• As we see around the world every other month a news about opening for Islamic bank or launching Sukuk from other banks ,recently in Turkey we have seen rising demand for two Islamic bank for launching Sukuk ,and Turkish president Rajab Tayyip Erdogan has asked to raise the shares of İslamic bank to 25% in the market  and he promised to support İslamic banks more.

   Ziraat Bank has applied to sell 1.5 billion lira

• Turkey -the Islamic lending arm of Turkey’s state-run Ziraat Bank has applied to sell 1.5 billion lire ($501.9 million) worth of Islamic bonds, or Sukuk, according to Turkey’s Capital Markets Board (SPK).

   Qatar Islamic Bank is seeking approval

• QATAR The investment banking arm of Qatar’s Barwa Bank is looking for investments in Turkey, in sectors ranging from real estate to food, and could spend more than $150 million per deal, its acting chief executive said on Tuesday. Qatar International Islamic Bank is seeking approval to issue additional Tier 1 Sukuk in its upcoming annual general meeting. The IDB on the 3rd March raised US$1.5 billion through a five-year Sukuk facility priced inside its own curve, reported Global Capital.

   Islamic Bank will raise $1.5 billion

•  Saudi Arabia:  Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) will raise $1.5 billion from a five-year sukuk issue that it is due to price, later on, Thursday, a document from arrangers showed.

   Dubai’s stock market

• UAE: Gulf stock markets edged down in early trade on Thursday as blue chips dropped, with trading volumes in Dubai focused on volatile stocks favoured by local traders,  pulled up Dubai’s stock market early on Thursday, encouraging investors to buy mid-cap stocks, while Abu Dhabi slipped as blue chips were sold. Dubai Islamic Bank has obtained shareholders’ approval to increase its Tier 1 Sukuk issuance by US$750 million.

   Islamic Finance News Awards

• Bahrain: Manama The Bahrain based leading Islamic banking group  Al Baraka group (ABG) announced that five of its units won Islamic Finance News Awards 2015 as the Best Islamic Banks in the region through the annual comprehensive referendum conducted by the Islamic Finance News magazine.

   Expand the country’s Islamic finance industry

• JAKARTA – Indonesia’s central bank, in a bid to expand the country’s Islamic finance industry, has issued a regulation that allows the use of Islamic foreign exchange hedging tools by banks.

   Hong Kong plans to issue a third dollar Sukuk

• Hong Kong; announced its plan to issue a third dollar Sukuk issuance while the government of Malaysia on the 26th February issued an RM3.5 billion (US$845.95 million) government investment issue (GII) Murabahah.

                     (EBCTV)