DUBAI: Standard Chartered is in discussions with regulators to offer Islamic banking services in Oman and Nigeria, now that both countries are revamping their regulatory environments to encourage Islamic finance, the bank's global head of Islamic (...)
MANAMA: Chicago native Mariam Khan never considered Islamic banking until her husband moved the family to Dubai in 2007. But the 36-year-old housewife is a believer now as the Western debt crisis deepens. Her husband opened a family account with (...)
DUBAI: French lender Credit Agricole is considering either issuing an Islamic bond or creating a wider sukuk program that could lead to several issues, as European banks seek to diversify funding, a senior executive said on Thursday.
"It's (...)
DUBAI: Emerging and Islamic markets are expected to lead a growth in global trade volumes over the next 15 years as non-traditional markets in Asia and Latin America drive demand, said a senior executive at HSBC's Islamic arm.
Global trade (...)
DUBAI: HSBC Amanah, the Islamic arm of lender HSBC, expects a pipeline of 30 new Islamic funds to boost its assets under management for serviced funds to $10 billion, its global head of securities services said on Tuesday.
Germain Birgen said the (...)
DUBAI: Growth of the global Islamic asset management industry will likely halt or reverse this year as the industry struggles with poor sentiment in financial markets and lackluster interest among Islamic institutional investors, said Jahangir Aka, (...)
DUBAI: Much of the land backing a $1.03 billion sukuk bond from Dubai property developer Nakheel is unreclaimed seabed, bank sources said, leaving trade creditors holding the paper with scant recourse to tangible assets in the event of a (...)
DUBAI: Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank has got the go-ahead from Qatar to open an Islamic branch there, a move analysts said could prompt other Islamic lenders in the region to follow.
Qatar's central bank issued a ban in February on conventional banks (...)
DUBAI: Noor Islamic Bank does not expect the Islamic bond market to turn around for another three years, given the financial and political uncertainty in the region, its chief executive said on Wednesday.
"What you see in the sukuk market right (...)
DUBAI: Dubai's Majid Al Futtaim Holding, sole franchisee of hypermarket chain Carrefour in the Gulf, plans to set up a medium term notes program, potentially worth up to $4 billion, two sources said on Monday.
Standard Chartered and Barclays have (...)
DUBAI: Jordanian Ashraf Hamdan began investing in Dubai's real estate market in 2006, with a few modest rental investment forays before turning his sights on flashier projects as a wave of luxury developments hit the market.
The real estate bust (...)
DUBAI/CAIRO: Covered head-to-toe in a black abaya embroidered with red and yellow flowers, Amal Abbas waits for her turn to place a deposit at Cairo's Al Baraka Egypt Bank, one of Egypt's two fully-fledged Islamic banks.
Although Egypt is (...)
DUBAI: Regional turmoil is creating an unexpected boom for Dubai as tourists and businessmen flock once again to the shopping and skyscraper oasis after fleeing just a few years ago in the wake of its spectacular debt debacle.
Visitor numbers are (...)
ABU DHABI: National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) will launch a sharia-compliant repo product in March to encourage secondary market trading and is in talks with two unnamed counterparties for the same, an official said on Sunday.
The Abu Dhabi lender (...)
DUBAI: Tokio Marine Middle East, an Islamic insurance services provider, sees an opportunity to expand its business in Egypt following the recent political turmoil, the company's chief executive told Reuters.
Islamic insurance, or takaful, is (...)
DUBAI: A master agreement for asset-backed Islamic bonds will help spur demand for securitized paper in the fast-growing industry, bankers and lawyers said.
Islamic finance industry body IIFM is looking to develop a template in 12 to 18 months (...)
DUBAI: From Australia to Britain and even France, which recently banned the face-veil, Western economies are adjusting their laws to encourage growth in the Islamic finance sector they hope will attract wealthy Gulf investors.
Enthusiasm in the (...)
DUBAI: Emirati housewife Sarah Alzarouni brushed past a group of women clad in floor-length black robes, some with only their eyes showing, to enter through the frosted doors of one of Dubai Islamic Bank's women-only branches.
Clutching a Louis (...)
DUBAI: From Australia to South Africa, governments are scrambling to change the law to accommodate the $1 trillion Islamic finance industry, whose avoidance of toxic debt has looked increasingly attractive since the global crisis.
But in the Gulf (...)
DUBAI/KARACHI: Real estate investment trusts (REIT) will help broaden investment in Pakistan from local and Gulf-based investors as the country struggles to promote itself as a growth market, Pakistan-based real estate executives said.
Arif (...)
DUBAI: Abu Dhabi is becoming the breakout emirate for investment and growth as Dubai's image still reels from its financial woes during the global credit crisis, said speakers at the Reuters Middle East Investment Summit.
Abu Dhabi came into the (...)
DUBAI: HSBC Amanah, the Islamic arm of bank HSBC, plans to have 125 branches throughout the Middle East and Asia by the end of 2012 eyeing rapid growth in the $1 trillion Islamic finance industry, a top executive said.
Middle East and Asian (...)
DUBAI: Emirati housewife Sarah Alzarouni brushed past a group of women clad in floor-length black robes, some with only their eyes showing, to enter through the frosted doors of one of Dubai Islamic Bank's women-only branches.
Clutching a Louis (...)
DUBAI: National Bank of Oman (NBO), the third-largest lender in the sultanate, saw its third-quarter net profit rise 16 percent but the results fell short of analyst expectations.
The bank's net profit climbed to 7.1 million rials ($18.44 (...)
DUBAI: Noor Islamic Bank has no plans to merge with another financial institution, it said in a statement on Sunday, dismissing speculation it may tie up with troubled Islamic lender Amlak.
A newspaper report last week said the UAE government was (...)