India

Islamic banking opens job options

A huge number of experts in Islamic finance are needed due to continually emerging markets in India and abroad. Since already 75 banks all over the world have Islamic banking and finance branches, job opportunities for as much as 50,000 experts are open. Among these corporate banks are e.g. HSBC, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered.

European Islamic Investment Bank Plc : Non-Executive Director Appointment

Mr. John Robertson Wright was appointed Non-Executive Director of EIIB by the Board of EIIB.
Mr. Wright is a career Banker with important experience in UK and international markets including assignments in India, Sri Lanka, West Africa, Canada, Hong Kong and the United States. Before this appointment he was Chief Executive of Oman International Bank for 7 years, Chief Executive of the Northern and National Irish Banks in Ireland for 5 years, Chief Executive of the Gulf Bank in Kuwait and finally Chief Executive of Clydesdale & Yorkshire Banks prior to retirement.

Tebyan launches first Shariah Fund

Tebyan Asset Management (Tebyan) launched its debut Tebyan CHIME Opportunities Fund (Fund). This is the first of its kind Shari'ah-compliant product to present investors a gateway to the emerging economic axis of the Arab-Indo-China regions.
The new Fund will be managed by Tebyan, established and regulated in the Cayman Islands and co-managed by Gulfmena Investments (Gulfmena) as Investment Manager who will supervise the MENA and Africa investments and Lion Global Investors (Lion Global).
The fund will cover what is known as CHIME (China, India, and Middle East).

Islamic Finance in India can attract investments from Middle East

Taking advantage of the situation emerging out of the economic crisis in Eurozone and countries like United States, India should adopt the Islamic Finance System to pump-in investments from the Middle East. This interest-free and more inclusive system will in turn accelerate the financial inclusion of the Indian Muslims.
Dr Shariq Nisar, Director of Research and Operations of India’s premier shariah advisory firm TASIS and one of the senior most professionals of Islamic Finance in India, was in Malegaon to address a seminar on "Prospects of Islamic Finance in India".
Pointing at the demands in the country of reliable and committed investors in stock market, and banking and insurance sectors, he added that while China and the Middle East are the two areas in the world where surplus funds more than their requirements are generated, the Arab world doesn't have such problems.

3-day workshop to empower Muslim NGOs opens at IDB

The Islamic Development Bank’s community development workshop has the purpose to empower Muslim NGOs in different parts of the world by offering them necessary training to boost their leadership skills.
Prominent leaders of Muslim organizations and institutions in 14 countries including Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, c and the Philippines who had come to the Kingdom to perform Haj this year, including professor Siddique Hassan, vice president of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, will be included in the program.

Islamic bank to help develop Waqf properties in India

Islamic Development Bank (IDB) is enthusiastic to evolve Waqf properties in India and the two sides have investigated ways to cooperate in different fields including launching of Islamic banking in the country.
It seems that the bank has agreed to finance not only Waqf properties in India but also to develop seven Rubaats (Haj shelters) in Makkah for pilgrims' accommodation.

Mefcom ties up with UK-based merchant bank Beufort

Mefcom Capital Markets together with UK-based merchant bank Beaufort will supply various cross-border financial services to corporates and other investor classes. Furthermore, they will arrange Sharia- compliant investment products and plans to give the investors access to markets in India, Mid-East, the UK and Europe.
Mefcom-Beufort would provide its clients services allied to cross-border corporate advisory and due diligence work, brand franchising and international licensing transactions, listing and capital raising activities, private equity, investor roadshows, wealth management and stock broking and more others.

Islamic assets set to reach $5trn

Shariah assets worlwide are estimated to reach $900 billion to $1 trillion, which is three times the size of China's mutual fund asset base. It is expected that it expands to $4 trillion to $5 trillion by 2015.
The positive fact for asset managers is that this money currently has few places to go.
In some markets with large Muslim populations, the request for investment products based on Islamic law, or Shariah, exceed supply. In India, for example, about 50 per cent of the 160 million Muslims were found to be excluded from the financial sector.

Sarasin-Alpen to offer Islamic advisory services

Sarasin-Alpen LLC, Oman, is a subsidiary of the private bank, Bank Sarasin & Co Ltd, Switzerland. Capital Market Authority approved that the bank markets Islamic securities, products and services to its clientele, along with its existing advisory services in private banking.
Sarasin-Alpen also influences the existing Investment Banking business of its associate, Alpen Capital LLC (Oman). Sarasin Alpen Group also has offices in Bahrain, India, Qatar and UAE.

Alpen Capital, Oman to offer Islamic advisory services

Capital Market Authority, Sultanate of Oman gave his authorization for Alpen Capital LLC, Oman to rovide advisory services in Islamic structures along with its existing investment banking advisory services.
Alpen Capital offers comprehensive services which include debt advisory, M & A advisory and equity advisory & Capital Markets. It has offices in Bahrain, India, Qatar and UAE.

Govt. of India urged to allow financial bodies to adopt Islamic practices

The International conference's conclusions on "Prospects for Islamic Venture Capital Funds in India" were that India needs to make steps to allow various financial institutions to adopt Islamic products and practices and to lay foundations of a level playing field in economics and finance in which all players are alloud to take part in a fair and just manner.
The organizers of the two-day International conference were the Institute of Objective Studies, (IOS), New Delhi and Indo-Arab Economic Cooperation Forum. The conference was held on May 14 & 15 May at the Parliament House Annexe. Foreign participants at the conference were: Dr. Rudy Yaksick, Partner, Concord Capital Partners LLC, from USA and Khaled M. Al-Aboodi, CEO & General Manager of Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), Jeddah; Mr. Nabil El-Alami, Corporate Marketing & Communication Manager, ICD, Jeddah, KSA.

UAE insurer sees premiums quadrupling in 2011

Takaful Emarat wants to launch new products and as a result it expects gross written premiums to surge to Dh65 million ($17.7 million) in 2011.
Ghassan Marrouche stated that the new savings products, combined with the expectation that medical insurance will become compulsory in the United Arab Emirates would help the rise of written premiums. He added that demand is already increasing for Islamic insurance, or takaful, products in markets such as India, Pakistan, Jordan and Syria.

Takaful Emarat ties up with Reliance Asset Management

Takaful Emarat and Reliance Asset Management (Malaysia) (RAMMY), the Islamic asset management arm of Reliance Capital Asset Management, India (RCAM), became partners. Ian Lancaster, Chief Executive Officer, is the one that gave the statement.
Takaful Emarat will offer its customers three Shari’ah-compliant funds managed by RAMMY - WSF Reliance Global Shariah Growth Fund, Reliance India Shariah Growth Fund, and the proposed Shariah Equity Growth fund investing into China and India.

ADIB launches Capital Protected Soft Commodity Note

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank launched a capital protected Soft Commodity Note that provides an opportunity for investors to invest in this Murabaha based Note, the profit of which is determined by the prices performance of cotton, corn and sugar.
This is a opportunity given to investors to a return based on the expected performance of the three commodities. Their price depends on growth in population and buying power of the emerging economies of China, India, Asia and Africa.

India looking at alternative banks for oil payment to Iran

In order to pay Iran for the import of oil, India looks at the possibility of opening ccounts in banks like Dubai-based Noor Islamic Bank. National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) is also looking at opening an account in a UAE or Turkey based bank to receive direct money transfer from oil companies.

Malaysian body drafts standards to expand halal industry

The International Halal Integrity Alliance has begun its work on guidelines relating to the use of sharia-compliant pharmaceuticals, finance and processed food which would be completed by the end of the year.
Cief executive officer Darhim Hashim said that seven other standars, that include the regulation of sharia-compliant restaurants, cosmetics, lab testing and animal slaughtering, were elaborated.
Members from the alliance are from Europe, India, the Phillipines, Cambodia and Australia.

India may get its 1st foreign Islamic Bank in Bank Asya

India may soon get its first foreign Islamic bank with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) seeking government approval to allow Turkey's Bank Asya to offer Shariah-compliant lending in the country. Bank Asya is keen to start its Indian operations through a representative office in Mumbai.
RBI has requested the government to consider the Turkish bank's application within 45 days.

India’s rich should emulate Gates, Buffett

William Gates, Jr. and Warren Buffett landed in India to preach giving to India’s super-rich.
Their visit is part of their “Giving Pledge” campaign, which was launched last year to encourage the world’s wealthiest individuals to donate most of their money to charities. The two have, so far, secured commitments from about 60 wealthy Americans to give away most of their fortunes to charities.

GCC investments in Jersey total $31.37bn

The not-for-profit Jersey Finance opens Abu Dhabi office to tap Gulf wealth from family offices and high networth individuals even as currency fluctuations erode values.
Jersey is a self-governing British Crown Dependency where financial services are the largest industry. Jersey Finance, a not-for-profit organization that is tasked with promoting Jersey as an International Financial Center, has opened a representative office in Abu Dhabi, close on the heels of another in Mumbai, India. It sees a significant outflow of investment from the UAE to offshore jurisdictions.

India's Shariah indices lag global peers

During the last three months, domestic Shariah indices, benchmarks for equity investments complying with the Islamic laws, have underperformed their global counterparts in beating broad market indices.
S&P 500 Shariah (US) and MSCI EM Islamic index has been able to generate higher returns than its broader market counterparts.
It seems that a shariah index tends to give higher returns during a bull phase in the equity market and underperform the broader market in a bear phase.

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