FRANCE - After the meat, halal life insurance

www.lepoint.fr - The French Company consulting and investment (CFCI & Associates) is preparing to distribute the first life insurance "Sharia compliant" in France. Objective: To provide customers French Muslim - but not only - an average savings in accordance with his religious beliefs and, especially, insists the CFCI, ethical. The minimum bet will be 100 euros. Customers will be canvassed by phone or face to face.
The money raised in a Luxembourg-based Sicav will be invested to 85% on equity funds, and not in conventional bonds, since Islamic law forbids the payment by interest rates. The rest will be invested in money market funds or bond funds Islamic. (source)

UK - CAPITAL MARKETS - Moody's assigns BLME US dollar income fund Baa rating

ameinfo.com - Moody's Investors Service has assigned a Baa bond fund rating to the Bank of London and The Middle East Plc 'BLME' Sharia'a Umbrella Fund - USD Income Fund, a Luxembourg-domiciled fund (the 'Fund').

The Fund is structured as a Luxembourg domiciled SICAV-SIF and aims to provide a competitive level of income together with a high degree of security of capital. The fund seeks to achieve this by investing in a diversified portfolio of high quality Islamic money market instruments, Sukuk (an Islamic 'bond') and Ijara (the leasing of assets). (source)

UK - BLME Launches The Sharia'a High Yield Fund For Gulf Investors

London, 25 June 2011: Bank of London and The Middle East (BLME), London's leading wholesale Sharia'a compliant bank whose main shareholders include Boubyan Bank, the Kuwait Securities House and the Public Institution for Social Security in Kuwait, today announced the launch of the BLME High Yield Fund, a Sharia'a compliant fund which targets institutional and high net worth investors in Gulf countries seeking to generate higher returns than those targeted by BLME's US Dollar Income Fund. (source)