Best bank - Public Bank

Malaysia

The aftermath of war in Iraq may delay a few project finance deals in the Middle East but the market is in good health. Development diversification will spur large projects. Sponsors, however, may have to accept more costly financing.

Impending full liberalization of Malaysia's banking system is encouraging local players to grow their investment banking business, with RHB Sakura and CIMB taking the lead.

General Hilmi Ozkok, Turkey's army chief of staff, last month expressed his displeasure at prime minister Abdullah Gul's interference in army policy towards Islamist officers. In a speech he made at the military's annual party for the media (Islamist journalists are not invited) Ozkok said Gul's attitude would "indubitably encourage those who got mixed up in recidivist [meaning Islamic fundamentalist] activities".

Western Europe Central & Eastern Europe Latin America North America

The AKP’s hefty majority in Turkey’s November elections looked promising but indecision has taken a hold on the new government, not least in its commitment to the discipline required by the IMF.

CEO and president of Shariah Funds Inc

Islamic law once forced Muslims to make do with poor investment returns. Now, complex Shariah-compliant structures are burgeoning to add value. We look at the market leaders.

Financial engineering for ethical investors

Riba, Gharar, Murabaha, abba, Ijarah, Salam, Istina, Sukuk, Mudarabah, Musharaka, Takaful

Traditionally Bahrain dominated finance in the Gulf but initiatives elsewhere in the region, particularly Dubai, have undermined its lead. Now Bahrain's central bank is making up lost ground.

Chief executive officer, HSBC Amanah Finance

The world’s largest financial services firms are realizing that Muslims would increasingly like to invest through Islamic funds. These are growing in number but have had a rough ride in the global bear market since many of them were heavily invested in technology stocks.

The IMF has disbursed $13 billion to Tukey this year and claims to see widespread support for economic reform in the country. But the summer’s political crisis has raised the prospect of electoral success for the Islamists.

Saudi Arabia’s investment needs are so great that it looks as if economic reform – however halting – will win out over statist, introverted policies.

Dubai is busily preparing to host the annual IMF/World Bank meetings in 2003 which it hopes will showcase the city’s credentials as an international financial centre.

Euromoney polled treasurers and financial officers at corporates, financial institutions, supranational organizations and sovereign/state agencies. Respondents were asked to nominate banks providing the best service in capital raising and risk management.

Reforms implemented by Pervez Musharraf have shown good results. The hope now is that next month’s election of a civilian government will not take Pakistan back to the bad old days.

Issuer: Bank Markazi Iran (central bank)Amount: e500 millionLaunched: July 10 2002Bookrunner: BNP Paribas, Commerzbank

Awards for Excellence 2002

Issuer: Malaysia Global Sukuk IncAmount: $600 millionLaunched: June 25 2002Bookrunner: HSBC

Dubai is moving fast to develop an international financial centre with strategic links to western markets. Its plans are ambitious but UAE regulatory problems, regional rivalries and simmering political tensions might prove to be stumbling blocks.

Kuwait’s banking sector has seen many false dawns over the past 20 years, with only one real international player, National Bank of Kuwait, enduring. Now, however, other players are looking to make a real impression.

Leaning easily against their sandbagged position, the machine-gunners look decidedly bored and even a little sleepy in the glaring midday sun. Watching the quiet approach road to Karachi's main international airport is, apparently, not the kind of duty that sets pulses racing. The local newspapers may be exercised by the story that a section of the airport is being handed over to American forces as a staging post for Afghanistan - and by the notion that US troops might be hunting for Osama bin Laden inside Pakistan - but Karachi's citizens apparently couldn't care less. The mopping up of Al-Qaeda leaders has become a subject of wry humour rather than passionate outrage. When the Americans called their operation Enduring Freedom did they mean that Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar were going to enjoy enduring freedom? So runs one popular joke.

In little more than a decade, Islamic banking has grown into a $200 billion a year industry. With top global banks entering the market, it is deepening its professionalism and broadening out with sophisticated and ingenious new products, including private equity, mortgages and even some securitization. Regulators are striving to impose stricter regimes. But individual Sharia courts can still be at odds over what is deemed compliant with Islamic law.

General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's head of state, talks about his country's economic programme, the Afghan Taliban and Islamic fundamentalism.

This survey covered the following countries: Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates

Saudi Arabia’s banks are bracing for a period of intense retail competition by preparing to launch new products, especially for Islamic and internet banking, and developing personal and mortgage lending.