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Former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin expressed his support for the mega merger of CIMB Group Holdings, RHB Capital Bhd and Malaysia Building Society Bhd, saying when he was in office, he suggested that Malaysia only needs four banks. Banks need a large capital base to compete globally and this could be achieved through mergers, said Daim. Moreover, Daim said that he was confident that the Vision 2020 would be achieved, with proper planning and hard work. However, he said, a high income nation need not necessarily mean a developed nation. In order to become the latter, the country needs to prioritise quality education and technological advancements.

Indonesia's Islamic insurance market will be reshaped over the next decade by a new law that requires conventional firms to spin off their syariah-compliant units, while encouraging more foreign investors to enter the market. The new law, which came in force last month, requires insurers to spin off their windows within 10 years. Moreover, the law maintains an 80 per cent limit to foreign ownership, which will keep the market open to new players, while closing some loopholes that allowed foreign firms to have full control of their operations. The rules will also require larger and better trained sales forces since the spin-offs will require separate agents for conventional and takaful products.

Indonesia has much work to do in improving infrastructure and regulations to support an Islamic-compliant economy. Thomson Reuters’ Islamic Finance Development Report 2014 showed Malaysia topped the list, scoring 93 (on a scale of 100), far higher than Indonesia which ranked 12 with a score of 28. However, the 10th World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) in Dubai, revealed growing interest from many governments. South Korea was one of the many non-Muslim countries that looked eager to develop the Islamic economic industry. Besides, the halal industry won great attention over the past decade as the volume of the industry reached more than US$2.1 trillion. Moreover, there's growing demand for Muslim-friendly tourism.

Indonesia’s Islamic insurance market will be reshaped over the next decade by a new law that requires conventional firms to spin off their sharia-compliant units, while encouraging more foreign investors to enter the market. The takaful market in Indonesia is dominated by so-called “windows”. The new law, which came in force last month, requires insurers to spin off their windows within 10 years. Most firms are likely to meet the spin-off requirement as late as possible and they will first expand their sharia units to ensure they are big enough to be spun off easily. The rules are expected to spur consolidation among conventional firms.

Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak thinks that the maximum potential of the Islamic economy, including finance, banking, industry, waqaf and the insurance takaful, is still not fully realised. However, there are many challenges that need to be addressed: strong support from the political leadership to make things happen; institution building; human capital development; the shortage of expertise in many areas like Islamic finance, standardisation and regulatory framework; syariah experts to make sure your products are syariah-compliant, among others. Regarding SMEs, Malaysia has a masterplan for their development, with the goal to make SMEs achieve about 41 per cent of GDP by 2020.

The central bank has extended ICB Islamic Bank's timeline by three and half years to repay the money it owes to its clients. According to central bank's figures, former Oriental Bank's financial liabilities towards it depositors stand at Tk 7.5 billion. The bank was rechristened ‘ICB Islamic Bank’ in 2007 and a scheme was initiated to pay back the money to its depositors within six and half years. In a circular issued on Sunday, Bangladesh Bank extended the tenure of the scheme by 42 months on a request from the ICB Islamic Bank.

In response to the slow growth of Islamic banking and finance, OJK organized the seventh Islamic Finance Research Forum. It was held from Oct. 14 to 16 at the IPB campus, and brought together students, scholars and practitioners of Islamic finance industry to exchange new ideas to help propel the sector’s performance. Among the causes of Islamic finance’s slow growth are the lack of capitalization driven by a paucity of high-quality human capital and a shortage of innovation and creativity. The OJK disclosed that the root problems can be solved by, inter alia, sound research and development activities, which are still lacking in the Islamic finance industry.

Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak said that he backed the idea of creating a large stand-alone Islamic bank, in order to develop a global footprint for Islamic finance and position it as an alternative to conventional banking. A proposed merger between Malaysia's CIMB Group Holdings Bhd and two smaller peers would create a sharia-compliant bank with the financial clout and regional scope that has so far been absent in the industry. Such consolidation would be positive for Malaysia's banking sector, although the government will not press for a deal and will leave the decision entirely up to the shareholders, Razak said.

Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam (BIBD) is helping to arrange a benchmark-sized Islamic syndicated loan which it hopes to close later this year for a petrochemical project in the oil-rich sultanate. Currency and tenor are being finalised for the deal, said Javed Ahmad, BIBD's managing director. The new syndicated loan could open a much wider pipeline of deals in Brunei, which might be denominated in both local and foreign currencies, Ahmad said. Besides, in the medium term BIBD will consider establishing a regional footprint across Asia to enhance its growth prospects, with Malaysia and Indonesia offering the greatest opportunities, Ahmad said.

The asset management arm of Malaysia's Malayan Banking Bhd has launched its first U.S. dollar-denominated mutual fund that invests in Islamic bonds. The new fund will invest partly in sukuk issued from Gulf countries. This is rare for Malaysian funds, because there is an abundant supply of local ringgit-denominated sukuk, but demand for dollar-denominated paper has been growing. The fund will initially be available to Malaysian investors only, although the firm plans to distribute the fund overseas as well, Nor' Azamin Salleh, chief executive of Maybank Asset Management Group Bhd, said.

BIMB Holdings Bhd (BHB), which owns Bank Islam Bhd, is still keen to acquire a stake or even have a management control in Bank Syariah Indonesia as part of its expansion plan. Its group managing director and chief executive officer Johan Abdullah said the talks were still at a preliminary stage, and there was still no material development. Due to the regulatory uncertainty in Indonesia, Johan said that the group would engage the Indonesian authorities before making any decision to acquire a stake in the bank. At the firm's EGM, shareholders gave their nod to the proposed dividend reinvestment plan (DRP) that would provide shareholders with the option to elect to reinvest in whole or in part of their cash dividend with the new ordinary shares of RM1 each in BHB.

Maybank Islamic Bhd will provide RM20 million of seed capital to a Waqf Fund which will be invested into investment portfolios, to include fixed income, equities, balanced fund and real estate. The local financial institution said that majlis Agama Islam Wilayah Persekutuan (MAIWP) will be the trustee of the Waqf fund while the bank will be the project manager. Profits or capital yield from the investment portfolio will be used to fund programmes related to development of educational and health care infrastructures, as well as to develop young entrepreneurs. Maybank Islamic Chief Executive Officer, Muzaffar Hisham said Waqf was one of the potential investments which can be developed to fund various economic activities for the benefit of the community.

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Michael Gassner

Due to unavoidable circumstances, the date of the 8th ISDEV International Conference on Islamic Development Management (IDMAC 2014) themed Islamic Political Economy previously scheduled on 2nd-3rd December 2014 is now changed to 9th-10th December 2014. Venue and time remain. ISDEV apologizes for any inconveniences that this change of date may cause.

National Bank, City Bank and Premier Bank have failed to comply with the central bank's directive to bring down the number of directors from the same family to a maximum of two. The central bank last week asked four private banks to cut the number down in seven days. Only First Security Islami Bank complied with the directive within the deadline, according to Bangladesh Bank. The three other banks sought one to three more months to comply with the directive, but the regulator extended the deadline till October 30, a BB official said. National Bank has five directors from a family. City Bank has nine directors from two families. Four directors of Premier Bank come from one family.

The Muslim world needs to develop a revolutionary method in Islamic finance to allow entrepreneurs and financiers to leverage each other to contribute to the nation's economic growth sustainability, Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak said. The prime minister said Islamic countries had made remarkable progress and became a significant group in the global economy as the total gross domestic products of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries had grown to US$9.4 trillion in 2012 from US$7.5 trillion. Moreover, he said as an Islamic finance pioneer, Malaysia could and must play an influential role in ensuring the sector's future development. The government aimed to increase the SME macroeconomic contribution to 41% of the GDP, 62% of employment and 25% of exports by 2020, he added.

Asia Asset Management’s 10th Annual Brunei Roundtable took place on Monday, October 13, themed “A Decade of Progress and Growth: The Roadmap Ahead”. The Borneo Bulletin reported about the event, saying Brunei’s biggest advantage is its capital. However, the ountry needs to slowly get the right infrastructure, the right air links and the right niche for people to actually want to come here. The insurance sector on the other hand is a bit easier as it is all about preparations, regulations, how much they are willing to do it and opening an investment. Brunei in itself is a very liquid market in the sense that it really doesn’t need foreign bonds.

Malaysia is adjusting its tax structure to favour issues of some types of Islamic bond. The move could attract more foreign issuers and investors to its market. The Malaysian sukuk market is already the world’s largest, accounting for two-thirds of total global issuance of about $100 billion so far this year. But the market consists largely of local-currency deals which tend to rely on government-linked institutions as ready buyers.
The effect of the tax changes may be to shift some issuance away from murabaha and encourage the use of ijara and wakala, making the Malaysian market more closely resemble the Gulf.

The four private banks’ authorities have long been violating the bank company act, putting their family members on the board of directors. According to the bank company act, 2013, the banks’ board cannot comprise more than two members of a single family. But the four banks still continue their dominion over the board of directors with their family members at the helm. These are the National Bank, the Premier Bank, The City Bank and the First Security Islami Bank.

Sukuk issuance and investing is expanding outside of the Islamic world. The asset holders range from sovereign wealth funds and high-net-worth-individuals in the Arab Gulf, to retail investors in other Muslim majority countries such as Turkey, Pakistan and Indonesia. According to Moody’s Investors Service, Malaysia at present dominates the sukuk market when it comes to both sovereign and corporate issuance. Other major issuers include the governments of Indonesia and Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The overall outstanding amount of sukuk will probably reach around $115 billion this year.