IslamicFinance.de

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.