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I’m writing from Public Radio Marketplace, a business and finance radio program distributed by American Public Media.

In the UK, the Children's Mutual has produced a Child Trust Fund (CTF) that is in accordance with Shariah.

See Shariah Baby Bond for more details.

The Bank of London and the Middle East, which opens in London today, will bring “choice and depth” to London’s fast-growing Islamic financial services sector, according to chief executive Humphrey Percy.

Qatar Real Estate Investment Company (QREIC) has mandated HSBC to act as Sole Lead Manager and Bookrunner for a benchmark Sukuk issue.

The issue is significant for several reasons:

Kenya’s first fully fledged Islamic bank, First Community Bank Ltd. (FCB) has stepped up its recruitment of key personnel with the objective of commencing operations in the next few months.

The central bank governor has hinted that a guideline on Islamic banking is being considered in Bangladesh.

“Time has come to formulate an Islamic banking guideline,” Salehuddin Ahmed told the launching ceremony of Islamic banking brand by Standard Chartered Bank in Dhaka.

He urged the Islamic thinkers, economists and bankers to come forward to outline such a guideline.
Standard Chartered Bank has launched its new Islamic banking brand, Saadiq, offering a range of Shariah-compliant financial solutions.

The bank also introduced two credit cards - Saadiq Gold and Saadiq Green, the first-ever Shariah-compliant interest-free credit cards in Bangladesh, which the Bangladesh Bank (BB) governor formally launched.

The Bahrain-based Islamic banking conglomerate, Al Baraka Banking Group (ABG), said Saturday that it had received Syrian approval to establish a subsidiary bank with a capital of 100 million dollars.

The bank, which will be known as Al Baraka Bank-Syria, will provide full Islamic banking products and services for both private individuals and companies through a network of branches in Syria's main cities.

Fortitude Capital Sdn Bhd, a fund manager, is teaming up with Kuwait's Islamic investment group Al-Aqeelah to set up a Takaful company in Syria.

The two parties signed a memorandum of understanding here yesterday towards forming the joint venture in that country by early next year.

It will be Al-Aqeelah’s first Takaful operations. Al-Aqeelah also announced the appointment of Fortitude Capital chairman and Malaysia-Syria business council chairman as its representative in Asia.

The international Centre for education in Islamic Finance or INCEIF and the Tadhamon international Islamic Bank co-organized a Forum entitled The Islamic Financial Services industry: The Next Big Wave. The Forum, held at the Movenpick Hotel, was well attended by about 100 guests comprising staff of the Central Bank of Yemen, Islamic and conventional banks, insurance companies, scholars and members from the University fraternity in Sana’a.

Qatar Islamic Bank is planning the first securitisation by a bank in the Middle East.

Qatar’s largest Islamic bank and the Gulf’s fourth largest Islamic lender by market value has hired Kuwait-based Islamic investment bank Rasameel Structured Finance Company and an international investment bank, which it did not name, to advise on the deal.

QIB’s securitisation aims to serve the bank’s overseas expansion plans.