Best Islamic local-currency deal of the year:

Best Islamic legal adviser

After the World Islamic Economic Forum was held in a Muslim minority country – the UK – for the first time. Euromoney quizzed the envoys of rival centres on their ambitions.

2014 Results will be published 3 February.

Lack of SME demand for funding might have been exaggerated. But many of those that seek funds might be risky prospects.

Transaction banking: Transaction revenues stable but under pressure

Inaugural sukuk issued; key constituent quietly leaves.

Petrobras’s business plan to develop the pre-salt oil fields anticipates that the number of rigs and drillships with drilling capacity greater than 2,000 metres will increase to 65 by 2020 from 15 in 2010. Many of these deliveries will be financed by Petrobras suppliers through the capital markets. Since 2010, Moody’s has publicly rated around $5.4 billion in project bonds associated with the operational phase of offshore drilling and production equipment to be deployed off the coast of Brazil for Petrobras. These secured bonds use special purpose vehicles, but the main ratings component is Petrobras’s long-term operating contract for the rigs or drillships. These off-balance-sheet structures enable Petrobras to use its investment-grade rating to support these deliveries without an impact on its credit rating.

Bankers discuss the progress made so far and the potential for Turkey to become a vibrant financial services hub.

With resurging local interest and new catalysts for foreign investment, prospects are finally looking up for Gulf stock exchanges. Challenges remain, but new companies are already beginning to explore listings.

As London positions itself as a hub for Islamic finance on the occasion of the ninth World Economic Islamic Forum, Badlisyah Abdul Ghani, CIMB Islamic CEO, predicts UK corporates are already primed to enter the sukuk market.

Refutes return to bubble-era practices; Repays Tamweel liabilities

One of the City of London’s highest-paid investment bankers has resurfaced at a small financial services firm after leaving taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland last year.

State Islamizes banking sector; Potential impact on global sukuk market

Trade finance is renowned for its quaint reliance on paper documentation and relative lack of technological sophistication, but despite the pressure on IT budgets, the business is modernizing, albeit slowly.

Euromoney’s recent coverage of trends in the region, including an exclusive interview with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the finance minister of Nigeria, the rise of agribusinesses - Africa’s new consumer boom – and an in-depth study into second-tier sovereign wealth funds in the Gulf. We also explore Saudi banking, the rise of bank M&A and transaction banking in the Gulf and interview Riad Salamé, the longstanding governor of Banque du Liban, the Lebanese monetary authority.

Well run and well capitalized, with a flourishing Islamic sector, their only possible weak point is the high level of household debt.

Local lenders burgeoning; regulators accommodative.

Two years on from the start of the revolution, regulatory and infrastructure problems remain a headache for Libya’s banking sector. The revolutionary hangover means the nation’s economic potential might not be realized for a long time to come.

Middle East businesses are borrowing more as the long-term nature of the burgeoning bond markets brings a greater sense of comfort. They must reveal all in the public documents needed to access those markets, initially an uncomfortable experience for many. But the better financing mix is worth it.

One of the most important political and economic breakthroughs for the Philippines came in October last year when president Benigno Aquino finally agreed to a framework for peace with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the Muslim rebel group in Mindanao. It is hoped this will lead both groups to a final peace pact this year and allow for more inclusive economic development throughout the country, bringing thousands more people out of poverty. According to Standard Chartered, peace and political stability in Mindanao could add 0.1% to GDP growth at the end of 2013 and 0.3% by 2018. For the Philippines, the stars are finally aligned.

Mohamed Ali Elgari is one of the select handful of Shariah scholars without whom the Islamic finance industry could not exist. Shariah panels stamp products as being compliant with Islamic law; they carry the trust of Muslims that they are investing in a way consistent with their faith. Such is the diversity of their required skills – encyclopaedic knowledge of Islamic law, deep understanding of international business, fluency in English and Arabic at the very least – that there are few such scholars trusted by the world’s main Islamic institutions to serve on their Shariah boards. Ten years ago, there were only about five of them in the world; the picture has improved since, but not that much. Elgari is very much among that elite.

Deal of the year

Best Islamic bank in the Middle East

Best leasing house

Best Islamic project finance deal

Best legal adviser

Best takaful provider