Sharjah Islamic Bk Starts Sharia-Compliant Broker-Report

Monday, Sep 11, 2006

BEIRUT (Zawya Dow Jones)--Sharjah Islamic Bank (SIB.AD), or SIB, inaugurated Sunday a new brokerage services subsidiary under the name Sharjah Islamic for Financial Services, the Dubai-based al-Bayan daily reported Monday.

The new brokerage firm will provide online services for trading Sharia-compliant shares and Sukuk on the Dubai and Abu Dhabi bourses, said SIB Chief Executive Hussain Al Qemzi.

In related news, the Riyadh-based business daily al-Iqtisadiya quoted Qemzi as saying that he expects SIB to achieve better financial results this year than last year despite the decline in the stock markets in the first half of 2006.

The paper also reported Qemzi as saying that SIB's $100 million real estate investment portfolio for the Gulf region was completely sold.

Newspaper Web site: http://www.aleqtisadiah.com

-By Shikrallah Nakhoul, Zawya Dow Jones; +961 1 985757; shikrallah@zawya.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

09-11-06 0540ET