SWITZERLAND - Troubled Faisal Bank up for sale

www.reuters.com - (Reuters) - Faisal Private Bank, struggling since the collapse of property schemes in the Gulf and beyond, is up for sale after failing to raise enough money to meet the Swiss regulator's minimum capital requirements, its chief executive said on Thursday.
Chief Executive Mark Koch told Reuters the Geneva-based bank, which called itself the first Islamic private bank, is talking to three potential suitors. Faisal's parent, Bahrain-based Ithmaar Bank ITHMR.BH, will be selling part or all of its stake, he said.
"We have had to seek a new shareholder to take a majority position, and have identified several interested parties over the last five months," Koch told Reuters. (source)

SWITZERLAND - BANKING - In Zurich opens the Islamic Bank of Switzerland

www.ticinolive.ch - The business newspaper Bilan in Zurich announces the opening of the Islamic Bank of receipient (IBS).
The institution will apply the rules of Islamic finance, mainly taken no interest on loans and investments are justified on social awareness. (source)