Malayan Banking (Maybank)

Exclusive - #Malaysia's Maybank prepares to spin off and list #insurance unit: sources

Malayan Banking (Maybank) is preparing to spin off and list its Etiqa insurance arm on the local stock exchange. Etiqa operates in Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia and is estimated to be worth at least $1 billion. As part of the transaction, Maybank’s investors are expected to receive shares in the insurance company in proportion to their existing holding in the bank. Etiqa provides life and general insurance as well as family and general takaful. In 2017 Eitqa reported a record revenue of 6.2 billion ringgit ($1.6 billion). Profit before tax rose 18.5% to 1 billion ringgit last year. In March, Etiqa said it maintained its top position in Malaysia’s general insurance and general takaful segment with an 11.8% market share. It was ranked fourth in the life and family segment, with an 8.9% market share.

PNB mulls introduction of Islamic shares for Maybank

Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) is studying a potential issuance of Islamic shares (i-shares) by Malayan Banking (Maybank). PNB group chairman Tan Sri Abdul Wahid Omar said currently about 25% of the Maybank group’s earnings come from the syariah-compliant businesses, and proposed that 20% of the group’s shares can be designated as i-shares. The move to list i-shares would provide an extra boost to the Malaysian Islamic capital market, said Abdul Wahid. He added that there are currently only two listed syariah-compliant financial institutions in Malaysia, BIMB Holdings and Syarikat Takaful Malaysia. If the plan goes through, it will create RM20 billion worth of new syariah-compliant instruments, which is three times bigger than BIMB’s market capitalisation. Abdul Wahid added that the group is looking at three asset classes for further investments overseas, namely public equities, private equities and real estate.

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