IslamicFinance.de

Malaysian Islamic banks are boosting their trade financing market share with various measures. Maybank Islamic CEO Mohamed Rafique Merican said the bank intended to grow its trade facilities in line with growing demand for Islamic finance in Malaysia. Mohamed Rafique was speaking to reporters after a forum on "Islamic Trade Finance: Revitalising Trade and Unlocking New Potential". He said a lot more could be done to boost Islamic trade facilities, which stood at 1.5% out of US$50 billion. RHB Islamic Bank CEO Datuk Adissadikin Ali said Islamic banks would need to collaborate with the financial technology players to provide e-commerce trade financing. He added that RHB Islamic Bank was developing an e-commerce trade financing platform to enable companies to boost their working capital and the platform was likely to be implemented next year.

#Malaysian RHB Islamic Bank has issued RM250mil subordinated sukuk murabahah, the bank's first bond issuance in about three years. Parent company RHB Bank said the sukuk would mature in 10 years and could only be redeemed from the sixth year onwards. It has a fixed profit rate of 4.88% per annum, payable semi-annually in arrears throughout the entire tenure. RHB said proceeds raised from the sukuk issuance would be used for RHB Islamic’s syariah compliant working capital. In 2016, RHB Islamic turned in a profit after tax of RM324.8mil, a 27.4% increase against RM254.8mil in the preceding year.

Malaysia's Public Sector Home Financing Board issued up to RM3.25 billion sukuk to finance housing loans to the public sector employees. The board is also known as Lembaga Pembiayaan Perumahan Sektor Awam (LPPSA). The LPPSA said the RM3.25 billion sukuk notes formed a part of its RM25 billion Islamic commercial papers programme, which is guaranteed by the Malaysian Government. The sukuk was issued in tranches of five-year to 30-year and was priced at 4.17% to 5.225% per annum across tenures. Lead managers include Affin Hwang Investment Bank, AmInvestment Bank, Bank Islam Malaysia, CIMB Investment Bank, Maybank Investment Bank, OCBC Bank and RHB Investment Bank. CIMB is also the facility agent while RHB Islamic is the Shariah adviser.

RHB Islamic Bank is expecting to disburse at least RM50 million this year to facilitate the development of entrepreneurs. The fund is part of the Teras Fund programme provided via the Bumiputera Agenda Steering Unit (Teraju). According to RHB Islamic Bank's CEO Datuk Adissadikin Ali, the collaboration with Teraju had so far disbursed RM200 million as of 2016 from the total fund raised of RM400 million. He said the original fund for the programme was RM80 million, but RHB Islamic managed to raise the fund by leveraging on resources to RM400 million.

RHB Bank is eyeing the top three spot in the Islamic banking space for its syariah complaint unit. RHB Islamic Bank CEO Datuk Adissadikin Ali said growth in the recent past years had been strong and that the bank could continue riding on this growth. He said the contribution of Islamic banking assets to the group’s total assets is 25% and that the aim was to grow this figure to 40% by the year 2020. The group syariah business is identified as one of RHB’s key growth areas under its Ignite 2017 transformation programme. The bank intends to achieve by 2017 a return on equity of more than 14%, double contributions from Singapore to 10%, have 30% in overseas contribution, scale growth in small and medium enterprises, and have Islamic banking accounting for 30% of its assets.

Malaysia's RHB Islamic Bank Bhd is set to launch a window in Singapore by year-end, New Straits Times reported on Monday, citing managing director and chief executive officer Ibrahim Hassan. Right now the bank is keen on Singapore and Indonesia mostly, Ibrahim was quoted as saying. Singapore because it is one of the world's most vibrant financial hubs, thus allowing RHB to tap further into capital markets and eventually Indonesia, which has the biggest Muslim population.

Maybank Investment Bank, Public Islamic Bank and RHB Islamic Bank have entered into an agreement with Impian Bebas Sdn Bhd to provide a 15-year, RM1.08 billion syndicated Islamic term financing. Maybank IB was appointed as the coordinating bank and joint lead arranger (JLA) for the Islamic term financing together with Public Islamic and RHB Islamic. Impian Bebas, a joint venture company between KLCC (Holdings) Sdn Bhd and Sapura Resources Bhd, is developing a commercial land known as Lot 91 at Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) into a mixed commercial development comprising of office tower, convention centre and retail podium.

Three Malaysian banks are to provide property company Impian Bebas Sdn Bhd with a 15-year 1.08 billion ringgit ($298.34 million) syndicated Islamic financing, Maybank Investment Bank Bhd, one of the banks involved, said. Impian Bebas was created from a partnership between property and investmemt groups KLCC Holdings Sdn Bhd and Sapura Resources Berhad. It is to develop a plot of land in central Kuala Lumpur, close to the city's Petronas twin towers. Maybank IB was appointed as the joint lead arranger with Public Islamic Bank Bhd and RHB Islamic Bank Bhd , Maybank said in a statement.

RHB Islamic Bank Bhd has teamed up with Malaysian Technology Development Corp (MTDC) to provide financing for Bumiputera technology-based small and medium enterprises (SMEs) under the Bumiputera Expansion Fund (BEF) scheme. MTDC currently manages RM150 million fund for the BEF scheme via Bumiputera Agenda Steering Unit (Teraju). Under the pact, RHB Islamic will be the custodian of the fund, which will be placed in the bank’s commodity murabahah deposit-i account. The fund is expected to raise financing of at least RM300 million for eligible Bumiputera companies involved in biotechnology, green technology, nanotecnology and food technology.

Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) is set to meet fixed income investors starting Sunday ahead of a potential dollar-denominated sukuk transaction. The AAA-rated IDB has picked nine banks to arrange investor meetings in the Middle East and Asia, a benchmark offering will follow, subject to market conditions. CIMB, Dubai Islamic Bank, GIB Capital, HSBC, Natixis, NCB Capital, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, RHB Islamic Bank and Standard Chartered have been chosen to arrange the sukuk sale. IDB, which last issued $1.5 billion in five-year Islamic bonds in September, is looking to increase its issuance of sukuk, partly to raise its profile among international investors and to secure similar pricing levels to other development banks.

Sukuk sales by Malaysian lenders seeking to comply with Basel III rules are drawing strong demand, prompting arrangers to predict a rush of offers. CIMB Islamic Bank Bhd has reportedly submitted a proposal to the Securities Commission for a RM5 billion (S$1.9 billion) programme. Moreover, Public Islamic Bank Bhd received approval for a similar-sized programme, an April 23 stock exchange filing shows. AmIslamic Bank Bhd, Maybank Islamic Bank Bhd and RHB Islamic Bank Bhd have sold a combined RM2.2 billion of Basel III sukuk since late February.

Ibrahim Hassan will assume his post as the new CEO and managing director of the RHB Banking Group's Islamic banking arm from Sept 2, 2013. He will be responsible for overseeing the group's overall Islamic banking business and operations including driving its revenue, expanding the group's product range and customer portfolio growth across local and international boundaries. Prior to this, Ibrahim was the president director at PT Bank Maybank Syariah Indonesia. Ibrahim's appointment leaves the RHB Banking Group with only one vacancy – the top post at RHB Bank Bhd. RHBCap group managing director Kellee Kam is currently assuming the responsibilities of RHB Bank managing director in addition to his role at the group level. Earlier this month, RHB Investment Bank Bhd officer-in-charge Mike Chan Cheong Yuen was promoted to be its managing director and CEO.

RHB Islamic Bank has agreed to offer Lembaga Pengarah Amanah Kebajikan Masjid Negeri Sarawak with a RM300 million Istisna’/Ijarah Term Financing Facility. RHB said the facility, with a financing tenure of 10 years, is intended for the construction of Baitul Makmur II, an 18-storey office/commercial building located in Kuching, Sarawak. Upon completion, Baitul Makmur II will house several Sarawak state ministries. This deal would represent one of RHB Islamic Bank’s single largest financing loans to Sarawak state-related group of companies.

In the possible merger between Malaysia Building Society Bhd (MBSB) and RHB Capital Bhd (RHBCap), MBSB president and chief executive officer Datuk Ahmad Zaini Othman said MBSB is capable of taking over RHB Islamic. MBSB itself has more than RM30 billion in assets a shareholders' fund of more than RM2 billion and a market capitalisation of RM5 billion on Bursa Malaysia. One option for MBSB is therefore to take over RHB Islamic's RM4 billion assets. Employees Provident Fund (EPF) chief executive officer Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan had said last month that it will let RHBCap and MBSB decide on possible merger plans. The EPF holds a 44.84 per cent stake in RHBCap and 65.5 per cent share in MBSB. Meanwhile, MBSB chairman Tan Sri Abdul Halim Ali said the board of directors is unaware of any plans, is not in talks and has not received any proposals by the shareholders to merge with RHBCap.

• To assist in managing RHBIB’s Shariah internal control activities.
• To assist in managing the post approval Shariah review activities on Islamic finance business activities.
• To prepare periodical Shariah Review report which will be submitted to relevant authorities as stipulated in Shariah Framework.

Fozia Amanulla has grown accustomed to the pressures of negotiating multi-million-ringgit deals during her career in Islamic finance.
At a meeting with a client in Saudi Arabia, where men and women are commonly segregated in public life, she was the only woman in the building -- a fact reinforced by the absence of any toilets for women.
Fozia, one of the first women to lead an Islamic bank in Malaysia, has had no shortage of reminders that her industry -- in which investments are made according to Islamic principles -- is a male-dominated one.
But the number of female faces is multiplying.
Jamelah was appointed managing director of RHB Islamic Bank in Malaysia in 2007 and is believed to have been the first woman in the world to head an Islamic bank.
Linda Eagle, president of the Edcomm Group Banker's Academy, a consulting firm based in New York, said that while branches for women only had existed in Saudi Arabia for decades, such branches had opened in Dubai and Iraq in recent years.