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The Second Annual Islamic Finance Forum will gather investors, borrowers and regulators in the same place to accomplish a better understanding of existing instruments of Islamic Finance and to find answers to problems encountered frequently in the course of doing business.
The forum delegates is amde of representatives from the Embassies of UAE, Malaysia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Russia, Kyrgyzstan and other countries.

It seems thst Islamic financial institutions in general are waiting to see what will happen to Egypt, one of the laboratories of the contemporary Islamic finance movement and currently in political and economic transition with elections — both parliamentary and presidential — due later this year.
This is happening although in June the board of directors of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) approved a proposal to amend the Executive Regulation of Capital Market Law No. 95 of 1992 regarding the rules governing issuing and trading in sukuk, in other words the law is in the process of being amended to facilitate the issuance of sukuk primarily to support economic development and investment in the country.

Amanie Advisors opened a new office in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, having as purpose to captalise on the considerable business potential in Egypt and North Africa advising bankers and fund managers.
Dr. Mohd Daud Bakar is administring the Amanie Advisors group.
Dr. Bakar is also the Chairman of Shariah Advisory Board of Central Bank of Malaysia and Securities Commission of Malaysia as well a member of Shariah board of the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI); Morgan Stanley (Dubai); Noor Islamic Bank and Takaful (Dubai); Bank of London and Middle East (London); and Jadwa-Rusell Islamic Funds (Riyad), amongst others.

Egypt has renewed interest in the growing sector of Islamic banking and finance in an effort to rebuild the economy of the country using internal methods of financing.
Part of the country's pursuit will be to launch a sovereign Sukuk, or bond, program within months. It would be Egypt's first sovereign Sukuk, ahead of country states including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Jordan aditionally mature markets such as Great Britain and France.

At the recent International Takaful Summit 2011 the experts from Takaful stated that they expect to reach $12 billion by the end of this year.
Ernst & Young think that emerging markets will be the key actors leading Takaful’s growth.
Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Malaysia are currently the top three Takaful markets. They are followed by c, Bangladesh, Sudan, and Pakistan.

With the help of social accountability, citizens in the Arab world are holding public institutions accountable for delivering public services and improving the welfare of citizens. The citizens therefor work with governments in a productive, meaningful way by using evidence-based analysis and advocacy.
The World Bank and CARE Egypt helped organizing the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability (ANSA)-Arab World Regional Strategic Planning and Social Accountability Workshop in Amman, Jordan from June 5-9, 2011. At the the five-day workshop in Jordan there were over 40 representatives from government, CSOs, media, and private sector from seven Arab countries – Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Yemen, West Bank and Gaza, Morocco and Tunisia that attended.

Mubasher Trade has announced the Egypt opening of Mubasher Islami, a new division that specialises in a full range of Shari’ah-compliant services, including a dedicated trading platform for Shari’ah-compliant securities.
The new trading platform is completely free of additional charges and requires no paperwork. All existing clients can easily activate the service on their account, while new clients need a simply request for the Mubasher Islami service upon opening a new investment portfolio.

Saudi-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has announced that it has allocated $2.5bn for development projects in Egypt over the next three years to support its economy.

In order to spur investments from the neighbouring Arab region and Southeast Asia, Egypt will launch its first Islamic debt guidelines and amend its capital market law.
This move will allow Islamic investors to invest in the 180 companies listed on the Egyptian stock market.

Egypt will launch its first Islamic debt guidelines and amend its capital market law in a try to spur Arab investment and open itself to investment from the Persian Gulf and Southeast Asia.
This will allow oil-rich countries to invest in the roughly 180 companies listed on the Egyptian stock market.
A statement published by the financial watchdog's website revealed that the proposal will be discussed by experts and other involved parties before being floated for final approval by Egypt's cabinet.

The European Bank of Reconstruction and Development is ready to expand to North Africa and the Middle East next year. A potential country for operations is Egypt. The bank plans to invest €2.5bn ($3.54bn) in the region per year.

After the revolution in Egypt, people expect an answer regarding the possible opening of the Islamic banking.
Although Egypt accounts for nearly 10 per cent of the Arab world's gross domestic product (GDP) and its banking system is one of the largest in the region, the country hasn't been involved lately in Islamic banking.
Egypt's absence has been a loss for the Islamic finance industry as a whole. That's the one's that are interested in Islamic banking are hoping that the market will open their gates to Islamic banking.

It is well known that Egypt is considered the birthplace of islamic finance. But because of past corruption scandals, there was a time in which the previous government wanted a financial system that was more economic.
Now, after Hosni Mubarak and his government was brought down, Muslims are welcoming Islamic banking, giving Egypt the chance to be the center of Islamic finance.

After the derangement of President Hosni Mubarak, chances begin to come along for Egypt to become a new hub for the booming Islamic finance.
Although Egypt is considered the birthplace of Islamic finance, its growth has lagged due to past corruption scandals.

Standard & Poor's Ratings published a report named "Social Unrest Rattles Middle East And North Africa Real Estate Markets", in which they analize the current landscape in property markets in the Arabic-speaking countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
Because of the political unrest and demonstrations that took place recently, some real estate companies are obligated to cover damages from building destruction. It seems like this problems are causing the turists to avoid countries like Egypt and Tunisia.

After Egypt was forced to postpone plans to introduce Islamic bond regulation because of the political unrest, it doesn't look very good for the country that tries to attract Muslim wealth.
Nigeria, a competitive country, plans to license at least two Shariah-compliant institutions by the end of the year. Mauritius set minimum disclosure standards for financial statements from banks offering Islamic services.
Therefore, it looks like Egypt will loose in front of theese countries.

African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI) has partnered with Islamic Corporation for Insurance of Investments and Export Credit (ICIEC) to help traders cushion against political risks in North Africa.
The pact, with the Saudi Arabia-headquartered insurer, is expected to help traders doing business in the Muslim-dominated Northern Africa amidst ongoing political turmoil in the region.
Political upheaval that has seen governments in Tunisia and Egypt toppled and others like Libya and Yemen facing uprising has prompted reassessment of the region’s risk profile.
The political unrests that have also engulfed Bahrain have as well sent debt protection costs and yields on government debt up across the Gulf, the world’s top oil exporting region.

Standard & Poor's commented today about the negative rating actions it has taken on several banks and insurance companies following sovereign rating actions in the Middle East and Africa since the unrest began: four banks in Tunisia, two banks in Egypt, two banks and one insurance company in Jordan, and four banks and three insurance companies in Bahrain.

Islamic bonds, led by securities in the Arabian Gulf, underperformed emerging-market debt in February as spreading unrest across the Middle East caused the biggest monthly rise in yields since May.
Investors are shunning Middle East assets as protests expanded to Oman, Bahrain, Yemen and Libya, holder of the largest proven oil reserves in Africa. Moody’s Investors Service and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank say Islamic bonds aren’t likely to recover unless demonstrations that have toppled Tunisia’s and Egypt’s rulers and killed hundreds end soon.

Saudi King Abdullah’s pledge to increase spending on housing by 55 billion riyals ($15 billion) probably will do little to relieve the country’s home shortage unless it’s coupled with long-delayed changes in mortgage financing laws.
The kingdom’s 86-year-old monarch last week announced plans to spend about 110 billion riyals on programs aimed at boosting housing, education and social welfare. Governments from Jordan to Yemen have offered concessions to quell public discontent after popular uprisings toppled leaders in Tunisia and Egypt last month and sparked protests across the Middle East and North Africa.