IslamicFinance.de

The effects of the ‘Arab Spring’ in North Africa may have presented fantastic opportunities for Islamic finance according to Patrick AbiHabib of Arab Banking Corporation.
He explained that the transitional authorities in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt have expressed their support for the Islamic banking sector, and Libya had set about changing the country’s financial regulation to give permission to the new government to raise money from the Islamic capital markets, taking the country’s Islamic banking regulations to the next level.

The Investment Dar Company stated that the investors' coordination and liaison committee has been concluded.
The committee will mediate with the company at regular face-to-face meetings, establish regular reporting processes and will assign a qualified individual to be the first contact point for all TID banks and investors to disseminate information.
Some of the members of this committee are: Al-Rajhi Bank, Bank of Bahrain & Kuwait, and Arab Banking Corporation.

ABC Islamic Bank expects to expand its customer base and develop new products this year as customers' appetite for borrowing returns.
The subsidiary of Bahrain-based Arab Banking Corporation on Thursday posted a net profit of $2.1 million this year compared to $10.1 million in 2009.

UAE's Emirates Steel Industries, which controls a majority of the country's steel market with an annual output of two million tons, on Wednesday secured a $1.1 billion loan from a group of regional banks as it seeks to expand its production capacity.
The Abu Dhabi-based firm, the operator of the largest steel plant in the UAE reached a seven-year project financing agreement with a consortium of seven conventional banks and two Islamic finance institutions.
The conventional banks in the consortium are the National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Union National Bank, First Gulf Bank, Bank of Baroda, Arab Banking Corporation, Al-Khaliji France and Al-Khalij Commercial Bank. The two Islamic finance institutions are the Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and Al-Hilal Bank.