The Thomson Reuters Islamic finance gateway is a global, neutral platform and directory consisting of details and links to Islamic finance professionals, rating agencies, industry standards bodies, Islamic finance hubs, index providers, consulting firms, 400 Shariah scholars and Islamic subsidiaries from over 25 countries.
Reuters messaging is embedded within the gateway to foster communication and create the connections required to build and grow communities.
The gateway is expected to address the complete Islamic finance work-flow by bringing together neutral, Islamic, ‘trading-ready’ finance information and analytics on a common platform. The gateway is available on its Thomson Reuters 3000 Xtra desktop.
Through this service, market professionals will be able to access multi-asset class information on a range of Islamic finance instruments such as Sukuks, Islamic leveraged loans, funds, Islamic money market, Takafol and currencies; alongside embedded real-time news stories from Reuters, and correlation analytics for Islamic versus western conventional market views. The gateway will also include news of related industries to Islamic finance, like the Halal food sector.
The data and breaking news is complimented by a global rolling ticker tape of Islamic and conventional indexes, multi-currency real time inter-bank conventional versus Islamic inter-bank rates, an information fund supermarket and click-through links to gateways for the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and G-20 countries.
Additionally, publicly listed Shariah-based and screened companies and Islamic or commodity ETFs can be traded over the Thomson Reuters Trading for Exchanges (TRTex) platform, which has been integrated within the gateway.
Moreover, the Thomson Reuters Islamic Finance Gateway will be introduced to the market in Asia, via a launch in Kuala Lumpur on February 22.
Rushdi Siddiqui, global head of Islamic finance at Thomson Reuters, said: “Despite its image as an emerging industry, Islamic finance has now grown to be worth around $1trillion and the Thomson Reuters Islamic finance gateway truly opens up this world of possibilities and opportunities for financial market participants and professionals.
“The conventional, western finance industry is accustomed to clean, crisp, robust information, real-time news, connectivity to communities and the ability to act and transact with trusted counter parties. By providing these ‘must have’ features the Thomson Reuters Islamic finance gateway demonstrates the industry’s true breadth and makes the transition for all to Islamic finance a seamless one.”
Basil Moftah, managing director of Middle East and Africa at Thomson Reuters, said: “Islamic finance is an important part of our Middle East growth strategy, and the Thomson Reuters Islamic finance gateway will not only address the Islamic banking industry’s needs, but will also enhance our ties to the greater MENA region.”
