INDONESIA - BANKING - Bahrain's Al Baraka posts 7% Q1 profit rise (plans for Indonesia)

www.arabianbusiness.com - Bahrain-based Islamic lender Al Baraka Banking Group posted a 7 percent increase in first-quarter net income, the bank said in a statement on Wednesday.
The bank, which has operations in 15 countries including Turkey, Syria and Egypt, made a profit of US$57.4m for the first-quarter, compared with US$53.5m in the first three months of 2011.
The increase in profit came despite continuing political and economic upheaval in a number of the markets in which the group operated, as well as the impact of debt issues in the euro zone, Sheikh Saleh Abdullah Kamel, chairman of Al Baraka, said. (source)

BANKING - Plan To Issue Mega Islamic Bank Licences Still In Progress

KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 (Bernama) -- Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) plan to issue up to two mega Islamic bank licences is still on progress, says its deputy governor, Datuk Mohd Razif Abdul Kadir.

"The plan is still in progress. We need to find the right investors," he said, when asked on progress of the plan to issue mega Islamic bank licences. (full story)

BANKING - Islamic megabank gets Bahrain, Malaysia approvals

Feb 16 (Reuters) - A long-touted Islamic megabank has received approval from Bahrain and a preliminary green light from Malaysia to begin operations, an organizer said on Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia's Sheikh Saleh Kamel -- who is founder and chairman of Bahrain-based Islamic bank Al Baraka BARKA.BH and spearheaded the megabank initiative -- said the venture is still in discussions with Qatar to obtain a licence.

The entity will likely have an authorized capital of $3 billion, a third of which will be raised in a private placement. (source)