Global adviser needed for Islamic finance, says IDB

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB), a Jeddah-based multilateral institution, has called for the creation of a global sharia advisory board that can offer greater uniformity for the Islamic finance industry, its president said on Thursday.

A centralised format to the supervision of sharia-compliant banking products is gaining favour across the globe, as regulators seek to standardise industry practices and improve consumer perceptions.

“IDB and IFSB (Islamic Financial Services Board) should study ways for creating globally acceptable references for the industry for the benefit of all,” IDB president Ahmad Mohamed Ali said at a conference in Kuala Lumpur.

Read more at : http://www.arabianbusiness.com/global-adviser-needed-for-islamic-finance-says-idb-501825.html?goback=.gde_147616_member_241640927

Arabian Business

Filling a Niche for Islamic Banking

By KRISTIANO ANG

When Fabiola Nava Carrera told her friends that she was going to pursue a master of business administration degree in Islamic finance at a Malaysian university, they were taken aback.

“I was very interested in going there to see what was going on, because I knew nothing about Asian and Islamic culture,” said Ms. Carrera, a 27-year-old Mexican who had previously worked in international trade. “But my friends in Mexico couldn’t believe that I wanted to go to Malaysia, because they thought that it would be too dangerous or that the culture would be too different.”

Ms. Carrera went anyway. Last year, she was one of four students, three of whom were non-Muslim, who graduated from the inaugural class of the Universiti Tun Abdul Razak’s Global Islamic Finance M.B.A. program in Kuala Lumpur.

Read more at New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/27/education/filling-a-niche-for-islamic-banking.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Mauritanian gets new Islamic bank

A new financial institution, Mouamalat Assahiha Bank, has been established in Mauritania to operate exclusively according to the Islamic finance code.

“The new bank, with a US$20 billion capital, was set by young and successful Mauritanian business people,’ according to a statement from the bank.

The bank will target both individuals and corporate organisations, and base its operations on the highest ethics and standards of the country’s financial industry.

Islamic banking abhors loans with interest and financial speculation, and recommends risk sharing.

Mauritania currently has 18 banks, five of which operate according to the Islamic finance code.

source : http://www.afriquejet.com

Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) preps liquidity guidance for Islamic banks, warns of risks – Reuters

The Kuala Lumpur-based Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) plans to issue a guidance note for Islamic banks on the adoption of liquidity standards, warning lenders lack high-quality assets to meet new regulatory requirements under Basel III.

The IFSB sets global guidelines for Islamic finance, although national financial regulators have the final say on their implementation and enforcement.

The Islamic body aims to issue the guidance note in 2014, having already issued a liquidity guideline in March of last year, according to an IFSB report released on Tuesday.

A separate guideline on capital adequacy, currently under revision, will be issued at the end of 2013.

Read more at : http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/15/islamic-finance-liquidity-idUSL6N0DW04R20130515

Sharia market goes mainstream; Monad University begins courses in Islamic finance

By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,

Hyderabad: The subject of Islamic finance has surfaced at copious controversies in India, travelling through court cases, to political podiums, after all of it; finally this vast lucrative finance market is getting a mainstream acceptance, at least academically.

Monad University Uttar Pradesh is introducing Islamic finance as higher educational courses. The university, in collaboration with Institute of Islamic Banking Finance & Insurance (IIBFI), Chennai is providing three passages for Islamic finance education. MU is introducing Post Graduate Diploma in Islamic Banking & Finance (PGDIBF), MBA in Islamic finance and PhD in Islamic finance.

Read more at :

http://twocircles.net/2013apr28/sharia_market_goes_mainstream_monad_university_begins_courses_islamic_finance.html

Australia Islamic Finance Forum

Address to Amanie Australia Islamic Finance Forum
Tuesday, 16 April 2013

This speech is very helpful for those who are interested in developing and get involved in Islamic finance industry in Australia. Australia is still untapped market for Islamic finance products.

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Why did the Vatican suggest Islamic finance? by İsmail Özsoy*

Professor İsmail Özsoy is an instructor at Fatih University’s department of economics.

Just after the 2008 global financial crisis hit, the Vatican suggested using the Islamic finance and banking system as a solution. So then what does Islamic finance offer? To answer this question we had better first lend an ear to the saying of the Prophet Muhammad: “You should sell gold for gold, silver for silver, wheat for wheat, barley for barley, dates for dates, and salt for salt, like for like, equal for equal, and hand-to-hand; if the classes differ, then you may sell as you wish, provided that the exchange is hand-to-hand.”

With this concise saying, the Prophet Muhammad expresses exactly 80 kinds of exchanges, which are the exchange of a commodity for another commodity or a currency for another currency on credit or on the spot and for matching or different quantities of goods. According to that Prophetic saying, out of these 80 kinds of exchanges, 46 sales bear a religiously forbidden “interest.” Interest is a value that is transferred from one party to another without a matching value given back. Interest is sometimes “unearned income” in a zero sum game and sometimes “unequally distributed income” in a positive sum game. Thus, interest is, in any case, a wrong done to one of the two parties in loans or exchanges. That is why it is condemned by all religions and criticized by most philosophers.

Read more Todays Zaman

http://www.todayszaman.com/news-307052-why-did-the-vatican-suggest-islamic-financeby-ismail-ozsoy-.html