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 - QATAR - “Together we can achieve more”

www.lff.lu - These words by Luxembourg Minister of Finance, Luc Frieden, summed up the discussions at a seminar organised by LFF with the support of the Qatar Financial Centre Authority (QFCA). This event, which is the first to follow the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Grand Duchy and the State of Qatar six months ago, was designed to foster contacts between members of the two respective financial centres. Minister Frieden’s words were echoed by Mr Abdulrahman Al Shaibi, Managing Director of the QFCA: “We have so many things in common”, he said; “we can learn from each other’s experience.” (source)

LUXEMBOURG - DIFC and Luxembourg for Finance discuss potential collaboration to develop the financial services industry in the GCC

WWW.WAM.AE -  Dubai, 31st Jan. 2012 (WAM) -- The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the financial and business hub connecting the region's emerging markets with the developed markets of Europe, Asia and the Americas, hosted "Luxembourg and Dubai, a partnership for financial services", in collaboration with Luxembourg for Finance, a public-private partnership between the Luxembourg Government and the Luxembourg Financial Industry Federation that is responsible for the development of the financial sector in the Grand Duchy. (source)

LUXEMBOURG - PUBLICATIONS - Luxembourg vehicles for Islamic Finance

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LUXEMBOURG - European Islamic finance: still waiting in the wings

LUXEMBOURGFORFINANCE LFF.LU - Global Islamic finance assets have remained flat at around 1 trillion dollars, of which 6% is held in investment funds. This is the topline figure of the shortly-to-be-published 2011 edition of Ernst & Young's Islamic funds report, which has become a reference in the industry. It was also the only figure leaked by E&Y, at an Islamic finance seminar they hosted within the framework of the Luxembourg AIF Club. This did not dampen a debate on how to expand the market. (source)

LUXEMBOURG - Luxembourg Financial Centre : Website dedicated to Islamic Finance

Luxembourg Financial Centre (callled Luxembourg for Finance) now has a website dedicated to Islamic finance that can be accessed HERE.