Malaysia

Malaysia launches first Islamic property investment trust

Malaysia's government-owned Pelaburan Hartanah Bumiputra launched a 317-billion-dollar investment trust in order to encourage its majority Muslim Malays to invest more in property.
The sharia-compliant Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) would allow Muslim Malays and indigenous groups to increase their stake in real estate assets.

Dubai’s Malaysia Sukuk Hampered by No Rating

The government hired CIMB Investment Bank Bhd., a Kuala Lumpur-based unit of CIMB Group Holdings Bhd. as a lead manager to sell between $1 billion and $1.5 billion of the securities.
This sell won't however appeal to most local funds unless the emirate obtains a rating.
Dubai is tapping international debt markets to raise funds as the government and state-controlled companies grapple to service borrowings that Barclays Capital estimated in a September report at about $112 billion.

Malaysia’s Borrowing Costs Fall in Final Sukuk Sale

The government sold 3 billion ringgit ($952 million) of Shariah-compliant notes due 2020 at an average yield of 3.998 percent, Bank Negara Malaysia announced on its website. Demand exceeded the amount of debt offered by 2.46 times.
It can be seen more demand arising from more Islamic banks operating in Malaysia, as well as a spillover from foreign investors.

Dubai said to hire CIMB for sukuk sale in Malaysia

Dubai's government has hired CIMB Investment Bank Bhd as a lead arranger to help sell Islamic bonds in Malaysia. The plan is still being discussed and timing of the sale hasn't been decided.

Islamic finance liquidity body to issue sukuk in '11

A new global Islamic liquidity management corporation backed by central banks will start issuing Islamic bonds next year to help Islamic banks manage their liquidity.
The Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) said in October it would set up the International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation to issue sharia-compliant instruments.
The liquidity management company will be backed by 11 central banks, including Malaysia, Iran and Turkey and some Gulf states and is expected to have up to $1 billion in authorised capital.

Sukuk Trails Emerging Debt as Falling Issuance Saps Trade

Islamic bonds rose this week extending two quarters of underperformance relative to emerging-market securities, on concern slumping sales will reduce trading.
Sales of Islamic bonds dropped this year as defaults, debt restructuring and falling property prices in the Middle East hurt investor confidence. Issuance from Malaysia, the world’s biggest sukuk market, fell 31 percent as companies cut infrastructure spending following last year’s recession.

Investors Pouring Into Malaysia Means Bonds Beating Bills

Investors are favoring Malaysia’s Islamic bonds over shorter-term bills as overseas funds increase holdings in the world’s biggest sukuk market,curbing therefore the inflation.
Inflation, cooled in September, enabled Bank Negara to avoid raising borrowing costs in the next few months.

Takaful Malaysia May Consider Intellectual Capital From Foreign Partners

Kumpulan Takaful Malaysia may consider getting "intellectual capital" from foreign partners.
Mohamed Hassan said Takaful Malaysia was adequately capitalised but it could use some intellectual capital such as technical support, especially in the finance area.
The Indonesian operation contributed about five per cent to the total revenue but has potential in terms of growth.

More attracted to gold savings account

Banks’ gold savings accounts are expected to continue to gain popularity in anticipation of an uptrend in gold price and investors’ desire to diversify their investment portfolio in the current uncertain global economic conditions.
In FY10, the number of gold savings account and investment value recorded an average monthly growth of about 11%.
New entrants to the gold savings account market Kuwait Finance House (M) Bhd (KFH) and United Overseas Bank (M) Bhd (UOB) see good prospects for the product.
KFH chief executive officer Jamelah Jamaluddin said the KFH Gold Account-i which was launched nationwide on April 29 had been very well accepted.
Jamelah expects the demand for gold to hold at current levels, given the public’s heightened awareness on its availability and affordability.

IDB targets more sukuk issuances and mega interbank bank in 2011

THE Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank will be preoccupied with two developments in 2011 apart from its established plan of action. This is the progress toward the launch of its mega bank project and the other is the continuation of its trust certificate (sukuk) program.
The mega bank project was promoted by Saleh Kamel, head of Dallah Albaraka Group, who has been trying to get it launched for the last few years. But his failure to get the project started off through the support of both government and private investors saw the project somehow passed on to the IDB. The plan is to launch a mega bank that will effectively be an Islamic Interbank bank, with the aim of providing short-term liquidity to the global Islamic banking market and of promoting the trading of sukuk in the secondary market by acting as a market maker.
CIMB of Malaysia, Citigroup, HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank acted as joint lead managers and joint book-runners, and NCB Capital of Saudi Arabia acted as co-lead manager for this transaction. The success of IDB's transaction was underpinned by a comprehensive international road show covering Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

Short of talent, Islamic finance taps women scholars

When Malaysian Aida Othman signed up for the new law programme at the Islamic university, she did not expect to become one the few women with their hands on the levers of the world's $1 trillion Islamic finance sector.
Rising global demand for scholars who can advise firms on compliance with Islamic legal principles called sharia is behind the quiet and almost accidental way in which women are growing into a small but powerful force in a male-dominated business.
There are 221 Islamic finance scholars globally but only a handful are in high demand, with the top six occupying almost a third of the 1,054 board positions open to Islamic experts, a Funds@Work report issued this year shows.
This small circle of men dominate the boards of Islamic banks but there are now about 10 women sharia advisers in Malaysia, home to the world's largest market for sukuk, or Islamic bonds.
The number of women sharia scholars in Malaysia has more than tripled in the last five years according to some estimates.
There are no official figures, but practitioners say there are no women sharia advisers in the Middle East.

Albaraka Sees Indonesia Purchase in First Quarter

Albaraka Banking Group BSC, the biggest publicly traded Islamic lender in Bahrain, expects to complete an acquisition in Indonesia in the first quarter of 2011 as part of an expansion.
The bank has identified targets for the planned transaction in the Asian country. Albaraka has also identified an acquisition target in Malaysia.
Albaraka this year acquired Pakistan’s Emirates Global Islamic Bank Ltd., which boosted its network in the country to about 90 branches. It also began operations in Syria this year.
The Manama-based bank has received approval to set up a representative office in Libya to benefit from the country’s strong trade ties with other markets where the bank operates, such as Egypt, Turkey, Algeria and Jordan.
The bank expects total loans to increase 20 percent in 2010.

Bahrain's Elaf applies for banking license to open in Malaysia

Elaf Bank, a closely held Islamic investment bank in Bahrain, has applied for a banking license in Malaysia.
The Southeast Asian nation plans to issue two more Islamic bank licenses, including one of a new lender that will be jointly established by institutions from Asia and the Middle East.
Bank Negara Malaysia already issued conventional licenses to five foreign banks in June, including National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Indonesia’s PT Bank Mandiri.
The bank would use Malaysia as regional hub, covering Singapore, Indonesia and Australia.
It would try to use this as an opportunity to converge differing interpretations of Islamic finance between Malaysia and the Middle East by getting Shariah boards to work closely.

Asia, Middle East Institutions to Create `Mega' Islamic Bank

Malaysia, the world’s biggest market for Islamic bonds, will issue a license before the end of this year to a new Islamic bank that will be jointly established by institutions from Asia and the Middle East.
The newly formed entity will have a capital of at least $1 billion, Zeti said in an interview late yesterday, without naming the companies or organizations involved. A second so- called “mega Islamic bank” permit may be issued by the central bank next year.
Muslim-majority Malaysia began pioneering Shariah-compliant finance with its first Islamic bank three decades ago. It is today responsible for more than 60 percent of the world’s $130 billion outstanding Islamic bonds, or sukuk, that comply with the religion’s ban on interest, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The new bank will be able to facilitate larger issuance of such notes.
The country has offered tax breaks and other incentives to attract global financial institutions including Aberdeen Asset Management Plc and Franklin Templeton Investments in a bid to cement its role as the global Islamic financial hub of Asia.

Malaysia Plans Sukuk for Public to Spur Trade: Islamic Finance

Malaysia plans to let issuers sell to individual investors sukuk that can be traded on the local stock exchange as the government seeks to reverse a 24 percent decline in sales in the world’s biggest market for Islamic bonds.
Bursa Malaysia Bhd., the exchange operator, is working with regulators on rules to enable companies to issue Islamic debt that would be affordable to the public, Chief Executive Officer Yusli Yusoff said last week. Issuance of the securities fell to 19.8 billion ringgit ($6.4 billion) this year from 26.2 billion ringgit in 2009, the steepest drop since 2003.
Bursa Malaysia is working on developing the sukuk for individual investors.

Sign posts to Islamic finance 2.0

At a macro level, it is needed, beyond short term liquidity and risk management, standardisation, scholars, qualified human capital the following:
First, we need to scientifically establish the size and growth rate of the industry.
Second, we need to establish leading and lagging economic/financial indicators for this geographically fragmented market, some will be same as “conventional”, but others will be different, i.e., more emphasis on applied over academic research.
Third, post crisis, deposit taking Islamic banks need to under go a stress test, as exposure to realty is greater, risk and liquidity management is not as robust, issues with deposit insurance, etc., as a confidence building measure.
Areas that need work are: syariah screening, funds, convergence of IF and halal industry, and venture capital (VC).
Suggestions for Malaysia:
There are five FSA approved Islamic banks in the UK, a G20 country, but not one had a Malaysian founding shareholder, and, now, the European wholesale market may have potential for comparable profits to Indonesian retail.

HSBC to launch Islamic banking services in full scale

HSBC Amanah, the Islamic banking window of banking giant HSBC, is planning to launch its Islamic banking services in full scale in Bangladesh, a visiting top official of HSBC said Tuesday.
With the re-launch, HSBC Amanah in Bangladesh will be the largest presence in South East Asia, the deputy CEO said. Currently HSBC Amanah is operating in the UK, Malaysia, Middle East countries, Indonesia and other countries.
HSBC Amanah products are rigorously audited and approved by HSBC central Shariah committee.

Indonesia Trailing Malaysia in Sukuk on Taxes: Islamic Finance

Indonesia is under pressure from banks to match tax breaks and product offerings announced by Malaysia last week to catch up in developing Islamic finance.
Malaysia has the largest market for sukuk and is a global hub for the Islamic finance industry that manages $1 trillion of assets. The government will cut taxes on Shariah-compliant transactions next year to promote “innovation in Islamic securities".
Indonesia failed to sell all of the government sukuk it offered in an auction on Oct. 5, even after suspending sales for two months because investors demanded higher yields than the government was willing to offer.
Malaysia in the past year has issued permits to global investors including Aberdeen Asset Management Plc and Franklin Templeton Investments to start Islamic fund management. The funds, which will invest in ringgit and non-ringgit denominated assets, will be exempt from paying taxes until 2016, according to the central bank.

UAE Central Bank Planning “Sharia Compliant” CDs

UAE (Khaleej Times) Initially, the CDs will be available only to fully Islamic banks and then extended to the Islamic banking units of other commercial banks.
The Sharia-compliant instrument, on the lines of Islamic Murabahah transaction will help soak up the excess liquidity in the Islamic money market.
A banker welcoming the move told Khaleej Times that Islamic banks with this offering can invest their surplus liquidity in Sharia-compliant certificates of deposit which will also offer them financial gains.
Malaysia, the world’s biggest market for Islamic bonds, Bahrain and Indonesia sell bills to help soak up cash in the financial system and set benchmarks for short-term bond sales. A Murabahah transaction is a sale and deferred-payment agreement based on an asset in which the cost and profit margin are pre-agreed between a bank and its customer. Transactions in Islamic finance are based on the exchange of assets rather than interest to comply with Sharia principles.

Malaysia’s Islamic Banking Assets Climb to 20 Percent of Total

Islamic banking in Malaysia, the world’s biggest market for sukuk, rose 21 percent in the first seven months of 2010 from a year earlier, and accounted for 20 percent of the total, the government said in a report.
The Southeast Asian nation, where about 60 percent of the 27 million population are Muslim, lowered foreign-ownership limits in financial institutions in 2009 to attract more international investors. The central bank has issued Islamic licenses over the past year to global funds that include Aberdeen Asset Management Plc and Franklin Templeton Investments.

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