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Indonesia is planning further steps to make it easier for foreign banks to invest in local lenders as well as encourage domestic mergers. The Financial Services Authority, known as OJK, expects to amend the so-called single presence policy. The revised rule would relax the requirement that the acquiring banks have to merge all their local operations into one entity. Removing the single presence rule could make it easier for Standard Chartered to hang on to its 45% stake in PT Bank Permata. A large bank acquiring a smaller rival would be allowed to retain it as a separate entity without specifying the threshold for a merger requirement. However, even as the single presence rule is relaxed, foreign banks looking to acquire Indonesian lenders should still appoint Indonesian residents as president director and president commissioner.

Oman's inaugural US2bn international sukuk issuance witnessed a strong investor interest with an orderbook of US6.9bn and over 300 participating accounts. Oman entered the international public sukuk markets via a US2bn seven year sukuk issuance on May 23. The current sukuk follows a US5bn multi-tranche bond priced earlier this year. According to a press release, the final order book represented an oversubscription of nearly three times. The issuance was coordinated by a lead manager group comprising of alizz islamic bank, Citi, Dubai Islamic Bank, Gulf International Bank, JP Morgan, HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank. With this issuance the sultanate has now met significant portion of the funding requirements tied to its anticipated budget deficit for 2017.

Oman's $2bn sukuk sale lured orders for more than three times the issue size. The sultanate set final terms on its seven year sukuk at 235 basis points over the mid-swap rate, from initial guidance of about 270 basis points. Landesbank Berlin Investor Lutz Roehmeyer said there was a good demand and now a rush to get an allocation with accepting even less yield. Alizz islamic bank, Citigroup, Dubai Islamic Bank, Gulf International Bank, HSBC Holdings, JPMorgan Chase and Standard Chartered are managing the deal. The country's last foray into international debt markets was a $5bn three part offering of dollar bonds in March.

Dubai Green Economy Partnership (Dubai GEP) has signed an agreement with Emirates Islamic to provide easy financing options for consumers in Dubai to purchase green products on the Green Deal website. The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the World Green Economy Summit (WGES) recently. According to Faisal Aqil, Deputy CEO at Emirates Islamic, the bank will offer flexible financing schemes at competitive rates. He expects that a convenient financing option will be a huge incentive for the higher uptake of products from the Green Deal platform. The Green Deal site features products that can improve sustainability in day to day life, which include technologies for Energy Efficiency, Solar Energy, Energy Auditing, Water Efficiency and Thermal Control.

Abdul Aziz al Balushi, CEO of Ahlibank, said that the bank may convert some of the existing conventional branches to Islamic banking ones or may open more new Islamic banking branches. He added that services, products and dealing of Ahlibank's Al Hilal Islamic Banking Services are built on the tenets of truth and transparency, and are in accordance with sharia principles. Ahlibank is confident that Islamic banking will be a great success in Oman.

Affordable housing is a serious problem in the GCC countries since the population is growing. Already measures are being taken to address this problem. For example, amendments to the law on land and building regulations in Bahrain makes construction of additional houses on plots of land and the enlargement of small houses possible. The Diar Al-Muharraq project shall provide over 30,000 housing units. In Kuwait, a budget of 140 billion is designated to the cause of dealing with the urgent need for housing. The funding is part of the country's Five Year Plan 2010-14.

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The private equity firm Foursan Group has invested in in Jordan Dubai Islamic Bank (JDIB) and thus became the bank's second largest shareholder. The investment was completed through Foursan Capital Partners I. The goal of this transaction is a benefit from the rapidly growing Islamic banking sector as well as from JDIB's overall positive future growth prospects.

A number of Mediterranean basin countries are promoting themselves as Islamic finance hubs in an effort to attract sukuk, trust and investment funds business.