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Malaysian transportation provider Perak Transit aims to raise RM10mil in the form of a RM10mil term financing facility for three years via the investment account platform (IAP). Bank Muamalat is acting as the investment manager for the exercise, where the RM10mil is expected to generate a return of 6.5% per annum to investors. Investors can register at iaplatform.com to place their investments in Perak Transit, which starts at a minimum of RM10,000.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd sees a listing of the bank as an alternative for its shareholders, but is of the view that the market is not conducive for such an exercise currently. Bank Muamalat is 70% owned by DRB-Hicom Bhd and the rest is held by Khazanah Nasional Bhd. A potential listing of Bank Muamalat could be an option if DRB-Hicom fails to find a suitable suitor to acquire a stake in the bank. DRB-Hicom is required to pare down its stake in Bank Mualamat to 40% but this has been delayed for a few years because it was unable to agree on the terms with potential buyers.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd targets to sell about 320kg of Muamalat Gold-i (MGi) valued at about RM56mil for the financial year ending March 31, 2017 (FY17). Chief operating officer (Business), Mashitah Osman, said MGi was the bank’s latest initiative to boost its wealth management segment. Physical gold bars are available in five, 10, 20, 50 and 100gm. Without any publicity, the bank has sold over 80kg worth RM14mil since it was opened to the public two-and-a half months ago, Osman said. Meanwhile, vice-president/head wealth management departmen, Nur Ain Ramli, said the bank expected the gold business to contribute about 60% of the total fee income for the wealth management segment for FY17.

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.

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.

State investment fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd is expected to dispose off its entire 30 per cent interest in Bank Muamalat to major shareholder DRB-Hicom Bhd ahead of the proposed merger between Bank Muamalat and Malaysia Building Society Bhd (MBSB) materialises. There is no point holding on to the stake since its holdings would diminish in the merged entity. Moreover, it would not be a problem for DRB-Hicom which already owns 70 per cent interest in Bank Muamalat to purchase Khazanah’s interest. Khazanah managing director Azman Mokhtar had told reporters that it would wait for the outcome of the merger talks before deciding what to do with its stake.

Malaysia Building Society Bhd (MBSB) is on track to obtaining a full-fledged Islamic banking licence, that will come together through a merger with Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd. Plans were being laid out to realise MBSB’s goal to get a full-fledged Islamic banking licence. This comes seven months after news-grabbing three-way merger between MBSB, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd and RHB Capital Bhd fell through in January. In May this year, MBSB was reportedly eyeing Kuwait Finance House (M) Bhd as an option for a merger exercise. One of MBSB’s setbacks as a non-conventional bank is its inability to tap low-cost funds from the money market that are accessible to conventional banks.

UDA Holdings will work with Bank Muamalat to develop 40.47ha of wakaf land with a gross development value of RM1 billion. The land, ready for development, is spread throughout the country and owned by the respective state Islamic Religious Councils. Bank Muamalat will provide the end financing for UDA to develop the land. The implementation of development projects on the wakaf land will be based on the concept of Ijarah or leasing. To realise the development of wakaf land, UDA acting as the developer, will underwrite the development costs, while also being responsible for marketing the projects.

PT Bank Muamalat Indonesia posted Rp372.20 billion (US36.1 million) in net profits for the first half of 2013, a 51.27 percent increase from the same period of last year. Bank Muamalat’s net earnings as of June 2013 reached Rp 1.25 trillion, compared to Rp 868.33 billion in June 2012. Margins for murabaha totaled Rp 925.23 billion, or an increase of 47.22 percent from the 2012 figure. Muamalats earnings from musharakah, or partnerships, reached Rp 746.65 billion, higher than the Rp 461.64 billion in June 2012. As of the first semester of 2013, Bank Muamalat managed Rp 47.92 trillion in assets, or up 46.59 percent from the same period in 2012. Meanwhile, PT Bank Ekonomi Raharja (BAEK) on the other hand reported a fall in net profits to Rp 105.33 billion, down 23.34 percent from last year’s Rp 137.4 billion. Bank Ekonomi Raharja recorded Rp 26.59 trillion in assets as of June 30 2013.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia has announced the rolling out of the country’s first-ever Shariah-compliant solar photovoltaic (PV) financing scheme valued between RM20 million and RM30 million within the next 2-3 years. Deputy CEO Musa Abdul Malek said that for the first year, the bank may disburse from RM10 million to RM15 million of the funds to 1,000 homeowners, who will be fitting their homes with solar PV systems, which will be grid connected and reap from the country’s solar PV Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) system. However, he said the Smart Green Mortgage Solar PV FiT Plan with its design based on the murabahah structure, is a mortgage plan that does not a have a high-end margin for the bank with a mere 1% yield. The Bank Muamalat package for solar PV is the second in the Malaysian market after Alliance Bank announced its solar financing package in June.

Indonesian Bank Muamalat has implemented Oracle FLEXCUBE Universal Banking to streamline its core business processes and to enhance productivity. Oracle FLEXCUBE is now live across all of Bank Muamalat's branches and e-channel network (ATM, EDC, etc) including mobile branches. It covers its retail and corporate banking business, including treasury and trade, all in compliance with Shariah Laws. The implementation was completed well within time and within Budget. By implementing Oracle FLEXCUBE Universal Banking, the institution has been able to improve business processes and significantly reduce processing times required for financial and administrative transactions. FLEXCUBE has helped to support 24-hour banking operations as well as enable enhanced customer insight and simulations to deliver excellent customer service.

Bank Muamalat Indonesia delayed an up to $177 million initial public offering because of recent stock market declines. The sharia lender hasn’t decided on a new timetable for the IPO. Muamalat had already lowered the indicative price range on the deal to Rp 575-675 from the original Rp 625-975, to try and drum up demand. CIMB and Bahana Securities were hired to underwrite the IPO.

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.

According to CIMB Equities Research, mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are still high on Affin Holdings's agenda to support its future growth. Hence, Affin is still planning to acquire Bank Muamalat. The banking group has submitted the offer and is waiting for the response from the owner of Bank Muamalat. It could also be interested in bidding for HwangDBS Investment Bank. CIMB Research said Affin is now reportedly less keen to purchase Bank Ina Perdana in Indonesia due to the 40% shareholding cap imposed by the Indonesian central bank.

After the full redemption of Bank Muamalat's RM250 million Islamic Subordinated Bonds, RAM Ratings has eliminated the A3 rating on the Islamic Subordinated Bond and will no longer have any rating obligations on the debt facility.

It appears that US is supporting Indonesia's oldest Islamic bank, Bank Muamalat Indonesia. The US Embassy in Indonesia and the US Agency for International Development (USAid) signed an agreement with the bank to provide financial guarantees for $1.15bn in microloans to low-income women in Indonesia.

Five foreign investors and other 3 from Indonesia expressed obvious interest in purchasing 50 percent shares of Bank Muamalat.
The five foreign investors are: Standard Chartered Plc., Qatar Islamic bank SAQ, Oversea Chinese Banking, OCBC Overseas and ING Baring Bank.

Although his attempt of courting Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd failed, Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd has still the strong desire to merge with a rival to build a mega Islamic bank.
The bank, however, is not in talks with any party currently.

Bank Muamalat was given A3 by RAM Ratings. Bank Muamalat Malaysia’s respective long- and short-term financial institution ratings were also reestablished at A2 and P1.
RAM Ratings expects the bank's credit costs to restrain as a more rigorous credit-risk-management infrastructure has been put together to guarantee stricter financing origination while efforts to clean up legacy troubled credits are almost completed.

Bank Muamalat Indonesia is seeking to boost lending tenfold outside cities in 2011 after opening 30 new branches last year.
Islamic lenders accounted for 1.8 percent of the Rp 91 trillion ($10.4 billion) in loans to the farming industry in 2010, figures from the central bank show.
Offering services to growers of palm oil, cocoa and corn will help Islamic banks meet the government’s target of expanding assets by 55 percent this year, according to Bank Indonesia.