Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson of the Financial Times writes for Monday’s paper about plans by Bloomberg News to launch an Islamic finance product.
Edgecliffe-Johnson writes, “The service, available on more than 300,000 Bloomberg Professional terminals, includes news and data covering more than 1,500 Islamic bond issues, 35,000 stocks and 500 funds, as well as a database of sharia scholars and their fatwa endorsements.
“‘We see significant opportunity,’ said Dan Doctoroff, Bloomberg president. ‘This is a reflection of our belief in the future of the market and the region.’
“Bloomberg cancelled a planned launch event in Manama after violence broke out in the Bahrain capital. Mr Doctoroff will instead unveil the platform in Kuala Lumpur, alongside a Malaysian ringgit sukuk index developed with the Association of Islamic Banking Institutions Malaysia (AIBIM).
“Citing figures from the 2010 Global Islamic Finance Report and a forecast from the Malaysian central bank, he said the market was expected to expand from $1,300bn in 2009 to $2,000bn in three to five years.”
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