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Nasdaq Dubai and IdealRatings have launched a suite of indices tracking the performance of global Islamic bonds. The indices may serve as the underlying to future investment products including exchange-traded funds. To be eligible for inclusion in the indices, each bond must have a minimum size of at least $100m, a remaining time to maturity of at least three months, and must be approved by a Shariah accredited board. The Nasdaq Dubai IdealRatings Sukuk Index family comprises the Global Sukuk Index as well as several indices covering distinct segments of the market. They include investment grade issuances, issuances by sovereigns, issuances by corporates, issuances by financial institutions and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) issuances. As of 1 October 2016 the Global Sukuk Index has returned 3.1% year-to-date and 15.2% since the index’s base date of 1 November 2012.

Nasdaq Dubai and IdealRatings has announced the launch of benchmark indices that track the performance of global Sukuk, in order to provide investors with new data to make informed trading decisions. The data includes daily movements in price and total return, with monthly updates on yield and other key indicators. It tracks a universe of more than 1,800 Sukuk globally, with eligibility criteria including a minimum issue size of 100 million US dollars. The Global Sukuk Index covers all currencies and has five sub-indices. The sub-indices reflect distinct segments of the market, which are: investment grade issuances, issuances by sovereigns, issuances by corporates, issuances by financial institutions and GCC issuances. According to Hamed Ali, CEO of Nasdaq Dubai, the indices add a valuable new stream of information to investors’ existing trading tools.

IdealRatings has launched of a Shari’ah compliant Asia-Pacific REITs Index, called the IdealRatings Asia-Pacific REITs Index, for the use of Fund Managers who are benchmarking REITs funds. For a start, the REITs Index will cover Asia-Pacific REITs and it will subsequently widen the coverage to include the entire global REITs universe. The market cap-weighted, free-float Index has a methodology to review the universe eligibility annually. The Shari’ah screening of the eligible universe takes place quarterly and the index is also re-balanced on quarterly basis. The IdealRatings Asia-Pacific REITs Index is calculated in US Dollars with REITs listed in Australia, Japan, Singapore and other countries.

A new screening method for sukuk, developed in cooperation with Saudi Arabian financial institutions, aims to reduce the cumbersome approval process that these instruments often require. San Francisco-based IdealRatings said its product addressed compliance hurdles faced by sukuk investors contending with multiple structures and disparate opinions. The product reviews and categorises sukuk to allow Islamic banks to adhere to their own guidelines more efficiently, reducing the time and costs of due diligence in each deal. The service was developed over the past two years in consultation with Islamic financial institutions, in particular Saudi firms.

IdealRatings Inc. has announced the launch of the first ever Sukuk Shariah Screening Solution. The research-based online screening service is designed to serve Islamic investors and treasuries aiming to balance their portfolios with low risk fixed income instruments yet conform to the mandates defined by their Shariah boards. The Sukuk Screening Solution enables investors to screen Sukuk against different Shariah guidelines in the market such as AAOIFI, OIC, Malaysia Securities Commission (SC) as well as defining their own custom composite Shariah guidelines. IdealRatings has also designed and launched a series of Sukuk indexes, to empower the Sukuk service clients with benchmarks essential for Islamic fixed income portfolio management. The Index Family constitutes Five US Dollar indices with different segmentations.

Due to the enormous requests received during the past few weeks IdealRatings research team conducted Shariah screening on the recent Twitter, Inc. IPO and the stock is to be considered Shariah compliant and eligible for investment as per AAOIFI guidelines.

contact support@idealratings.com for further details

Russell Indexes and IdealRatings have introduced the Russell-IdealRatings Islamic Index Series, a newly enhanced index series for Shariah investors. These new indexes benefit Shariah multi-asset investors by combining the experience and methodology of the Russell Global Indexes with the Shariah oversight of IdealRatings. The latter includes specific sector- and financial-based filters. It also includes monitoring and approval by a board of Islamic scholars. The new Islamic Index Series is fully modular and covers approximately 3,100 securities in 48 countries.

IdealRatings® Islamic Investor™ is the only iPhone application that tells you if a stock is Shariah compliant or not, gives you a detailed report explaining why, and alerts you if it changes status, it is designed for personal use by individual investors.

IdealRatings® is the most trusted provider of accurate, and timely, Islamic Finance information. Most Islamic index providers, and financial institutions in 18 countries rely on IdealRatings to create and manage their Islamic,Shariah compliant, products. Our data is available directly, or on Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg terminals.

Features:

-Find out, instantly, if a stock in your local market is Shariah compliant or not.
-Learn why by reading a detailed report.
-Explore Shariah compliant stocks from the Top Stocks and Featured sections.
-Track the compliance of your favorite stocks.
-Receive an alert if a stock changes compliance status.
-Share your findings with your friends and colleagues.

Thomas Weisel Asset Management LLC partnered to form an alliance with IdealRatings, Inc. to create funds and separately managed accounts to invest in small and mid-cap U.S. companies.

Through an initial investment by Thomas Weisel Asset Management, IdealRatings, Inc. will manage the process of achieving individually tailored Shariah compliance for Thomas Weisel Asset Management clients, including supplying software, research tools and scholar support.

IdealRatings, Inc. and Thomas Weisel Asset Management will target Shariah focused investors, Islamic institutions and international family offices.