IslamicFinance.de

In order to recover from the repercussions of the global fiscal crisis, family businesses in Gulf oil producers need foreign financial and technical assistance.
Nazem Al Kudsi, CEO of the government-owned Invest AD, said such a development and the strong demand for private capital make the Gulf one of the best destination for local and foreign capital.

The United Arab Emirates needs to boost investment in the agriculture sector, which can supply only 37 per cent of its annual food demand and makes it vulnerable to fluctuating prices.
In 2008 the UAE was forced up to import their bills. Since then they are trying to improve security of food supplies.

Senegal is the latest African nation looking to tap the growing Islamic finance market by issuing its first sovereign Islamic bond in 2011.
94% of the population are Muslims, therefor is the potential for Islamic banking strong within the West African nation.
The country has emerged as a relatively stable hub for regional business, which is attracting increasing investment interest from the oil producing Gulf.

The profit rates on Al Salamah’s 3-month and 6-month Mudarabah Fixed Deposits stood at 11.46% and 11.79% respectively, whilst the 12-month Mudarabah Fixed Deposit profit rate stood at an unprecedented 12.07%.
The reasons for Al Salamah’s strength are the following:
Al Salamah is backed by LB Finance’s 40 years of expertise, giving it a major advantage in the market. Furthermore, Al Salamah is not only monitored by a highly experienced and learned Shari’a Supervisory Council, it is also sanctioned by the Monetory Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

IFAAS (Islamic Finance Advisory & Assurance Services) announced the opening of its Gulf office in Manama, Bahrain. The new office is located in Manama's prestigious Bahrain Financial Harbour.
IFAAS' arrival in Bahrain is a real enhancement to the regional financial industry and Bahrain's position as an Islamic finance hub. According to the Bahrain Economic Development Board, Bahrain is widely recognised as the global leader in Islamic finance.

Islamic bonds slumped last week by the most since May.
Sales of Islamic bonds dropped this year due to debt restructurings and falling property prices in the Middle East.
The difference between the average yield for sukuk and the London interbank offered rate widened eight basis points last week to 341 basis points.

The UK unit of Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) has discovered a new strategy for small to medium-sized British companies with limited access to conventional sources of credit.
QIB (UK) has formed a partnership with alternative asset manager Eden Rock Capital Management to lend to UK companies in the Eden Rock Direct Lending Fund.

This up to date research summary by Funds@Work provides snapshots of their 2nd network analysis in the Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) space which took 10 months to complete. All institutional investors/asset owners are kept anonymous, the results of this short summary however are eye-opening for all market participants who want to get an idea of the state of socially responsible investments in countries like Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. The Austrian institutional investors who are part of this research and were identified as socially responsible investors (partially or fully managing their money in a sustainable manner) have 11,01 billion EUR AUM, the German investors altogether 510,13 billion EUR AUM, and the Swiss ones 214,56 billion EUR in AUM, amounting to 735 bn. EUR AUM altogether of which roughly 360bn. EUR are reported to be managed using sustainable criteria and using appropriate concepts.

High loan loss provisions depress profits but they could improve in 2011.
Total provisions averaged over 150 per cent of non-performing loans between 2004 and 2008. The absence of reasonably priced bank credit has been a key factor holding back the performance of the private sector over the last two years.
Less need for provisions should improve the financial performance of banks in 2011 and prompt them to ease curbs on credit.

Aman Union will hold on November 23 and 24, 2010 its first annual meeting in Tunis.
The meeting is organized with the support of the Tunisian Foreign Trade Insurance Company (COTUNACE). At the meeting there will be discussed topics as credit insurance industry of trade finance and investment in Arab and Islamic countries and the development of partnership relations between professionals in the finance sector in general and insurance in particular.

European Central Bank Governing Council member Yves Mersch said Islamic financial institutions may be more vulnerable to economic slumps.
The worldwide issuance of Sukuk, or Islamic bonds, by governments and companies has dropped to an estimated $20 billion in 2010 from an estimated $50 billion in mid-2007.

In order to strengthen its relations with the Middle East and India, Jersey Finance wants to open a new overseas office.
The plan is to succeed this in the first quarter of 2011.
The organisation has two other overseas offices, in London and Hong Kong.
HSBC Middle East is regulated on Jersey, while Emirates NBD, the National Bank of Kuwait and the National Bank of Abu Dhabi all run elements of business on the island

AmInvestment Bank Group sets its target to RM25bil for next year from about RM22.3bil as at end-October.
This year, the division launched 12 funds and may introduce about the same number next year.
With an initial fund size of RM100mil, the newly-launched fund is expected to generate a double-digit return in the long term.

Sabana Shari'ah Compliant Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust raised S$664.4 million in gross proceeds, after pricing its initial public offering at S$1.05 per unit.
The company, which filed its prospectus to the Monetary Authority of Singapore last week, said it was planning to sell a total of 632.8 million units in the IPO.
The company intends to use the proceeds of the IPO to purchase properties and to pay off debt-related costs.

Anfaal Capital has selected eFront’s FrontInvest Alternatives to support its alternative investments operations.
Anfaal Capital’s decision to choose FrontInvest once again demonstrates eFront’s unique ability to live up to private equity managers’ expectations by providing a front-to-back solution in support of their growth strategy. Anfaal Capital required a scalable solution covering CRM, document management, portfolio management and investor reporting.

Kuwait Finance House is looking for real estate investments in southern China and Europe.
Its real estate arm has investments primarily in key US cities, Malaysia, Shenzhen in China, and the Middle East.
Al-Ghannam said the company would prefer to invest in existing projects with local partners, rather than going into residential construction.

Qatar’s overseas investment portfolio is growing and the country is expected to spend tens of billions of dollars in the year ahead as it expands its investments around the world.
For example, the country wants to come to a capacity of export of 77 million tones a year, from bout 69 million tonnes currently.

Dubai-based Islamic mortgage lender Tamweel has said that the chief executive of Dubai Islamic Bank Abdullah Ali Al-Hamli has been appointed as its new chairman after the board of directors was dissolved last week.

In Chicago's South Asian community there are three people who defrauded hundreds of Muslim investors out of $30 million.
One of the suspects is a taxi driver turned businessman. His name is Salman Ibrahim and he is thought to be abroad, possibly in his native Pakistan.
One alleged victim, Fazal Mahmood, said he lost more than $200,000 . Part of that money was for putting his two daughters through college.
The other two men indicted were Mohammad Akbar Zahid, 59, who investigators believe also fled the U.S., and Amjed Mahmood, 47, of Des Plains, a Chicago suburb.
Ibrahim and Zahid face bank fraud and other charges, while Amjed Mahmood is charged with conspiracy to commit mail, wire and bank fraud. Each fraud count carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.

The bonds of five-to-15-year maturity were issued in the Malaysian market by Trans Thai-Malaysia (Thailand)’s special-purpose vehicle TTM Sukuk.
The sukuk was awarded the highest rating of “AAA” by Malaysian Rating Corp.