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Maybank Islamic Bhd has clinched major mandates valued at RM9 billion under its Islamic custody services in less than a year since its launch, with more new clients expected to be on board by end-2015, the bank said. Maybank Group’s Islamic banking arm stated by year-end, the financial offering will have assets under custody (AUC) amounting to RM13 billion on the back of these new clients. The clients comprise mainly from financial institutions, inclusive of non-bank entities, the bank said. Maybank Islamic’s custody services offering also provides value-added services such as Islamic performance measurement and attributes, and compliance monitoring.

BIMB Holdings Bhd's wholly-owned unit, Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd, has issued the second tranche of the Subordinated Sukuk Murabahah amounting to RM400 million under the Subordinated Sukuk Murabahah Programme. The sukuk's tenure will be 10 years, with non-callable five years, and the maturity date will be Dec 15, 2025. The proceeds shall be used to finance Bank Islam's Islamic banking activities, working capital requirements and other corporate purposes and/or, if required, to redeem any outstanding Subordinated Sukuk Murabahah issued under the Subordinated Sukuk Murabahah Programme. The sukuk was rated 'A1/stable' by RAM Rating Services Bhd.

Maybank Islamic Bhd has so far secured major mandates valued at RM9 billion. More clients are expected to come on board by end of this year, which will bring the assets under custody to RM13 billion, its Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Head of Product Management Nor Shahrizan Sulaiman said. He said assets under management of Malaysia's institutional investors, government-linked companies and sovereign wealth funds were valued at about RM1.4 trillion. Nor Shahrizan said Maybank Islamic's custody services also provided Islamic performance measurement and attributes, and compliance monitoring for both domestic and global funds' portfolios.

BIMB Holdings Bhd’s wholly-owned subsidiary Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd has issued the second tranche of the Subordinated Sukuk Murabahah amounting to RM400 million under the Subordinated Sukuk Murabahah Programme. BIMB said the second tranche has a tenure of 10 years non-callable five years, with its maturity date being Dec 15, 2025. The sukuk has been rated A1/stable by RAM Rating Services Bhd. The proceeds will be utilised to finance Bank Islam’s Islamic banking activities, working capital requirements and other corporate purposes and/or, if required, to redeem any outstanding Subordinated Sukuk Murabahah issued under the Subordinated Sukuk Murabahah Programme.

Asia's wealthy have been quietly stepping up their commitment to philanthropy, pouring significant fortunes into causes such as education - and doing so well away from the sort of limelight that their Western counterparts often enjoy. Many established private banks have dedicated units to advise their wealth management clients on matters related to philanthropy. Credit Suisse Private Banking Asia Pacific is one of them, having created SymAsia five years ago to help its clients set up charitable foundations. Singapore has been very much part of Asia's growing philanthropic community. The Singapore Government has moved to encourage more giving.

The difficulties in forming a megabank in the $2 trillion Islamic finance industry are becoming clear as Indonesia pushes back deadlines for its plan after failures in Malaysia and the Middle East. Financial Services Authority Director Dhani Gunawan Idat is the latest official to repeat Indonesia’s goal for such an entity after two years of trying, with a plan to merge the Shariah-compliant units of PT Bank Mandiri, PT Bank Negara Indonesia, PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia and PT Bank Tabungan Negara. He put the time frame as 2017 in an interview Friday, while his Chairman Muliaman Hadad said in January it may happen this year. Gatot Trihargo, deputy minister for government-run enterprises, said in June that 2016 was the target.

The former chief executive officer at HSBC Amanah Malaysia Bhd, Mohamed Rafe Mohamed Haneef, will soon head CIMB Islamic Bank Bhd. In a statement today, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd said Rafe will assume his new post on Jan 4 next year as CEO and executive director of CIMB Islamic Bank and CEO of Group Islamic Banking Division. CIMB group CEO Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz Tengku Abdul Aziz said that Rafe brings with him experience in business and functional positions in three global banks, an international asset management company and a legal firm. Rafe holds a bachelor’s degree in law from the International Islamic University Malaysia and a master’s degree in International Finance and Securities Law from the Harvard Law School.

Malaysian central bank Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz prepares to leave in April after three decades at the central bank. Whoever is chosen as her successor will have very big shoes to fill, said Wellian Wiranto, an economist at Oversea- Chinese Banking Corp. in Singapore. This is especially so since the global environment remains uncertain and Malaysia is deemed relatively vulnerable to swings in global investor sentiment -- in part due to domestic political rumblings. Zeti served as a deputy governor before she took the top job in 2000. The central bank declined to comment on whether any of the three current deputies are in the running this time.

Under the benefaction of AlHuda Center of Islamic Banking and Economics (AlHuda-CIBE) and Akhuwat, the 5th Global Islamic Microfinance forum (GIMF) was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The forum had their focus on financial inclusion, outreach strategies of Islamic Microfinance, Innovation and sustainable operational strategies with emphasis on linkages, institutional support, cross boarder knowledge sharing with practical experiences and donor linkages for the development of the Industry. The Guest of Honor at the Forum, Dr. Azeema Adam, Governor, Maldives Monetary Authority (Central Bank), Maldives, gave detailed overview of Maldives Monetary Authority for the development of Islamic Microfinance and other Islamic Financial components.

Industrial packaging and property-based Scientex Bhd has proposed to set up a Sukuk Murabahah programme to issue up to RM500mil and it will have a tenure of up to 15 years. Its unit Scientex Quatari Sdn Bhd has lodged with the Securities Commission all the required information and relevant documents. The programme would enable Scientex Quatari the flexibility to raise funds via the issuance of Sukuk Murabahah from time to time which can be used to finance or to repay land and property investments. Other plans for the programme are to fund working capital requirements and to refinance existing bank borrowings. RHB Investment Bank Bhd is the principal adviser, lead arranger, lead manager and facility agent for the programme.

Islamic Crowdfunding has the potential to help us change our world for the better. There is an immense variety and scope of applications for crowdfunding. Crowdfunding continues to evolve and in recent years made strides into the investment world. Real Estate Crowdfunding is one of the fastest-growing segments of this booming industry worldwide. The low-entry capital makes it especially accessible to the middle income and small-medium business owners. Islamic Crowdfunding has the unique ability to empower the masses to create and re-create products, lifestyles and communities independent of capitalist corporations or bureaucratic governments.

Shahjalal Islami Bank has reappointed Farman R Chowdhury as its managing director and chief executive, the bank said yesterday. Chowdhury will serve the bank for the next three years, it said in a statement. He joined Shahjalal Bank in 2013 as its managing director and chief executive. Prior to this assignment, he served ONE Bank as its managing director for six years. Chowdhury started his banking career in 1986 as a management trainee at American Express Bank and served there for 12 years. Later, he joined ONE Bank in 1999 as its first branch manager and served there until 2013.

MAA Group Bhd, Solidarity Group Holdings BSC and Zurich Insurance Co Ltd (Zurich) has jointly submitted an application to Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), for the sale of MAA Takaful Bhd stakes. In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, MAA Group said the application was for the Minister of Finance's approval, pursuant to the Islamic Financial Services Act 2013. The group did not reveal any detail of the divestment. MAA Takaful is a joint venture between MAA Group and Solidarity Company BSC (C) of Bahrain, of which MAA controlled a 75% equity stake, while the remaining 25% is controlled by Solidarity Group. BNM had on June 15 said it granted its greenlight for MAA Group to commence negotiations with Zurich for disposal of its 75% stake in its takaful insurance arm.

A bill eliminating legislative obstacles to the commission of leasing transactions in accordance with Islamic finance was introduced to the State Duma. The changes are to be made to the law «On Financial Rent (Leasing)». The bill allows separating the two transactions lease and sale in time. So in order to do that, it is suggested to amend the current law and add that the transfer of ownership will be covered in the lease agreement, like in the current model, or in the separate purchase and sale agreement, which then will be Shariah compliant. The drafted bill also provides the possibility, by an agreement of the parties, to avoid penalties for past due payments.

Recognizing the huge economic opportunities of Islamic financing, the Peace and Equity Foundation (PEF) in partnership with Al Qalam Institute, Cordaid and World Bank (WB) Philippines, is gearing up for drafting of the 21-year roadmap to attain compliance to Sharia'h-based financing industry.
Islamic Financing is touted as a growing "$2 trillion" global industry,
The roadmap will be patterned from the Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia, one of the leading countries in adopting Islamic Finance in the global scale. It will be divided into three stages with seven years each of realization.
Ricardo Torres, PEF's Partnerships and Program manager, in a press conference Wednesday, told reporters this 21-year journey will commence next year.
Torres was in Davao City for the three-day Sharia'h conference dubbed as “Islamic Financing in the Philippines: A Step towards the First Seven years,” at the Ritz Hotel and Garden Oases, "The first seven years will be the first step and we intend to implement it starting 2016. After this Sahria’ah conference which will be attended by some 200 stakeholders we intend to craft fully the whole roadmap,” Torres said.

The world's second-largest asset manager by market value plans to attract some of the US$376 billion (S$528 billion) parked in Malaysian bank deposits by setting up global Islamic stock and bond funds next year.
Franklin Templeton Investments, which has more than US$801 billion in assets, will seek approval from the regulator to start at least two syariah-compliant funds to serve as offshoots from the three it has in Luxembourg, country head Sandeep Singh said in an interview in the Malaysian capital last week.
That would complement similar investment options available from CIMB- Principal Asset Management and RHB Islamic International Asset Management.
The new funds will widen choices for Malaysians looking to diversify after this year's 17 % plunge in the ringgit and a political scandal hurt confidence. A looming US interest rate increase has already prompted global investors to offload twice as many stocks in the South-east Asian nation as they did for all of last year as well as to cut bond holdings.

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) today released an updated list of Shariah-compliant securities approved by its Shariah Advisory Council (SAC). The updated list, which takes effect on 27 November 2015, features a total of 667 Shariah-compliant securities. These securities constitute 74 per cent of the total 901 listed securities on Bursa Malaysia.
The list includes thirty-five (35) newly classified Shariah-compliant securities and excludes thirty-nine (39) from the previous list issued in May 2015.
The full list, which is updated twice a year based on the companies’ latest annual audited financial statements, is now available on the SC website at www.sc.com.my. The next updated list will be made available in May 2016, based on the review of the audited financial statements released up to 31 March 2016.

The nation’s eight largest banks, representing 46 % of national banking assets, have committed to implementing sustainable financing as part of global environment goals.

Bank Mandiri, Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), Bank Central Asia (BCA), Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI), Bank Muamalat, BRI Syariah, Bank Jabar Banten (BJB) and Bank Artha Graha Internasional signed the commitment with the Financial Services Authority (OJK) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Indonesia on Monday. The commitment was manifested in a pilot project called “first step to becoming a sustainable bank”, marking a big move taken by the banks less than a year after the OJK launched the 2014-2019 Sustainable Financial Roadmap, according to OJK head Muliaman D. Hadad.

“I hope these eight banks, which are the prime movers in this project, can encourage other banks and financial institutions to join the country’s implementation of sustainable finance,” Muliaman said in his speech. Through the green banking pilot project, Muliaman said participating banks were expected to balance their pursuit of profits with willingness to conserve the environment, serving as examples to their peers.

Standard Chartered has appointed Rehan Shaikh as chief executive of its global Islamic banking business, it said in a statement on Wednesday.
Shaikh moves to Standard Chartered Saadiq from Dubai Islamic Bank, where he was senior vice president and business head, private sector and transaction banking. He previously worked for StanChart in Pakistan from 1998 to 2007, the statement said.
He takes over from Sohail Akbar, who was interim chief executive of the Islamic banking operation after the departure of Afaq Khan earlier this year.
StanChart remains committed to the business despite a period of hiatus across other parts of the bank as global chief executive Bill Winters moves to restore profitability. It announced plans this month to reduce costs by $2.9 billion by 2018 and cut 15,000 jobs.
"Islamic finance is an integral part of the business at Standard Chartered and we continue to see growing demand from clients in many of our markets," said Sunil Kaushal, the bank's regional chief executive for Africa and the Middle East.

The merger negotiations between Bank Muamalat and Malaysia Building Society Bhd (MBSB) is going on very well and smoothly, says Bank Muamalat Chairman Tan Sri Dr Munir Majid. He said there was no conclusion yet but the progress, thus far, was good. "We will still have to report to Bank Negara on what we have achieved by year-end, after which we will proceed to the next stage," he said at a 'Charity Free Market - Back to School' programme, organised by the bank.

Bank Negara Malaysia gave its approval to Bank Muamalat and MBSB to begin merger talks on Sept 30, a move that could pave the way for the creation of the countrys biggest standalone Islamic bank.
The central bank required the merger negotiations to be finalised within three months from the date of the approval. It was reported earlier that assuming the merger talks go through, the combined asset size of the two lenders is estimated to be over RM60 billion, higher than the RM54 billion asset size of BIMB Holdings Bhd, the holding company of Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd, Malaysias largest full-fledged Islamic bank.