IDB urged to make trade financing more competitive

Behind the resolutions, the statements and the rhetoric of the Board of Governors of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) at the recent 36th Annual Meeting which was held in Jeddah on June 29-30, were some commendable suggestions from member countries aimed at speeding up the efficiency and effectiveness of the bank. (source)

TRADE FINANCE - Sukuk market will bounce back over the next two years

ELAF Bank is a wholesale Islamic bank incorporated in Bahrain in 2007. Its shareholders include Aref Investment Group of Kuwait; Kuwait Investment Company (KIC); Sukuk Holding Company; Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), the private sector funding arm of the Islamic Development Bank; and Qatar Islamic Bank.

It started with the original objective of developing a secondary market in sukuk and to be a market maker. In fact its original name was the cumbersome Sukuk Exchange Central Bank. But the oncoming global financial crisis forced the bank to retreat into more vanilla investment banking to generate enough income to cover its expenses and to prepare for the recovery in the market in 2010-2011.

CAPITAL MARKETS - BLME plans Shariah-compliant fund (Turkey clients)

Bank of London and the Middle East (BLME), the totally-Shariah based bank, is currently working on the development of a Shariah-compliant Absolute Return Fund. "We have been watching the whole scenario of active and passive fund management and have been working with a lot of interest on the development of an absolute return fund," said Nigel Denison, director and head of asset management, BLME, who was in Jeddah for a seminar on Islamic finance recently.