News Clips from the past week

60 PCT SUKUK ISSUANCE ORIGINATE FROM M'SIA, DEWAN RAKYAT TOLD
Bernama Daily Malaysian News, 6 November 2008, 145 words, (English)
...Malaysia is in the forefront of Islamic banking and finance as 60 percent of the sukuk issued globally originate from the country, the Dewan Rakyat was told today....

BNP PARIBAS FALLS 3.8% ON FIRM VOLUME, IN SIGNIFICANT DOWNTREND
Italian Company News Bites – Stock Report, 6 November 2008, 1115 words, (English)
...September 16: ISLAMIC DEALS ENHANCE BNP PARIBAS EXPANSION...

IFC TO PROVIDE $3 MILLION TO FACILITATE TRADE IN WEST BANK AND GAZA
States News Service, 6 November 2008, 414 words, (English)
...El-Bireh and has seven branches and one office operating in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Bank offers a wide range of Islamic finance products for retail and commercial banking. For more information, visit www.aibnk.com....


New Bahrain Islamic bank mulls private equity deals
AFX Asia, 06:51, 6 November 2008, 456 words, (English)
...investors who want to avoid earning or paying interest viewed as usury under Islamic law. (For Reuters content on Islamic finance , click on) (Reporting by Frederik Richter; Editing by Sharon Lindores) Keywords: FIRSTINVESTMENT BAHRAIN/PRIVATEEQUITY...

Turkish commentary urges West, US to "benefit" from Islam
BBC Monitoring European, 06:30, 6 November 2008, 887 words, (English)
...The latest economic crises have highlighted the advantages of Islamic business and finance , and ethical/interest-free banking. Islam maintains the entrepreneurial spirit and insists that capital be...

INTERVIEW- Islamic finance body sees growing consensus on law
Reuters News, 04:34, 6 November 2008, 543 words, (English)
...* Islamic finance industry body IFSB sees more common ground in interpretation of Islamic law...

Reuters Summit- Islamic finance not immune to global woes
Reuters News, 04:04, 6 November 2008, 584 words, (English)
...commodities, be it equities, stock markets, stocks, be it real estate, their prices were affected and this is where Islamic finance is affected," Henry Azzam, chief executive for Middle East and North Africa at Deutsche Bank, told the Reuters Middle...

Taiwan Regulator Ties up With Financial Authority in Dubai
Best's Insurance News, 6 November 2008, 150 words, (English)
...The Dubai-based DFSA is an independent regulator for financial services including asset management, banking, Islamic finance and insurance....

ABC financial crisis losses top $974m
Mist News, 00:52, 6 November 2008, 676 words, (English)
...ABCs strengths in trade, project, corporate and Islamic finance have ably serviced the current business expansion in the region, whilst the development of retail, small and medium enterprises and commercial banking activities in the niche markets...

Kuwaits KFH optimistic about Q4, eyes Gulf, Asia
Mist News, 00:45, 6 November 2008, 562 words, (English)
...Major Gulf Islamic lender Kuwait Finance House (KFH) is “optimistic” about fourth-quarter profit and is going ahead with an expansion in the Gulf and in Asia, its chief executive said on Tuesday. Mohammad al-Omar told the Reuters Middle East Investment...

CBB meets AlBaraka Banking Group senior delegation
Middle East Company News, 6 November 2008, 204 words, (English)
...Mr. Al Maraj briefed the delegation about the latest economic and financial sector developments in Bahrain and pointed to the increased interest in Islamic Finance due to the current global financial situation....

London to host GCC-EU forum
Gulf Daily News, 6 November 2008, 316 words, (English)
...The sectors of insurance, trade, finance , Islamic banking, food industries, agriculture, new industries, IT and real estate will be in the limelight....

Kuwait's KFH unit wins Saudi investment licence
Reuters News, 21:36, 5 November 2008, 82 words, (English)
... KUWAIT, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Islamic lender Kuwait Finance House said on Thursday its fully-owned Saudi unit has won an investment licence to operate in Saudi Arabia....

Project funds drying up in Dubai
The Australian, 6 November 2008, 1013 words, (English)
...The Dubai royal family-backed developer is facing the maturity of $US3.52 billion ($5.1 billion) of Islamic bonds in December next year. It has about $US30 billion worth of projects in progress....

Unicorn Investment Bank achieves strong results
Middle East Company News, 5 November 2008, 738 words, (English)
...Unicorn Investment Bank B.S.C. (c) (Unicorn) is an Islamic investment bank, with an international presence in the United...Unicorn is built around six core business lines: Corporate Finance , Capital Markets, Private Equity, Asset Management, Strategic...

High-powered UK delegation heads to Bahrain
COI News Distribution Service, 5 November 2008, 487 words, (English)
...Some of the UK's top financial services companies will descend on Bahrain from 23 to 25 November to showcase the UK's expertise in Islamic finance at the 15th World Islamic Banking Conference....

Malaysia's RHB Islamic in unit trust, insurance deal
Reuters News, 00:05, 5 November 2008, 174 words, (English)
...not only generated from the Muslim customers, but also from our non-Muslim investors." (For more Reuters coverage of Islamic finance , click on [ID:nISLAMIC]) (Reporting by Liau Y-Sing; Editing by Ben Tan)...

Family Shariah Fd Quarterly results
Regulatory News Service, 23:00, 4 November 2008, 1765 words, (English)
...Blomfield