IslamicFinance.de

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.