LUXEMBOURG - Appetite for Islamic Bonds rises despite "Grexit"-fears

news.xinhuanet.com - DUBAI, May 26 (Xinhua) -- While the Euro zone crisis has been weighing on investors' sentiment and on global economic prospects, the issuance of Islamic bonds witnesses a renaissance in East and West likewise.
Global issuances of Islamic Bonds, known as Sukuk, surged 55 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2012, reaching 43.5 billion U.S. dollars, according to market research agency Zawya.
Despite the escalation of the Euro zone debt crisis in Greece and Spain, where banks suffered withdrawals worth 800 million Euros (one billion dollars) and one billion Euros (1.25 billion dollars) respectively, weighing on global stock indices in recent weeks, new Sukuk issuances are in the global pipeline.
Last May 22, Fernand Grulms, CEO of Luxembourg for Finance, an initiative which promotes Luxembourg as the second largest hub for investment funds, said in Manama at the World Islamic Funds Conference, that the Grand Duchy plans to issue Islamic bonds. These would be the first Triple-A rated Sukuk issued by a Euro zone sovereign issuer.  (source)

LUXEMBOURG - KUWAIT - MPs: Kuwait must learn from Luxembourg financial system

KUWAIT TIMES  - LUXEMBOURG: A four-member delegation from the Kuwaiti parliament visited the Luxembourg Financial Centre, called Luxembourg for Finance, Monday evening to get a first-hand information on the way the banking and finance sector functions in the small European country. The head of the centre, Fernand Grulms, welcomed the Kuwaiti parliamentarians and briefed them on the activities of the Luxembourg Financial Centre which is a public-private partnership between the Luxembourg government and the Luxembourg finan cial industry federation. (source)