as stronger Islamic banking.

More on: http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/20120919215900/Art...

Even though Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population, it is hardly present on the Islamic finance scene in contrast to its neighbour Malaysia. This is a problem that needs to be worked on becuase Islamic finance can be a perfect means of solving two significant financial challenges. The first one is funding infrastructure and the second - reducing its dependency on foreign borrowing. Indonesia should take advantage of Malaysia's experience in Islamic financing and develop its own Islamic capital markets. It would be even possible to exploit the deep liquidity pool created by Malaysia.

More on: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/19/indonesia-islamic-finance-idUS...

According to Reserve Bank of India, Indian banks are not legally allowed to involve in Islamic banking operations. Even though India is the country with the third largest Muslim population, Islamic finance has been denied several times already. Due to lack of interest-free banking products people, economically disadvantaged strata of society, cannot access banking products and services because of faith issues. In addition, India is cut off substantial sources of savings from near countries.

More on: http://www.cpifinancial.net/blog/post/15763/interest-free-in-india

The BNP Paribas-INCEIF Centre for Islamic Wealth Management was recently opened. It was established by BNP Paribas Malaysia Berhad and the International Center for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF) and is situated on INCEIF's Campus in Kuala Lumpur. The opening took place at the same time as the biannual Global Islamic Finance Forum, thus attracting a vast audience consisting of participants from Malaysia as well as international ones.

More on:http://www.investmenteurope.net/investment-europe/news/2206560/bnp-paribas-partners-for-islamic-finance-centre-in-malaysia

At the Global Islamic Finance Forum (GIFF) 2012 in Kuala Lumpur the new Thomson Reuters Global Sukuk Index and the MYR-denominated Bloomberg AIBIM Bursa Malaysia Corporate Sukuk Index were brought into public. The Islamic finance industry demonstrates a growth of more than 15% a year, its leading area being the Islamic debt capital market, primarily constituted of Sukuk. According to Thomson Reuters, the Global Sukuk Index is likely to contribute to the increase in secondary market trading as well as to the facilitation of cross-market relative value trading among different asset classes.

More on: http://www.cpifinancial.net/news/post/15752/thomson-reuters-bloomberg-bo...

The second tranche of Malaysia Airlines' (MAS) junior Sukuk of RM500mil has been issued. Its role is to provide working capital and refinancing of existing borrowings. According to MAS, the junior Sukuk has a semi-annual profit rate of 6.90% a year up to the tenth year.

More on: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/9/18/business/201209...

The expextations for the next three years are for global Islamic finance assets to grow between 10% and 15% a year. They will be supported by strong demand and supply factors as well as effective regulation and quality of services. Since the number of banks that offer Islamic finance and profit and loss sharing products is continually increasing, competition will contribute to the assets' growth.

More on: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/9/19/business/120456...

Today Bloomberg announced the launch of a new corporate sukuk index - Malaysian Ringgit (MYR). The index has been developed together with the Association of Islamic Banking Institutions Malaysia (AIBIM) and Bursa Malaysia. The purpose of the Bloomberg AIBIM Bursa Malaysia Corporate Sukuk Index is to serve as a benchmark for investors of ringgit-denominated Islamic bonds in Malaysia. It will track and measure the performance of the most liquid and credit-worthy Islamic corporate bonds in the country.

More on: http://www.moneylife.in/business-wire-news/bloomberg-launches-new-corpor...

On monday, Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group opened its office of business forum (thiqah) at the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) in Jakarta. Since this is the bank's first office beyond the boundaries of Saudi Arabia, it is expexted that it will contribute to IDB's expansion and mobilization of its resources and promotion of Indonesia as a major investment destination for IDB's members. This move will enable a connection between Indonesia and investors from other Muslim countries, thus taking advantage of the rapidly growing Islamic economy.

More on: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/09/18/jeddah-based-idb-sets-busi...

As Islamic Microfinance gains popularity in Arab countries, AlHuda Centre of Islamic Banking and Finance and Yemen Microfinance Network plan a two-day training workshop on Islamic Microfinance. It will take place on 16th & 17th September, 2012 in Yemen's capital city Sana'a. The event's goal is to increase the reach of Microfinance Institutions. Topics such as the proper utilization of Islamic Microfinance for alleviation of poverty in poor countries, Islamic Microfinance Products and their structure, Shari'ah principles of Microfinance and MicroTakaful are part of the programme.

With the participation of a couple of major international banks, Al Baraka Turk Participation Bank has signed anIslamic finance deal worth $450 million making this a record. 32 banks from 16 countries are included in the facility. Among them are Standard Chartered Bank, Noor Islamic Bank, ABC Islamic Bank and Emirates NBD. Nominations for mandated lead arrangers are announced: Bank Islam Brunei Berhad Darussalam and Al Hilal Bank.