IslamicFinance.de

The race to tap an US$11.5 trillion pool of wealth held by Muslim individuals, institutions and governments is intensifying. The asset management units of Malaysia's RHB Bank and Indonesia's PT Bank Mandiri plan new Islamic funds. RHB Group Asset, which oversees 54 billion ringgit ($13.5 billion), will offer new Islamic funds in Malaysia and may make some of them available in Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore and the Middle East. The Indonesian Mandiri Manajemen’s plan for more Shariah investment vehicles comes after the company’s global Islamic stock fund drew $10 million from institutional investors when it was set up on Aug. 4. According to Malaysia International Islamic Financial Centre, the global Islamic asset management industry is forecast to grow to $77 billion by 2019 from $58 billion at the end of 2015.

The difficulties in forming a megabank in the $2 trillion Islamic finance industry are becoming clear as Indonesia pushes back deadlines for its plan after failures in Malaysia and the Middle East. Financial Services Authority Director Dhani Gunawan Idat is the latest official to repeat Indonesia’s goal for such an entity after two years of trying, with a plan to merge the Shariah-compliant units of PT Bank Mandiri, PT Bank Negara Indonesia, PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia and PT Bank Tabungan Negara. He put the time frame as 2017 in an interview Friday, while his Chairman Muliaman Hadad said in January it may happen this year. Gatot Trihargo, deputy minister for government-run enterprises, said in June that 2016 was the target.

The Indonesian government plans to merge the Shariah-compliant units of state-owned PT Bank Mandiri, PT Bank Negara Indonesia, PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia and PT Bank Tabungan Negara with paid-up capital of more than 15 trillion rupiah ($1.1 billion) next year, Gatot Trihargo, deputy minister for government-run enterprises, said. Financial Services Authority Chairman Muliaman Hadad said in January that the plan may materialize this year. In the Indonesian plan, the government will ask the four lenders to provide 5 trillion rupiah to 10 trillion rupiah of capital to their Shariah banking units before the planned merger, Trihargo said. The combined entity will help manage about 70 trillion rupiah and this would be used to fund infrastructure projects, he said.