Jeddah,11.10.09: Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, President of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) said that an initiative to create a mega Islamic investment bank is launched to promote the growth of the Islamic financial industry, global reach and liquidity management with initial capital of one billion US dollars. The new bank is also aimed at facilitating the establishment of inter-Islamic banking market in line with Shari'a principles. “The initial capital of the bank is estimated at one billion US dollars” said Dr. Ali, who addressed the new bank’s launch meeting, adding that the initial contributions to the bank's capital, so far, stood at US$ (250) million. “The new investment bank will contribute to the financing of mega investments in accordance with the principles of Islamic Shari'a and devise appropriate solutions to liquidity management” he said. The emergence of this large investment bank is being viewed as a mechanism for enhancing the role of Islamic finance industry in supporting economic and social development. It will also facilitate the growth and spread of Islamic financial services industry through the rehabilitation of the cadres necessary for the development of Islamic banking and Islamic financial solutions to the problems of liquidity management. On the other hand the President welcomed the recent success the Bank enjoyed in the issuance of Sukuk, for which demand had exceeded two billion US dollars, while the target was only (US$ 500) million. As a first stage, the Bank is satisfied with the level of US$ (850) million issuance. The meeting, which took place at IDB headquarters in Jeddah, was attended by the Chairman of the General Council for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions, and around 30 major investors and managers from a number of banks and financial institutions around the world. It should be noted that the value of the global Islamic banking assets was estimated at (785) billion U.S. dollars towards the end of 2008.