PORTUGAL - 1st Portuguese Islamic Finance Conference & Workshop - July 6th 2012 – Lisbon

Celebrating 100 years of tradition and excellence in serving its members by crossing a new frontier and offering insight into the growing industry of Islamic finance, the British-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce, together with its partner Asian Cooperation Enterprise, is privileged to host the first Portuguese Islamic finance workshop in Lisbon.

Attended by high profile personalities in both conventional and Islamic banking, it is set to become a reference point for the cooperation between the two financial worlds. Dignified by esteemed Sharia specialists, from the world's most prominent and successful Islamic finance institutions, it is aimed at both educating the high level conventional bankers with regard to Islamic finance and facilitating networking between powerful entities in Portugal, the Gulf Cooperation Council and South East Asia. (source)

ALBANIA - FINANCE - PM Berisha welcomes participants in International Conference on Foreign Investments in Albania

www.emg.rs -The Conference is organized by the Albanian Investment Development Agency (AIDA) in cooperation with Islamic Development Bank- IDB.

Prime Minister Sali Berisha hosted a welcome reception today evening at the venues of the Palace of Brigades for the participants in the International Conference on Foreign Investments in Albania that holds its proceedings in Tirana.
The Conference is organized by the Albanian Investment Development Agency (AIDA) in cooperation with Islamic Development Bank- IDB.  (source)

EUROPE - INDEXES - Changes DJIM Europe

www.djindexes.com -Changes Follow Regular Annual Review - LONDON (7 June 2012) – Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, today announced the results of the regular annual review of the Dow Jones Islamic Market Titans 100 Index and its three subindexes, Dow Jones Islamic Market U.S. Titans 50 Index, Dow Jones Islamic Market Asia/Pacific Titans 25 Index and Dow Jones Islamic Market Europe Titans 25 Index as well as the Dow Jones Islamic Market Malaysia Titans 25 Index. All changes will be effective after the close of trading on Friday, June 15, 2012.  (source)

UK - Qatari bank set to buy ailing UK lender IBB

www.thenational.ae - Qatar's Masraf Al Rayan is in discussions to become the biggest shareholder in Islamic Bank of Britain (IBB), a troubled Sharia-compliant lender.

Masraf Al Rayan, the biggest Islamic bank in Qatar, announced after a board meeting on Monday that it had entered negotiations to obtain a controlling stake in IBB through a capital increase.
"Masraf Al Rayan will acquire 70 per cent of the bank and the government of the state of Qatar will acquire the remaining 30 per cent," the bank said. "This is subject to obtaining approval of the official authorities in the state of Qatar and the United Kingdom." (source)

UK - IDB exploring microfinance options in UK

www.saudigazette.com.sa - LONDON — The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) is exploring social and financial inclusion opportunities in the UK including the provision of community-based microfinance, SMEs (small-and-medium-sized enterprises) financing and technical assistance programs.
 
An IDB delegation, led by its President Dr. Ahmed Mohammed Ali, participated in a roundtable here Monday with financial institutions, law firms, corporates and community organizations and leaders.

Dr. Ali said that in addition to the direct assistance to microfinance institutions, initial discussions have taken place with the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), World Bank and CGAP to start some pilot projects in various common member countries and eventually develop a global Islamic microfinance facility.  (source)

RUSSIA - VTB: The importance of being Islamic

www.euroweek.com - If VTB manages, on its third attempt, to issue a sukuk then the Russian bank will have achieved for conventional issuers what Goldman Sachs couldn’t and Crédit Agricole didn’t dare. Demonstrating that such business is possible would do a big favour for the Islamic finance market — and the Russians themselves. (source)

UK - ADIB the first UAE Islamic bank to begin operations in the UK

www.cpifinancial.net - Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) has officially opened its London branch at the prestigious One Hyde Park at Knightsbridge. It becomes the first UAE-based Islamic financial institution to receive a banking operations licence from the UK Financial Services Authority and to offer full range of services to high net worth individuals. (source)

CZECH - Can Islamic banking help boost Czech Republic exports?

www.islamic-finance-conference.net -A good deal of the ongoing economic and financial turmoil on world markets has been blamed on the unscrupulous practices of the international banking and financial sector. Islamic banking, on the other hand, is seen as a fairer and more balanced alternative which has been much less affected by the crisis. Can the Czech Republic benefit from a financial system based on the Islamic law? And can Islamic banking help boost Czech exports into Muslim countries? These are some of the issues debated at an international conference on Islamic banking held in Prague. (source)