Gulf Bond and Sukuk Association

GBSA, Arab Monetary Fund, IMF, World Bank, EBRD and OECD will gather MENA financial leaders May 23-24 in Abu Dhabi for "Strengthening Debt Capital Markets in the Arab World"

REUTERS DUBAI QATAR has mandated five banks to help arrange a new sovereign sukuk, four sources familiar with discussions said on Thursday, the Gulf Arab state’s first Islamic bond in almost 10 years.

DUBAI: Qatar National Bank, the state’s largest bank, is in talks with banks on refinancing a $1.85bn loan maturing on July 22, two sources said yesterday.

DUBAI: Islamic repurchase agreements may struggle to gain wide acceptance as a tool for financial institutions because the industry lacks clear rules governing their use, participants at a major industry conference told Reuters.

May 10 (Bloomberg) -- Barclays Plc, Britain’s second- biggest bank, is seeking to boost revenue from the Middle East and North Africa by as much as 25 percent annually over the next five years and will hire about 100 people in the region in 2011.

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) has mandated HSBC, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Emirates NBD, Deutsche Bank and itself for an Islamic bond due to be issued at the end of May, Reuters has reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter.

Saudi Arabia’s Islamic Development Bank (IDB), which operates on the principles of Shari’ah, plans to raise up to $1 billion by issuing a sukuk, a spokesman for the bank told Reuters on Wednesday.

Bahrain plans a sovereign bond targeting the US market by the summer, its central bank said yesterday, in a sign the Gulf state is confident it can attract international investors in the face of social unrest and budget pressures.

By Brad Douglas, Associate Director, Dubai Financial Services Authority The Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) conventional bond and sukuk issuance market has experienced noticeable growth over the last two years with sukuk issuances becoming more prominent.