HSBC Bank Bhd, via its global Islamic financial services arm HSBC Amanah, has scored a first by introducing a one-stop window for its Islamic banking services called HSBC Amanah Wealth Management.

HSBC Amanah managing director Mohamed Ross Mohd Din said the services of HSBC's takaful as well as its Islamic savings, investments and wealth distribution services had been aligned under the proposition to allow the bank to offer a full suite of Islamic financial planning solutions for customers.

The Takaful and retakaful businesses play a crucial role in managing and mitigating the risks in Islamic finance. Takaful operators assume an important role as economic or financial intermediaries as they essentially mobilise long-term funds in the form of policy-holder contributions and invest them in the available Shari’ah compliant investments.

The Board Chairman of the Islamic Insurance Company (IIC), Mohammed Yusif, has affirmed that car insurance constitutes the major venue for underwriting as compared to other insurance markets. He revealed that the car insurance portfolio comprises 55% of the other types of insurance.
While addressing a seminar on car insurance held yesterday at the Friendship Hall, Mohammed Yusif said that his company was awarded the silver jubilee as the first Islamic insurance company.

Dr. Saleh Malaikah the Chairman of Salama expressed his appreciation for the results of the first day of Salama trading pointing that 'The market has made a vote of confidence for Salama. Clearly, the market is expecting Salama to be one of the top insurance companies in the Saudi market."

Salama is a takaful Islamic insurance provider in the Gulf region.

Read the full article.

The report also looks at the growth in interest in Islamic banking. It says that an increasing number of Dutch financial institutions are interested in offering banking according to Sharia principles, which do not allow interest to be paid on loans and shun investment in the drinks and weapons industry.

While the risk profiles and organisational structures in Islamic banking appear to deviate from traditional banking, the current supervisory framework does offer enough scope to accommodate Islamic banks, the DNB says.

Three Arab Islamic investment institutions are partnering to manage a $200m private equity fund in India, bobsguide reports. Bahrain-based Khaleej Finance & Investment will head the venture, along with Kuwait Finance House and Kuwait Investment Company. The Indian Private Equity Fund is hoped to deliver a 25% return rate over a five year period.

Via AMEinfo.

Prior to the Canadian convention of the Islamic Society of North America, there was a two-day conference on Islamic banking, finance and insurance. The underlying principle was the Qur'anic prohibition of interest, called usury in the Qur'an: "Allah had permitted trade and forbidden usury." However, during the convention it became clear that it is necessary to parse interest into component parts to see what is permitted.

So far the Turkish economy has proven to be sufficiently resilient against some monetary re-adjustments that in the past would have caused problems.

The present government, tied up with the upcoming elections and the EU accession talks, still manages to master inflation rates and maintain economic growth objectives. Due to ongoing legislative and budgetarian efforts, a reassuring International Monetary Fund (IMF) report and a cautious but positive Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report on corporate governance were obtained.