IslamicFinance.de

The OIC Ministers Responsible for Water embraced the OIC Water Vision at the conclusion of their Conference which was held in Istanbul, Turkey, from 5 to 6 March 2012.
The host of the conference was the Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs of Turkey. Attending at the conference were the Ministers Responsible for Water, Deputy Ministers, senior officials, OIC institutions, observes and relevant international organizations.
The OIC Water vision gave a framework for cooperation among the OIC countries for overcoming the common and major challenge of maximizing the productive use of water and minimizing its destructive impacts.

Because of the recent global financial crises appetite for Islamic Private Equity has surfaced.
Joined by over 50 expert regional and global speakers, Ihab Asali, QFIB Head of Private Equity embraces the global rise of Islamic Private Equity at the recently concluded Islamic Investment and Finance Forum, in Istanbul, Turkey.
Ihab along with other panellists discussed and investigated the potential of Islamic Private Equity after the economic downturn, ways to increase Islamic funds and its impact on the Private Equity market and where quality Islamic Private Equity opportunities are likely to come out.

Turkye Finans Participation Bank was given $75 million line of finance by Islamic Development Bank (IDB). An agreement was signed by IDB Group President Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali with one of Turkey’s largest Islamic Banks. This proccess took place at the 27th meeting of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, (COMCEC), in Istanbul.
The agreement brings long term financing opportunities to small and medium enterprises in Turkey through Installment Sale, Ijara and Istisna’a modes of Islamic finance.

Noor Islamic Bank has been assigned to put in order and lead manage more than US $1.4 billion Islamic finance capital market deals in Turkey in the last 18 months, making it the most active UAE bank in the republic.
The bank revealed details of its financial dealings in Turkey on the eve of the Islamic Investment and Finance Forum, scheduled to take place in the Turkish capital Istanbul, from October 24-27., where it will be the Sukuk partner for the event.
During the four-day Islamic Investment and Finance Forum, leading regional and international Islamic finance experts will talk about a range of key topics for the Islamic finance industry including how to animate the global sukuk markets, following the financial crisis; kick starting sukuk markets in frontier economies; new business opportunities for Islamic syndicated finance and the future of Participation (Islamic) banking in Turkey.

Hansonwade’s Summit on scalable business models for Islamic Microfinance will take place from January 30 to February 1, 2012 in Istanbul, Turkey.

The focal point of the summit will be on identifying the potential business models available and their challenges. At the summit Tijara, USAID, Akhuwat, Al-Amal Microfinance Bank, Tanzania eco-Volunteerism and CWCD will share their projects.

Event Website:
http://islamicmicrofinance-summit.com/

One of the important issues to appear from the second annual meeting of the Aman Union is the increased request for political risk insurance especially insuring risks in post-conflict countries and those undergoing economic and political transformation. The meeting was held in Istanbul under the aegis of the Turk Eximbank.
Turk Eximbank signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC). Abdel Rahman El-Tayeb Taha, the chief executive officer of ICIEC, and Hayrettin Kaplan, the general manager of Turk Eximbank were the one that signed the MoU.
The two companies have the purpose to help Turkish investors and contractors doing business in the member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation's (OIC). ICIEC, specifically aims to supply political risk insurance (PRI) to Turkish companies doing business in ICIEC member countries.

Adnan Ahmed Yousif, chairman of the Union of Arab Banks (UAB), states that banks from the Gulf are looking to acquire Turkish banks .
The statement given at the “Enhancing Shamgen Banking: Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan” conference in Istanbul reveiled that Arab banks like Al Rajah Bank, Qatar National Bank and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank want to become established in Turkey by purchasing a national bank.

The consensus at the pioneering inaugural Roundtable on "Islamic Finance in Russia and the CIS: Market and Regulation" which was held last week in Istanbul and organized by Bank Conference and largely sponsored by the Jeddah-based Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector was the following:
The intellectual argument for and the demystification of Islamic finance has gained much ground in Russia and the CIS countries over the last two years, but the political decision makers and bureaucracy, especially the banking regulatory authorities, still need to be convinced about the role an alternative Islamic system of financial management can play, especially in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. As such, Islamic finance in the region is at best a work in progress but the task ahead remains huge.

Kuwait’s AITanmya International Investment and Aswar Joint Real Estate have signed a 49-year lease for the Tat Towers, located in Istanbul’s central Zincirlikuyu neighborhood.
The investors aim to open the hotel by the start of 2012, investing $40 million.

The meeting, chaired by Mr. Hüseyin ERKAN, Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) Chairman & CEO, was held within the framework of the mandate of developing the cooperation among the stock exchanges of the OIC member States, given by the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (COMCEC).
The Forum took the following decisions:
* The Task Force for Customized Indices and Exchange Traded Islamic Financial Products will facilitate the signing of the master agreement between the index provider and the participating stock exchanges in addition to working on Exchange Traded Funds, Exchange Traded Commodity Contracts, Islamic Real Estate Investment Trusts, and Islamic Depository Receipts, as well as other Islamic products to be traded on the OIC stock exchanges.
* The Task Force for Capital Market Linkages and the Task Force for Post-Trade Services will prepare the format for a multilateral MoU aimed at further strengthening the cooperation between and among the Forum member Exchanges and post-trade institutions.

Albaraka Türk Katilim Bankasi A.S. (Al Baraka Turk), a subsidiary-banking unit of Al Baraka Banking Group BSC (ABG), signed a $240 million syndicated Islamic financing in Istanbul. Twenty two GCC, European and international banks (both Islamic and conventional) participated in the syndication. The syndication was arranged and managed by Standard Chartered Bank, ABC Islamic Bank (Bahrain) and Noor Islamic Bank (Dubai). The funding deal comes as part of Al Baraka Turk's strategy to further expand and diversify its financial resources and further strengthen its name in the domestic, regional and global financial markets. Al Baraka Turk will use the proceeds of the deal towards the ongoing implementation process of a range of existing and newer products and services offered by it.