IslamicFinance.de

Since the buiding of the Association for Islamic Finance Advancement (AIFA) in April 2011, human capital development and education and training for the Islamic banking and finance industry has become a great success.
It appears that the association will collaborate with international accreditation bodies such as the US-based Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business to develop the standards and curriculum for Malaysia's higher education institutions, and is also cooperating with US publisher, John Wiley, to launch five standard textbooks related to Islamic finance and banking.

Over the next two years, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP)'s purpose will be to amplificate the share of Islamic banking system from the existing seven percent to 12 percent.
Saleem Ullah, the director of the islamic department at SBP stated this at a ceremony of unveiling logo of World Islamic Finance Summit 2011. The organisers of the summit are: Publicitas Pvt Limited, IBD, SBP.

Commercialbank is discussing with all islamic banks wether these are interested in procuring former’s Shariah-compliant investments.
The bank is in proccess of turning into the conventional style of banking. Clients that want to stay with Shariah-complaint banking, must go to other banks.

After the revolution in Egypt, people expect an answer regarding the possible opening of the Islamic banking.
Although Egypt accounts for nearly 10 per cent of the Arab world's gross domestic product (GDP) and its banking system is one of the largest in the region, the country hasn't been involved lately in Islamic banking.
Egypt's absence has been a loss for the Islamic finance industry as a whole. That's the one's that are interested in Islamic banking are hoping that the market will open their gates to Islamic banking.

The chief executive of Al Baraka bank announced that the bank wants to buy an Indonesian bank for around $100 million by year-end.
Adnan Yousif stated that they will send a delegation to seek the market.

UAE's Emirates Islamic Bank has admitted a net loss of $5.4m for the first quarter of 2011.
Dubai Financial Market posted that the bank's total income dropped 7.6% every year.

After an analisation of the banking industry in Oman, it seems that the industry can make profit from the potential of Islamic finance.
Together with the approval of Islamic finance products, now it is also allowed to set up an Islamic bank in the sultanate. The trick contains the fact that a new standalone Islamic bank in the sultanate can have success only after new regulations will be given.

It is well known that Egypt is considered the birthplace of islamic finance. But because of past corruption scandals, there was a time in which the previous government wanted a financial system that was more economic.
Now, after Hosni Mubarak and his government was brought down, Muslims are welcoming Islamic banking, giving Egypt the chance to be the center of Islamic finance.

It appears that Oman has finally decided to open the door for islamic banking.
Reuters received a statement from a central bank official that said that everything is ready for the beginning of Oman's first standalone Islamic bank.
In spite of this, the banks that already exist are not allowed to become islamic banks.

Although the Sharjah Islamic Bank (SIB) has acted good through the economic crisis, the problem could be in the expore to real estate.
The bank has also benefited from fairly low impairment charges due to relatively few problems in its financing and leasing book. It seems that the credit worries come from SIB's high single name and sector concentrations in financing and leasing.

Reims Management School (RMS) will launch a pioneering certificate program in Islamic Banking and Finance, that will be held in partnership with the International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The unicity of the programm consists in the fact that it offers both current students on the MSc in Finance and International Banking program, as well as executives, the possibility to study the Islamic banking system and capital markets.

Capital Investments – the investment banking arm of Capital Bank - succeeded the first issuance of Islamic Sukuk in Jordan for the benefit of Al-Rajhi Cement – Jordan.
It was signed by a number of leading Islamic and commercial banks, including Capital Bank, Cairo Amman Bank, Islamic International Arab Bank, Union Bank, Jordan Kuwait Bank, Bank of Jordan, and Arab Islamic Bank.

An executive master’s degree program for Islamic finance management at Effat University was started by Prince Turki Al-Faisal, a member of university’s board of trustees, in order to underline the success achieved by Islamic banking in overcoming the global economic crisis.
Islamic finance management is the first program under the newly established deanship for higher studies and scientific research at the university.

Bloomberg Professional initiated in february the Bloomberg Islamic Finance Platform (ISLM), that is described to be more connected to the community and to provide analytical tools to maximise investment performance in the rapidly growing market for Shari'ah-compliant products and services.
Bloomberg will also launch, together with the Association of Islamic Banking Institutions Malaysia (AIBIM), a Malaysian Ringgit (MYR) sukuk index that supplies a benchmark for MYR sovereign sukuk investments.

Because of the amplification of Islamic banking and insurance, banking and insurance regulators expect a new legislation that allows ompanies to invest in Sharia-compliant securities.
Kenya's first Islamic insurance firm, Takaful Insurance, was initiated 3 weeks ago. The first branch was opened in Eastleigh, Nairobi. That is why an absolute change is needed.

The conversion of PT Bank Ina Perdana of Indonesia into a syariah-compliance bank is expected by Affin Holdings Bhd to be completed in two years.

In order to extend Philippines, the only bank from this country has been placed on the auction block.
As part of its five-year rehabilitation program, interested parties will be given a 49 percent stake Al Amanah Islamic and Investment Bank of the Philippines (Amanah Islamic Bank).
The sale will help Islamic banking to enter expertise and technology.

The Malaysian Islamic banking system (MIBS) acomplished a very important approval by the resilience of the industry and its sustained recovery. Bank Negara Malaysia's 2010 Financial Stability Report shows that the MIBS were still resilient throughout 2010 supported by high capitalization.
Islamic banking institutions were very profitable having a fix income and improving their assets. This profitability allowed the bank to Islamic banking institutions to provide competitive returns to their depositors.

The key challenges and opportunities addressed in the Islamic Wealth Management Report are:

•Managing the Islamic wealth cycle through the entire process of wealth acquisition, preservation and distribution and achieving the required balance between spiritual and worldly obligations.
•Understanding the primary issues facing Waqf donors despite the strong growth drivers in this market: poor performance is due in part to the shortage of professionals leading to low quality asset management and lack of transparency.
•Considering the suitability of the Swiss private banking family office structure as a wealth management tool to ensure effective Islamic governance.
•Addressing the challenges facing Islamic mutual funds to achieve growth and performance.
•Recommending standardisation, education and diversification of Sukuk in order to increase the supply of products and the liquidity of the market.
•Analysing Islamic equity and indices performance over the last year to illustrate that diversification remains key for investment without compromising Islamic principles.

Bankers and business experts concluded that Algeria needs legal reforms in order to encourage the growth of sharia-compliant finance.
Islamic finance currently accounts for 1% of banking activity in Algeria.
Fouaz Sid, a bank clerk working for the Algerian arm of the French bank Société Générale, stated that in order to encourage them to diversify finance products in Algeria, every product which conforms to sharia law must be able to compete with the more traditional products.