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CIMB Islamic Bank’s chief executive officer and board member Badlisyah Abdul Ghani will resign all his posts effective Aug 15, 2015. Badlisyah also heads CIMB Group Bhd’s Islamic banking and finance franchise. In a statement to Bursa Malaysia, CIMB Islamic Bank’s board of directors announced it has elected Mohd Shafri Shahul Hamid as the person-in-charge of the bank and agreed for the group nomination and remuneration committee to start the process of identifying Badlisyah’s replacement. Badlisyah courted controversy last week when he questioned the validity of documents used by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in its recent reports which claimed billions of ringgit were deposited into accounts belonging to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

CIMB Group chairman Datuk Seri Nazir Razak has ordered an internal inquiry on a senior executive of its Islamic banking unit who yesterday accused US-based Wall Street Journal (WSJ) of being duped by doctored documents in its explosive money trail exposé on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). Nazir disclosed the action in a late night post on his Instagram account, after news portal Malaysiakini reported CIMB Islamic Bank chief executive officer Badlisyah Abdul Ghani for his erroneous analysis on WSJ in his closed-circuit Facebook page. Badlisyah has admitted to making an error in his analysis of the WSJ documents, which the daily purports were based on an ongoing government investigation on 1MDB, adding that he has also corrected his initial Facebook post.

Universiti Islam Malaysia (UIM) and CIMB Islamic have put in place agreements for their cooperation in promoting the development of higher education through a special endowment grant to establish the Chair for Waqf and Islamic Finance Management Studies as well as the establishment of CIMB Islamic Primary Resources for Islamic Finance Special Library. UIM President, Tan Sri Prof. Dr. Mohd. Yusof Noor and Chief Executive Officer of CIMB Islamic, Badlisyah Abdul Ghani signed two documents of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Both initiatives aim to enhance knowledge and capacity in the field of Islamic Finance and Waqf management.

CIMB Islamic said it will pursue a larger balance sheet to help win more business, regardless of whether a proposed merger with two smaller peers happens. In July, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, RHB Capital Bhd and Malaysia Building Society Bhd secured regulatory approval to begin merger talks. The enlarged entity aims to compete against conventional banks that dominate larger and more lucrative deals in Islamic finance and could prompt further consolidation in the domestic market. The lenders have until Oct 8 to finalise the pricing, structure and other terms of the merger. Earlier this week, Maybank dismissed rumours that it was considering a merger with Bank Islam, the country’s largest, full-fledged Islamic bank.

CIMB Islamic said it will pursue a larger balance sheet to help win more business, regardless of whether a proposed merger with two smaller peers happens. In July, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, RHB Capital Bhd and Malaysia Building Society Bhd secured regulatory approval to begin merger talks. The lender's chief executive Badlisyah Abdul Ghani said that scale is important in being effective in business, so whether that scale is achievable under the current proposed merger talks or something else, the bank will continue to pursue it. The lenders have until Oct. 8 to finalize the pricing, structure and other terms of the merger. Details have yet to be ironed out, but the new Islamic bank could have assets worth 122 billion ringgit ($38.3 billion).

CIMB Islamic, the shariah-compliant unit of Malaysia's second largest bank, is preparing an Islamic bond programme to raise up to RM5 billion ($1.58 billion). The Basel III compliant sukuk programme, assigned a preliminary rating of AA+ by ratings agency MARC, will go towards replacing an existing RM2 billion Tier-2 sukuk and to fund working capital. The securities commission is still finalising approval and CIMB is not expected to issue sukuk from the programme any time soon. The company did not specify the range of maturities or sizes for sukuk under the programme. CIMB is currently in talks with two smaller banks to create a mega-Islamic bank.

The third annual Global Islamic Finance Report (GIFR) 2012 was made in association with the Saudi-based National Commercial Bank and Malaysian-based CIMB Islamic and some other partners in Islamic banking and finance industry. The report is composed of in depth research and analysis on the Islamic financial industry.
After the success of the previous two GIFRs, the GIFR 2012 persists its objective of informing readers about the current state of the international Islamic finance market.
A unique characteristic of the GIFR 2012 is its special focus on social responsibility and philanthropy. The core section of the GIFR 2012 is outlined into three virtual themes revolving around social responsibility and philanthropy.

Badlisyah Abdul Ghani, CEO of Malaysia's CIMB Islamic, stated that his Islamic banking unit will be growing its contribution to its parent company's loan book this year.
He is sure that he will increase the contributes from 13.8% now, to between 15% and 19%.

B.K. SIDHU reported in The Star Malaysia on 30 Marcht that it has won 19 mandeates to raise nearly USD 2.5 bn from the Islamic capital markets and that it is planned to launch a USD 500 mn infrastructure fund. The issuers of the Sukuk are partially situated in the Gulf including a sovereign.

Badlisyah Abdul Ghani is the CIMB Islamic chief executive officer.

IFIS published a report on 24 January discussed on Albawaba that Sukuk or Islamic bond markets have witnessed a dramatic decline during 2008, especially during the 4th Quarter, which was the lowest since 2002, and 2008 was a worse year for sukuk than both 2006 and 2007 with no issuances even of a Dollar Sukuk and the total amount dropping to only USD 584 mn in Q4 2008. South East Asia was more severely impacted than the GCC in 2008, with issuance falling by 76% down to USD 6.57 bn for the entire year. The decline in the GCC was quite severe as well, however, with issuance falling to USD 9.06 bn, a 51% drop. The global total for sukuk issuance, USD 15.77 bn, was 66% lower than the figure for 2007. This is the first year on year drop in sukuk issuance since the year 2000.

Islamic syndicated lending expanded from USD 19.6 bn in 2007 to USD 27.2 bn in 2008, a 32% increase. But as with credit markets worldwide, Islamic syndicated lending froze almost completely in Q4 2008.