WORLD -OPINION - Islamic banks need mergers to fill Western funding hole - Mandiri Syariah a winner ?

www.dailystar.com.lb - LONDON: 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. (source)

WORLD - BANKING - Islamic banking assets could reach $1.8 trillion by end of 2016

JEDDAH: Islamic banks may be bolstered by a nearly doubling of assets within five years, as borrowers seek alternative methods of financing due to a cutback in lending at European and US banks, according to a report by Deutsche Bank.

The bank expects that mortgage financing, particularly in Saudi Arabia, could provide $100 billion in assets to the overall industry. (source)

TRADE FINANCE - MIGA Covers Murabaha Facility for Indonesia Telecoms Expansion

Project Example of Agency’s Work with Islamic Finance Deal Structures

WASHINGTON, DC, June 16, 2011—The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), the political risk insurance arm of the World Bank Group, announced today that it has provided $450 million in investment guarantees to support the expansion of telecommunications services in Indonesia. MIGA’s guarantees are backing a $450 million Murabaha financing facility underwritten by Deutsche Bank and Saudi British Bank (SABB). (source)

FINANCE - STC Indonesia unit secures $1.2bn funding

Saudi Telecom Company (STC), said its Indonesian unit Axis has secured $1.2 billion in financing to help fund its expansion and growth strategies for the next five years.

The finance deal, with a tenor of seven and a half years, involves several local and international financial institutions and all facilities have been structured in a sharia-compliant manner, said a STC statement. (full story - trade arabia)