IslamicFinance.de

Islamic Banking Product Controller

Hong Leong Bank Berhad - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Job Description

ONLY MALAYSIANS NEED APPLY

The job-holder will be part of the Product Control Team covering the Global Markets – Islamic Banking Business, ensuring compliance with all regulatory and internal polices of the bank and ensuring Shariah compliance.

Preparation of daily trading and sales P&L reportingfor Government and Corporate securities, P&L attribution and commentarieson the Islamic Treasury trading activities.PL attribution decomposed into Greeks and full revaluation. Liaise closely with traders, quant and market risk on valuation issues. Assist the valuation control team with month end production of independent price verification.

Responsibilities:
· Manage and lead the Major Claims & Investigation Management for both Life Insurance and Family Takaful Individual claims while ensuring effective and efficient processing.
· To settle claims within the SLA and be prudent in claims decisions and management expenses at all times.
· Responsible for timely delivery of major claims services as per Service Level Management (SLM) objectives.

Responsibilities:
• Manage and monitor the implementation of policies, strategies for financing disbursement.
• Identify and analyses risk exposures before financing disbursement.
• Prepare Funds Requisition Form (FRF), review on documentation submitted by customer, vendor, supplier, franchisor, etc. Prior to financing disbursement.
• To conduct pre-disbursement site visit for verification of business status prior to financing disbursement.
• Prepare and coordinate the department's monthly reporting to the management related to disbursement of fund.
• Ad-hoc duties as assigned.

Manager - Basel II IRB implementation, Islamic Credit Risk
Responsibilities:
• Liaising/ communication to all project stakeholders as well as senior management regarding the Basel II implementation.
• Bring the gap between information providers, i.e. from various business and functional units source system owners/product owners for functional and data requirements.
• Facilitates to resolve concerns and issues associated with the project.
• Tracking ownership/ progress and reporting.
• Ensure completion of UAT/ Parallel Run and overall project completion, and
• Monitor and track IRB portfolios required for IRB coverage for the Bank.

Responsibilities:
· To assist in promoting risk and risk management awareness and sound knowledge of regulatory and internal requirement in the organization:
· Risk management programs to ensure a uniform process for identifying, assessing, and monitoring risk and controls is in compliance with regulatory requirements and Group risk management standards.
· Preparation of the periodic reporting to the relevant risk commitees on the state of risk management in the organisation.
· To provide risk management advisory services to business and support units as requested.
· Support Local (MY) Management in Operations Compliance Matters which include regulatory and internal policies compliance.
· Undertake ad-hoc projects as assigned by Head, Risk Management & Compliance

ABOUT YPP:

The Young Professionals Program (YPP) is the strategic talent pipeline for the professional career in the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group. The Program is designed for outstanding young graduates who can significantly help the IDB Group to carry out its mission and attain its objectives.

This Program enables each Young Professional (YP) to receive extensive exposure and experience of the IDB Group’s various activities through job rotations in different departments. Participants will initially spend two weeks Orientation stage in HRMD. Then, 27 months in Foundation stage which will be split into three rotations of 9 months each in IDB Group departments.

Participants will also benefit from a coaching/mentoring arrangement and a wide range of relevant training and developmental opportunities.

Upon successful program completion, the participant will gradually climb up the professional grades in the IDB Group

[...]

Issues raised and discussed at length during “International Workshop on Zakat, Waqf and Islamic Microfinance” and the idea of “Strengthening Islamic Social Finance Sector” were presented by Arshad Ajmal, Vice President of Sahulat Microfinance Society, at a programme organised by Forum for Discussion on Economic Issues. The event is a joint forum of Sahulat and Radiance Viewsweekly which was held in the national capital on 26 May. Mr. Ajmal, who was the only person invited from India as a resource person on Islamic Microfinance, shared his experience which he gathered and the points he raised during the workshop. Another notable point discussed was whether an Islamic Microfinance institution should and can be treated as a banking institution. Moreover, it was pointed out that Islamic finance places itself heavily on debt instruments and less on equity instruments.

At the 4th Annual World Islamic Banking Conference: Asia Summit (WIBC Asia 2013) in Singapore, Bahrain based international standard-setting body the International Islamic Financial Market (IIFM) announced the launch of IIFM Inter-Bank Unrestricted Master Investment Wakalah Agreement. This global standard document is supplemented with an Operational Guidance Memorandum. It is developed to be used in the Islamic inter-bank market between financial institutions in order to manage their liquidity requirements. It is also aimed to minimise the over reliance on the use of the Commodity Murabaha in the inter-bank market transactions. The key main features of this Agreement is that the Investor, the Muwakkil, will appoint the Wakil as its Agent to invest its funds in a Shari’ah compliant manner in exchange for a fee.

Ten executives from six banking organisations in Korea recently participated in a training course on Islamic finance in collaboration with Qatar Central Bank (QCB). It was intended to enhance the understanding of Islamic finance so that it could be applied in Korea. The trainees had a deeper look at the financial industry in the Middle East, including Qatar, licensing systems, main principles of Islamic finance, basic contracts and case studies on Islamic financial products. They visited Qatar Islamic Bank, Qatar Financial Centre, Qatar Islamic Insurance Company, Barwa Bank, Masraf Al Rayan and others. The training was part of an agreement signed by the Middle East-Korea Financial Co-operation delegation and QCB last January.

ICMIF member Amana Takaful, Sri Lanka, recently announced a payment of surplus to its general insurance customers. This means Takaful policyholders will receive a proportionate rate from the surplus of the risk fund. Non-claimant Takaful policyholders will receive their share of the surplus amounting to 12.5% of the residual portion of the Risk Fund shortly, according to Fazal Ghaffoor, Chief Executive Officer of Amana Takaful. As opposed to conventional insurance the Takaful concept not only benefits claimants but also takes care of non-claimants. Non-claimants receive a proportionate share of the surplus from the risk fund at the end of a defined period.

Experts say the growth potential for Islamic finance in Singapore is still strong. Sukuk or Islamic bond issuances totalled US$137 billion in 2012, up from US$92b in 2011. Yet there is still a gap to fill in the Islamic capital market. According to Mr Ng Nam Sin, Assistant Managing Director (Development) at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the increased volume of issuance is still insufficient to meet the huge demand for Islamic assets for investments and Islamic financial institutions to manage their liabilities. Moreover, there is also a need to broaden the range of Islamic capital market products. Singapore already has the right infrastructure and good regulations already in place. Experts say Singapore's strong regulatory environment and the depth and diversity of its capital markets will enable it to capture a bigger slice of the Islamic financing market.

State-owned Islamic Bank of Thailand plans to increase its capital by 7.11 billion baht (US$234.9mil) and issue a 5 billion baht sukuk, the country's first-ever Islamic bond. The bank plans to issue the 5billion-baht subordinated sukuk to increase its capital ratio. Last year, bank officials said the sukuk would have a likely maturity of 5 years and the bank would appoint Malaysia's CIMB Bank to handle the deal, targeting domestic and institutional investors in Malaysia and Hong Kong. The bank expects to raise 927 million baht in capital this month and 6.2 billion baht in the fourth quarter. The bank, rated BBB by Fitch, also wants to seek investors to establish a presence in the Middle East in the next three years, while increasing its domestic network of branches to 130 from 106 now. It hopes this strategy will help it to return to profit this year and help the country's Islamic financial sector grow.

Indonesia's Bank Muamalat plans to sell more than 30% by July through an initial public offering and private placements, Chief Executive Arviyan Arifin told reporters Wednesday. Shareholders of the country's first Shariah-compliant lender sought to sell part of their stake in 2011 and 2012 through private placement but couldn't agree on the price. The remaining shares will be offered through private placement. Bahana Securities said Muamalat's shares will be offered in a price range of IDR625-IDR975 each.

Bank Indonesia holds The 3rd Bank Indonesia International Seminar on Islamic Finance on 30-31 May 2013, in Bali. The seminar's theme is, "A New Phase of Islamic Finance: Capturing the Untapped Area to Improve the Quality of Economic Development".The seminar is expected to revisit the essense and purpose of the Islamic finance, and explore new sources of growth to maintain the current high level of growth in the Islamic finance industry. The area of discussion includes shariah norms in the economy, the application of Islamic finance in the government sector, the promotion of inclusive growth, and the implementation of macroprudential policies in Islamic finance. The seminar is attended bymore than 200 participants representing regulators, practitioners, and scholars in Islamic banking and finance, both domesticand international.

During the past year, there have been a number of cross-regional sukuk, mostly by Gulf issuers tapping Malaysia's highly liquid market. However, sukuk structures are not standardised, and some Gulf-based sharia scholars have objected to certain structures used in Asia, a region which has proven to be more flexible in its transactions. Sukuk issuance in the Middle East outside of the Gulf is also becoming more attractive, notably Turkey, which was recently elevated to investment grade credit status and is bidding to develop an Islamic finance industry. Growth in cross-border Islamic bond issues points to greater convergence in the industry, opening the door to a much wider pool of investors.

London-based Gatehouse Bank is considering applying for two or three licences in Malaysia in universal banking, investment banking, and or, wealth management to expand its business in Asia. The bank, which recently commenced operations in Malaysia via a representative office in Kuala Lumpur, would closely discuss licensing options with the Securities Commission and Bank Negara, according to chief representative of Gatehouse Bank in Malaysia Richard Thomas. The establishment of the representative office will be the first step in a two-year larger strategic plan to apply for a full-fledged licence. In these two years, the bank will conduct and collect research as well as analyses of the risks and rewards of investing in Asia.

Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Bhd will offer an additional 15 per cent no claim rebate to all its participants in the general and selected family takaful products. Moreover, the company will increase its value added service delivery amidst tougher competition. It was reported that Takaful Malaysia is confident of disbursing about RM35 million in no claim rebate this year to its customers given the positive growth in its General Takaful portfolio. Group managing director Datuk Mohamed Hassan Kamil said last year, Takaful Malaysia paid out a record RM31 million in no claim rebate to its customers, adding it is optimistic on capturing a more than 50 per cent market share from the current 40 per cent.

Guidance Investments (GI) has launched a RM150 million Shariah-compliant investment fund for equipment leasing for the Saudi Arabian market in partnership with Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH). This Tabung Haji acted as the capital provider, while the US-based ATEL Capital Group, the equipment leasing company is to provide the machineries for the Saudi market. TH CIO Abd Kadir Sahlan said that his company has committed a total of RM150 million in the private equity fund in support of ATEL in this venture. The funds will be disbursed in phases over the next two to three years, depending on the deployment of the portfolio in the Saudi market. At the same time, Guidance Investments has formally launched its operations in Malaysia with the opening of its headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

The Indonesian government is planning to establish a Shariah-compliant bank in order to manage Rp 40 trillion ($4 billion) worth of Indonesian hajj funds. State-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan said the establishment of the bank will support the implementation of a new policy issued by the Ministry of Religious Affairs obliging hajj funds to be managed exclusively by Shariah banks.Dahlan said the government wants to support the development of Shariah banking in Indonesia with the new bank since the sector controls only 4.9 percent of market shares in Indonesia’s banking industry, The government has stakes in four lenders that run their own Shariah units. None of these banks, however, focus solely on Shariah banking.

The listed vehicle for Bank Islam Malaysia, BIMB Holdings is looking at several options to expand through overseas penetration and local expansion. According to Bank Islam Malaysia managing director Datuk Zukri Samat, the bank is still pursuing plans of expansion to Indonesia through a strategic partner with broad experience. As a fully fledged Islamic bank, the task is more challenging, he said. Moreover, the bank is also extending the time for its discussions with the Dubai Financial Group over the 30.5% stake in Bank Islam to the end of the months, said BIMB group managing director Johan Abdullah.