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Small and medium-sized Islamic banks may need to merge if they want to become bigger regional players capable of filling the funding hole left by shrinking Western banks, the head of Islamic finance at Deutsche Bank, told Reuters.

"There are mismatch challenges," Salah Jaidah said on the sidelines of the Euromoney Islamic finance summit in London.

"Their size, their appetite for long term funding, their ability to finance at competitive pricing. I see this as a big challenge and not happening already now," he added.
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Turkey's government plans its first-ever issue of Islamic bonds this year, overcoming sensitivities about Islamic finance in the secular republic as it seeks to tap a rich pool of investors flush with oil money.

A sovereign sukuk issue from an economy regarded as one of the most progressive and successful in the Muslim world would signal intent on Turkey's part to play a bigger role in Islamic finance. The size of the global sukuk market is estimated at more than $100 billion.
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A year on from the Arab Spring, prospects for Islamic finance to play a role in the rebuilding of affected countries has gathered pace; even as the countries continue to grapple with the impact of the uprisings.

The industry’s progress in the MENA countries has been especially marked in the first two months of this year.
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Converting a conventional business into a Shariah-principled entity can enhance the value of the company by 18%-25%, according to the Islamic Wealth Management (IWM) Report 2012. Moreover, the non-bankable assets of family-run companies needed further diversification, the report said.

“Converting a business to Islamic finance can increase the value of a company by 18%-25% due to the scarcity of genuine Islamic investments,” it said.
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A long-awaited mega Islamic bank to be headquartered in Bahrain may be launched this year and $600 million of its $one billion capital will be contributed by Islamic banks in the Arab region, a senior banker has said.

The remaining capital will be subscribed by local sovereign wealth funds and other financial institutions and investors, said Adnan Youssef, chairman of the Beirut-based Union of Arab Banks (UAB).
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Islamic microfinance is becoming an increasingly popular mechanism for alleviating poverty, especially in developing countries around the world. The Islamic finance industry as a whole is expected to reach over $2 billion dollars in 2012 and is a continually growing sector due to its ethical principles and prohibition of riba (interest).
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The Libyan Foreign Bank will offer Shariah-compliant products as the government prepares regulation to make Islamic banking the norm in the North African nation following the ousting of Moammar Gadhafi. “Islamic products are being introduced and will predominate, but we will not relinquish the use of traditional banking,” general manager Mohammad Ben Yusef said in an interview Tuesday in Tripoli. “A decision will be made by the Central Bank of Libya by the end of March to introduce a new article in the banking law regarding Islamic governance.”
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Egypt plans to offer U.S.-dollar certificates of deposit (CD) to Egyptians living abroad at the beginning of March to help it raise foreign currency, al-Borsa newspaper on Tuesday quoted Finance Minister Mumtaz al-Saeed as saying. Egypt has said it is looking to sell CDs as well as Islamic sukuk instruments and land sales to Egyptians living abroad to help plug an external financing shortage estimated at $11 billion over the next 18 months.
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London has been providing Islamic financial services for 30 years, but in recent years the industry has started to attain a greater profile.

The United Kingdom ranks ninth globally amongst countries providing Islamic finance services, according to a May 2011 CityUK report. That makes it the leading Western country and Europe's premier Islamic finance center with USD 19 billion of reported assets. London has been providing Islamic financial services for 30 years, but in recent years the industry has started to attain a greater profile.
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The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) was formed in October 1975 to foster economic development and social progress of member countries in accordance with Islamic principles. It currently has 56 member countries, Nigeria being the most recent (in 2005) country to become a member. Gambo Shuaibu is an Executive Director at the bank as Nigeria's representative. In this interview, he said the bank plans to make cumulative investments worth $6 billion in Nigeria in the next three years.
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