Ernst & Young was a Gold Sponsor at the General Arab Insurance Conference held May 17-19, 2010. The conference was hosted in Jordan and organized by the Jordan Insurance Federation in cooperation with the General Arab Insurance Federation. The conference was attended by over 1,500 participants representing large local, regional and international organizations operating in the insurance and reinsurance sectors, in addition to a number of prominent investors, brokerage, Third Party Administrators (TPA), loss adjustors and lawyers.

In an interview with Trade Arabia, Ernst & Young shed light on the purposes for its involvement in the conference. “This conference is one of the largest taking place in the Middle East that brings together notable economists and insurance experts,” said Bishr Baker, managing partner at Ernst & Young, to Trade Arabia. “The financial crisis has undoubtedly impacted the sector, giving new meaning to the concept of liability, and so it is time to put forward strategies for companies to follow in order to maintain stability in the market.”

The third edition of Ernst & Young’s ‘World Takaful Report 2010: Managing performance in a recovery,’ unveiled at the 5th Annual World Takaful Conference of 2010, confirmed that the global Islamic Insurance (Takaful) industry is on course to surpass $8.8 billion in contributions in 2010. Contributions grew by 29 percent in 2008 to reach $5.3 billion.

For the original Trade Arabia story, please click here: https://www.tradearabia.com/news/BANK_180219.html

Thomas Reuters has announced that it now offers a new service catering to the Islamic finance industry, including a gateway that provides up-to-date information on the market, services, and shariah-compliant companies.

“Despite its image as an emerging industry, Islamic finance has now grown to be worth around $1 trillion and the Thomson Reuters Islamic Finance Gateway opens up this world of opportunities for [the] financial market,” said Rushdi Siddiqui, global head of Islamic finance at Thomson Reuters.

According to Reuters, the Islamic Finance Gateway offers detailed information about and links to Islamic finance professionals, rating agencies, industry standards bodies, Islamic finance hubs, index providers, consulting firms, 400 sharia scholars and Islamic subsidiaries from over 25 countries. Market professionals can access comprehensive, multi-asset class information on a wide range of Islamic finance instruments such as sukuks, Islamic leveraged loans, funds, the Islamic money market, takaful and currencies. Publicly listed sharia-based and screened companies and Islamic or commodity ETFs can be traded over the Thomson Reuters Trading for Exchanges (TRTex) platform, which has been integrated within the Gateway.

For the full press release, please click here: http://thomsonreuters.com/content/press_room/tf/tf_gen_business/2010_02_16_islamic_finance

HSBC Amanah has been named Best International Islamic Bank by Euromoney magazine, in its Islamic Finance Awards 2010. AMEinfo.com reports that the Euromoney awards are widely considered to be the most high profile accolades in the Islamic Finance calendar and annually recognize outstanding performance, quality, service, and innovation in the sector.

In addition to being awarded the title of Best International Islamic Bank, Euromoney also named HSBC Amanah Best Sukuk House for the leading role it continues to play in Islamic debt capital markets.

According to AMEinfo.com, During 2009 HSBC Amanah grew its operations in Saudi Arabia, through SABB, UAE, and Malaysia, while expanding in the key growth territories of Indonesia, Qatar and Bahrain. The business launched HSBC Amanah Premier, the world’s first international Islamic premium banking service and led activity in the Islamic debt capital markets, structuring and lead managing many of the landmark transactions in 2009.

For the full story, click here: http://www.ameinfo.com/223934.html

Just when many of the world’s financial systems have been working to weather the capital market turmoil and its spread to economies around the globe, Islamic finance growth has stayed strong and will likely be brisk during the next year, said Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services in a report titled “Islamic Finance Is Likely To Advance In 2010 On Firm Growth And Widening Geographic Reach,” published today on RatingsDirect.  

“We believe Islamic finance has become a recognized and a specific segment of finance on its own with still-bright growth prospects. We think Islamic finance is set to make further inroads in developed Western markets while Southeast Asian countries will likely fuel the Islamic finance advance in Asia in 2010,” said Standard & Poor’s credit analyst Mohamed Damak.

“At the same time, though, we believe there are a number of important questions for which the answers are not necessarily yet clear but that may play a part in shaping the sector’s future growth. Specifically in non-Muslim countries, and especially in Europe, we consider they include the size of demand for Sharia-compliant products, regulatory and tax environments, the support of the political and financial communities, sovereign sukuk issuance, and the possibility of a common strategy for extending Islamic finance across EU countries.”

Assets of the top 500 Islamic banks expanded 28.6% to total $822 billion in 2009, compared with $639 billion in 2008, according to S&P.    For the press release click here: http://www.standardandpoors.com/ratings/articles/en/us/?assetID=1245205629399 

Kuwait Finance House (KFH), the largest Islamic lender, has signed a $242 million deal for a luxury condominium project in Chicago, Ill., that will increase their investments in America. KFH is the 95 percent owner of the Ritz-Carlton Residences, which is a 40-story project already under construction, with development expected to be complete before 2012.

Full Story Here: http://www.globest.com/news/1567_1567/chicago/182857-1.html?st=rss

Dubai-based Islamic Business & Finance Magazine has named Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes as the “Best Index Provider Shari’ah Compliant Indexes.” According to Dow Jones’ promotional materials, the Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes were introduced in 1999 as the first indexes intended to measure the global universe of investable equities that pass screens for Shari’ah compliance. An independent Shari’ah Supervisory Board counsels Dow Jones Indexes on matters related to the compliance of index-eligible companies.

Full Story Here: http://finchannel.com/Main_News/Business/54523_Dow_Jones_Indexes_Wins_18th_Award_for_Its_Islamic_Market_Index_Series_/