WORLD - FINANCE - Give Islamic benchmark rate a chance: Bankers

The launching of the Islamic Interbank Benchmark Rate (IIBR) by Thomson Reuters in Bahrain last week is the latest manifestation of how the technical architecture of the global Islamic financial industry is maturing. To many the pace of maturity remains frustratingly slow, especially in the Middle East and North Africa, while Asia is galloping ahead, which has resulted in a lob-sided West Asia and East Asia fault line. (source)

INDONESIA - BANKING - Savings drive growth of Islamic banking in Indonesia

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country with a population of over 210 million, ought to have a natural fit with Islamic banking, finance and insurance. Indeed, the mobilization of domestic savings through Islamic banking is expected to help drive the growth of the Indonesian banking industry, according to Indonesian Vice President Boediono. (source)

INDONESIA - EVENTS - HIGH LEVEL CONFERENCE - Body to push cross-border handling of Islamic bank services urged

THE Association of Islamic Banking Malaysia (AIBIM) and Indonesian Syariah Banking Association (ASBISINDO) need to set up an industry task force on joint development of cross-border Islamic liquidity management products suitable for both Malaysia and Indonesia.

In a joint statement yesterday, the associations said this was decided at one of the specialised workshops held in conjunction with the Joint High Level Conference in Islamic Finance, organised by Bank Negara Malaysia and Bank Indonesia in Jakarta last week.  (source)

INDONESIA - EVENTS - High level conference - RI, Malaysia to promote ties on Islamic banking

Indonesia and Malaysia have agreed to establish a regulatory framework that will enable them to better synchronize their Islamic financial concepts.

As part of the plan, two memorandum of understandings (MoUs) were inked on Monday between the Indonesian Sharia Banks Association (Asbisindo), the Association of Islamic Banking Institutions Malaysia (AIBIM), as well as between Maybank Islamic Bhd and PT Bank Syariah Mandiri. (source)

EVENTS - International Shariah Audit Conference & Workshop ISAC 2011 (Kuala Lumpur 9-11 May)

AIBIM together with the IIUM Institute of Islamic Banking & Finance (IIiBF), IBFIM, ISRA and MTA are jointly organizing the International Shariah Audit Conference and Workshop  - ISAC 2011

Conference		Workshop
Date	May 9-10, 2011	Date	May 11-13, 2011
Venue	Nirwana Ballroom 1	Venue	Windows on KL 1
	Crowne Plaza Mutiara Kuala Lumpur		Crowne Plaza Mutiara Kuala Lumpur
	Jalan Sultan Ismail		Jalan Sultan Ismail
Price	RM1,500.00	Price	RM3,200.00
Price for attending both Conference and Workshop is RM4,500.00.  (more info hereunder or website)