Friday, November 17, 2006

Takaful, Infrastructure & IF Qualifications

Islamic Finance Qualifications in Malaysia

"FPAM's Islamic financial planning programme for Middle East", The Edge Daily, November 17, 2006

The Financial Planning Association of Malaysia (FPAM) is expanding its Islamic Financial Planner qualification to the Middle East. The course is for retail professionals in the Islamic financial & takaful industries and is awaiting certification by Bank Negara Malaysia, the Malaysian Central Bank.

"RM7.2bil takaful industry by year-end", The Star (Malaysia), November 17, 2006

The Malaysian takaful industry is expected to reach RM7.2 billion (US$1.97 billion) as compared to RM6 billion (US$1.64 billion) in 2005.

Mid-East Infrastructure Financing

"Mideast infrastructure boom may help boost Islamic banks", Gulf Times, November 17, 2006

The boom in infrastructure projects in the Middle East may provide a boost to the Islamic banking industry. However, the lack of large Islamic banks could hamper their ability to be competitive with conventional banks and may even exclude them completely from the largest infrastructure projects. Given the low liquidity of sukuk investors may be open to investing in infrastructure funds.

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