As Islamic Market Grows, Bloomberg Releases Islamic Finance Platform

The Islamic marketplace is growing rapidly and there is high demand for a wide range of resources, according to Bloomberg L.P. president Dan Doctoroff.

Bloomberg Professional announced the launch of a Bloomberg Islamic Finance Platform (ISLM), designed to increase transparency, better connect the community and provide analytical tools to maximize investment performance in the rapidly growing market for Shariah-compliant products and services.

Bloomberg also announced, in cooperation with the Association of Islamic Banking Institutions Malaysia, the launch of a Malaysian Ringgit (MYR) sukuk index to provide a benchmark for MYR sovereign sukuk investments.

"The Islamic marketplace is growing rapidly and there is high demand for a wide range of resources," Dan Doctoroff, President of Bloomberg L.P, said from Kuala Lumpur. "Bloomberg is delighted to increase its commitment to serve this dynamic market, where we have nearly 20 years of experience in reporting on Islamic financial news, in all regions and across multiple asset classes."

Gerard Francis, Bloomberg's Global Head of Emerging Markets and Islamic Finance, said: "Bloomberg's Islamic Finance Platform provides the most complete, customizable and innovative solution available today. ISLM has the broadest set of Islamic finance data, analytics and proprietary news, significantly increasing market transparency. ISLM will give investment professionals the edge they need to make informed decisions and meet the increasing demands of investors and regulators."

The new Bloomberg ISLM platform has extensive resources for investing in fixed income, equities and money markets that comply with Shariah including Sukuk, providing news coverage, analytics and search tools of more than 1,500 Islamic bond issues globally including fatwa endorsements and structured diagrams of the financial instruments.

Also included is the screening of over 35,000 Shariah-compliant stocks by prominent screening agencies and a database of more than 500 Islamic funds with the ability to research and monitor debt, commodities, equities and exchange traded fund. The platform is integrated with the Bloomberg Professional(R) service. It supports Bloomberg's leading Order Management System (OMS) and Asset and Investment Management system (AIM).

Melanie Rodier has worked as a print and broadcast journalist for over 10 years, covering business and finance, general news, and film trade news. Prior to joining Wall Street & Technology in April 2007, Melanie lived in Paris, where she worked for the International Herald ... View Full Bio