Opalesque launches new international key publication on Islamic Finance

(I-Newswire) December 1, 2008 - Islamic Finance is steadily moving into the mainstream of conventional financial systems and has remained largely insulated from the global credit crisis. Even in the midst of a global economic crisis, Islamic banks have weathered the storm to great effect, thanks to the specific framework and rules administered by Islamic law, or Sharia.

The Islamic financing system is expected to grow faster than previous projections which were in the 15 to 20 percent per annum range. Not only Muslims are looking at the new Islamic finance paradigm as an alternative to western models, which are in turmoil now. Islamic Finance is expanding not only in the Muslim world, but also in other countries where Muslims are a minority, notably Britain, France, the US and even Japan.

There are now over 300 Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) spread over 75 countries and 300 Sharia-complaint mutual funds, whereas just one Egypt-based Islamic bank existed in 1975.

About $800bln of assets are currently deposited in Islamic banks, mutual funds, insurance schemes and Islamic branches (windows) of conventional banks. By contrast, the market was valued at only $140bn in 2000.

McKinsey & Co estimates Islamic financial assets could reach $1 trillion by 2010. Moody's Investors Service predicts that this relatively young industry could boast worldwide assets of $4 trillion within the next five years.

Opalesque's experienced staff monitors the news and global markets carefully to present this essential daily update, which can be subscribed as daily email newsletter or by RSS feed at http://www.opalesque.com/IslamicFinance_Briefing/

The Opalesque Islamic Finance Briefing news are sorted into 18 detailed categories like:

 Islamic Accounting and Audit
 Islamic Banking and Finance
 Islamic Bonds (Sukuk)
 Islamic Capital Market (Equity, Mutual Funds)
 Compliance, Tax, Legal, Regulatory
 Emerging Trends
 Islamic Financial Instruments (Credit Cards, Debts, Loans, Mortgage, Funds)
 Islamic Insurance (Takaful)
 Islamic Investment
 Islamic Hedge Funds
 Islamic Law / Economics
 Market Moves
 Performance
 Private Equity
 Property, Projects, Infrastructure
 Research

A large archive with hundreds of articles, fully searchable, is already available under http://www.opalesque.com/IslamicFinance_Briefing/?page_id=3

About Opalesque:

In 2003, with the publication of its daily Alternative Market Briefing, Opalesque successfully launched an information revolution in the hedge fund media space: "Opalesque changed the world by bringing transparency where there was opacity and by delivering an accurate professional reporting service." - Nigel Blanchard, Culross. This hybrid financial news service, which combines proprietary industry news stories and filtered third party reports, has been credited by many industry insiders with delivering precise, accurate, and vital information to a notoriously guarded audience.

Each week, Opalesque publications are read by more than 500,000 industry professionals in over 100 countries. Opalesque is the only daily hedge fund publisher which is actually read by the elite managers themselves (http://www.opalesque.com/op_testimonials.html).

For more information, please go to http://www.opalesque.com




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