RUSSIA - The Akbars Bank debut Islamic Syndication

by Alberto Brugnoni - ASSAIF - On 17 December 2010, at 4.30 in the morning, I was standing outside my hotel in Kazan in the middle of a snowstorm waiting for Anatoly, my driver, to take me to the airport. I had to board the early flight heading back to Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport to catch my connection that would take me back to my much coveted wandering life as an Islamic finance consultant in the Middle East.  (source)

FRANCE - REGULATIONS - AAOIFI Standards now Available in French (Paris Europlace)

2011 Islamic France Aaoifi in French

UK - DIFC based Hawkamah partners with Islamic Finance Council UK to organize Shariah scholar training programme in Dubai

Dubai International Financial Centre-based Hawkamah, Institute for Corporate Governance, has partnered with the Islamic Finance Council UK (IFC) to trial a unique training programme which provides tailored conventional markets training for Shariah scholars. The programme is exclusively tailored for Shariah scholars and those involved with the Shariah assurance process and has been run successfully in London, Bahrain and Kuala Lumpur. 

The IFC Scholar Professional Development Programme, developed by the IFC, a UK based not-for-profit, and assisted by the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment Institute (CISI), provides a Continuous Professional Development (CPD) approach comprising of relevant and structured learning activities on conventional markets. (source)

RUSSIA - Russian Banks to Begin Trading in Islamic Debt

JAKARTA, Indonesia — VTB Group and Gazprombank are vying to become the first Russian borrowers to sell Islamic debt in a bid to attract Middle Eastern investment.

VTB, Russia's second-largest bank, aims this year to raise about $200 million selling sukuk, debt that complies with Islam's ban on interest, Herbert Moos, the lender's deputy chairman, said in an interview Wednesday. Gazprombank, the lending arm of gas export monopoly Gazprom, is in talks with at least 10 Moscow-based companies on arranging a sale and will meet investors in the Persian Gulf in September, said Alexander Kazakov, director of structured and syndicated finance. (full story)

RUSSIA - ICD offers Islamic finance study tours to Russian, CIS officials

The intellectual argument for and the demystification of Islamic finance has gained much ground in Russia and the CIS countries over the last two years, but the political decision makers and bureaucracy, especially the banking regulatory authorities, still need to be convinced about the role an alternative Islamic system of financial management can play, especially in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. As such, Islamic finance in the region is at best a work in progress but the task ahead remains huge. (full story)

UK - London winning race to capture burgeoning global Islamic finance market

LONDON (AP) - The cavernous ballroom of a London hotel is buzzing with the sound of networking and deal-making between hundreds of bankers, lawyers and investors from the Middle East, Asia and Europe.
The annual Islamic Finance conference in the British capital has grown exponentially over the past decade, attracting all the key international players and underscoring fears that political rhetoric is leaving the United States sidelined in an increasingly lucrative global industry. (source)

NEW YEARS THOUGHTS - Will dawn of new year take Islamic finance to next level?

By MUSHTAK PARKER | ARAB NEWS

Published: Jan 3, 2011 00:42 Updated: Jan 3, 2011 00:42 

The dawn of the new Hijrah year and 2011 could either signify more of the same as in the last year or a leap toward the first steps to taking the global Islamic finance industry to the next level as Malaysian Prime Minister Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak's government says it aspires to do.

FRANCE - Paris EUROPLACE International Financial Forum 2010 / DIFC - Dubai

For further information on the 2010 Dubai/Paris EUROPLACE Financial Forum, please visit the website: www.paris-europlace.net/dubai2010/

Paris EUROPLACE, the association representing the global finance, investment and related business community of Paris, France and Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the UAE-based financial and business centre and gateway between the Middle East, Africa and South Asia region (MEASA) and the world, have jointly organized today their first International Paris EUROPLACE Financial Forum in Dubai. This event is being held following a Memorandum of Understanding signed between DIFC and Paris EUROPLACE in January 2009 to strengthen the links between the two financial market places.

FRANCE - France ready to issue first Islamic bond next year

DUBAI — France will be ready to issue the first Islamic bond issue early next year as the legal framework is in final stage, a former special adviser to financial affairs at the French Treasury said in Dubai on Wednesday.

“We still have to work on some issues for it [Islamic bond or sukuk] but it’s a matter of weeks and then we will be ready in the beginning of 2011,” Thierry Dissaux, who is also Chief Executive of the French Deposits Guarantee Fund, told Khaleej Times on the sidelines of a financial forum in Dubai on Wednesday.

FRANCE - Islamic finance body okays France's sukuk model

A top Islamic finance body has approved France's model to issue local sukuk, or Islamic bonds, which would ease their listing on the Paris financial market, a French official revealed on Wednesday.

The Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions has approved the model aimed to marry France's tax laws with the Islamic financial instrument, said Thierry Dissaux, the chief executive officer of the French Deposit Guarantee Fund.

FRANCE - First French Islamic bond seen early 2011

DUBAI, (Reuters) - The first Islamic bond issue out of France could happen early next year, the chief executive of the French Deposits Guarantee Fund said on Wednesday.

"At the beginning of 2011 we could see the first sukuk under French law," Thierry Dissaux, also a former special adviser for financial affairs at the French Treasury, said at a conference in Dubai.

REGULATIONS - AAOIFI - Shariah body issues 11 new standards

Dubai-based Shariah consultancy Minhaj Sharia’h Financial Advisory and Bahrain-based Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOFI) have launched a set of 11 new Shariah standards that will help regional and global Islamic financial institutions tackle contemporary issues of banking, finance and investment.