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According to CIMB Islamic Bank CEO Rafe Haneef, Muslim countries and customers with such affinity should tap into the green sukuk market, given the estimated US$45 trillion demand for such assets. He added that green sukuk, was very much part and parcel of shariah compliance, which should be halal and sustainable. In the context of global sukuk, the total size per year is about US$45 billion to US$50 billion, so green bonds are already five times the size of sukuk. RAM Rating Services deputy CEO Promod Dass said there was US$3 trillion worth of green investment needs in Asean from 2015 to 2030. Maybank Group global banking head Datuk Muzaffar Hisham opined Malaysia was in the right direction of participating in the green sukuk sector. He added that appetite for green investment was growing, the only question remaining was how to accelerate it.

According to RAM Rating Services, the infrastructure growth in Sarawak is expected to be mainly funded by Malaysia's vibrant sukuk market. This year sukuk has been the preferred funding route for Sarawak-based entities, with majority from the power sector. Issuers from the port, construction, property, manufacturing, plantation, oil and gas support services, financial services and telecommunication sectors have tapped into the sukuk market as well. RAM Ratings deputy CEO Promod Dass said Malaysia's sukuk market will remain a key funding avenue for the infrastructure development in Sarawak. He applauded the Malaysian government and Securities Commission for building a solid foundation for the sukuk market.

Global sukuk issuance will likely reach US$85 billion-US$90 billion (RM356-377 billion) in 2017, driven by stronger issuance from Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. RAM Rating Services said Saudi Arabia and its GCC neighbours had raised sukuk worth US$42 billion at end-October, which was a 215.3% increase from a year ago. Malaysia recorded RM138.7 billion worth of sukuk issuance as at end-October, which exceeded RAM’s full-year projection. Bank Negara Malaysia’s decision to maintain overnight policy rate at 3.0% could spur more sukuk issuance before the end of the year after hinting that monetary policy might be tightened next year.

Khazanah Nasional has announced its initial public offering of a seven-year wakalah sukuk by special purpose vehicle Ihsan Sukuk. The size of the sukuk is RM5 million, has a profit rate of 4.6% per year, and is rated AAA by RAM Rating Services. It is the third tranche of issuance under Khazanah’s RM1 billion Sustainable and Responsible Investment Sukuk programme. The two earlier tranches were used by Khazanah’s not-for-profit foundation, Yayasan Amir, to fund the rollout of its Trust Schools Programme in at least 20 schools. As of June 2017, the foundation’s Trust Schools Programme had been rolled out to 83 schools across 10 states.

Malayan Banking (Maybank) has established a sukuk programme of up to RM10 billion in nominal value under the syariah principle of Murabahah. According to Maybank's announcement, the sukuk programme will provide the bank the flexibility to raise funds for its Islamic financial instruments and its business activities. The sukuk programme has been assigned a long-term rating of 'AAA' for issuances of senior sukuk Murabahah and 'AA1' for issuances of subordinated sukuk Murabahah by RAM Rating Services. Maybank IB is the principal adviser, lead arranger and manager, and book runner for the programme.

CIMB Investment Bank (CIMB IB) came out tops on RAM Rating Services' league tables for both corporate bonds and sukuk as at end-September 2016, after having arranged RM21.25 billion worth of RAM-rated corporate bonds and sukuk. The amount represents 56% of the RM37.88 billion RAM-rated corporate bonds and sukuk in the first nine months of the year. In terms of sukuk programme value, Maybank Investment Bank (Maybank IB), which has arranged RM12.54 billion or 72% of RAM-rated sukuk, takes the lead. As at end-September 2016, outstanding corporate bonds stood at RM536.5 billion, while the gross issuance of corporate bonds and sukuk amounted to RM66.4 billion, almost 50% higher than last year’s January-to-September period. RAM anticipates the corporate bond market to chart a steady course through the remainder of 2016.

RAM Rating Services has reaffirmed the A2/Stable/P1 financial institution ratings of Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd. The ratings agency had on Monday also reaffirmed the bank’s A3/Stable rating of its RM400mil Islamic subordinated Sukuk programme (2011/2026). The one-notch difference between the bank’s long-term financial institution rating and that of its subordinated Sukuk reflects the subordination of the debt facility to the bank’s unsecured obligations, it said. RAM Ratings said the bank’s asset-quality indicators had weakened during the period under review. Its gross impaired-financing (GIF) ratio had increased to 3.0% as at end-December 2014 (end-March 2014: 2.7%), with the largest upticks in home and personal financing.

RAM Rating Services expects new global sukuk issuance to remain fairly resilient in 2015 at around US$100bil to US$120bil when compared with 2014’s US$116.23bil. The rating agency said this was despite the challenging environment for Malaysia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) amid the steep fall in global oil prices since last year. RAM Ratings said geopolitical risks in the GCC, Europe’s quantitative-easing programme and the rate increase by the US Federal Reserve this year have compounded the uncertainties for GCC sukuk issuers and their potential investors. Perhaps the next leap for global sukuk will materialise when GCC sovereign wealth funds reallocate more of their portfolios to invest in sukuk from Asia, Europe, the US and other non-OIC nations.