October 2011

At the currently ongoing MENA Investment Management Forum undergoing in Doha, Islamic fund managers are debating whether or not convergence with conventional finance is necessarily desirable. Participants are arguing that the first step is for Islamic finance to develop an open architecture whereby there is greater convergence within the industry itself. This would allow the industry to tap into more opportunities in conventional financial markets around the world such as asset financing and trade finance, both areas that need minimal tweaking to become Sharia compliant. Read more about it here:

Link: http://tilt.ft.com/#!posts/2011-10/31751/islamic-finance-converge-not-converge

The number of companies arriving on the Alternative Investment Market is starting to outpace departures for the first time since 2007. The accountancy firmUHY Hacker Young has calculated that 24 new companies joined in the third quarter, while only 21 left.Nevertheless, the average amount of new money raised for each IPOhas fallen by 20 per cent to about £8m ($12m) over the year.

Link: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1a1d6c44-ea96-11e0-b0f5-00144feab49a.html