December 17, 2009

Realizing its importance and potentials, the international financial services information company Thompson Reuters is planning to launch a news portal covering information about the Islamic financial industry in early 2010."At present there is no global connectivity for the industry and this platform will be able to connect up players from across the globe," Rushdi Siddiqui, Thomson Reuters global head of Islamic finance, told Gulf Daily News on Wednesday, December 16.

"It will help to increase work flow in the industry with real time news across developments in all asset classes as well as provide data and analytical tools."Siddiqui says the portal has been developed to address three major issues facing the Islamic finance industry."Firstly it will reduce information search costs by posting data and indices in real time for a variety of product and developments."He also expects it will draw more players from the Far East and Western countries who will enjoy the authenticated access to information offered by Reuters Thompson.