IslamicFinance.de

Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) provided more Islamic loans than non-Shariah compliant financing in Malaysia for the first time in 2015 and the business was also more profitable. Maybank Islamic Bhd contributed 51 per cent of loans by the nation's biggest lender, up from 44 per cent in 2014, and a share 10 to 20 percentage points higher is possible, chief executive officer Muzaffar Hisham said. The unit achieved an average 16 per cent return on equity in the last four years, compared with 14 per cent for its parent. Maybank Islamic's total financing rose 21 per cent to RM131.1 billion (S$44.2 billion) last year. Growth will probably moderate to less than 10 per cent in 2016.

Maybank Islamic Bhd expects the bulk of its mudarabah deposit account holders to reclassify their accounts to mudarabah investment account (IA), in compliance with Bank Negara’s requirement. Chief executive officer Muzaffar Hisham said the 350,000 customers of the bank’s existing mudarabah deposit products had been given until May 31 to consent to either have their accounts reclassified as IA or other syariah-compliant deposit products. Some 70%-80% of the bank’s customers were expected to make the switch as the IA was a compliance requirement arising from the central bank’s Islamic Financial Services Act 2013.

Maybank Islamic has launched its Shariah Centre of Excellence (SCOE), which focuses on research and education, talent development, thought leadership and community welfare. Its chief executive officer Muzaffar Hisham said the center was a virtual centre, which aimed to be a repository of Shariah knowledge and reference point on best practices for industry players, academic fraternities and the general public. The bank has collaborated with INCEIF, the Global University of Islamic Finance, including sponsoring the university’s auditorium and post-graduate students. Maybank Islamic has also rolled out other programmes under the SCOE initiative, including a public lecture series as well as Islamic finance publications.

Maybank Islamic Bhd will provide RM20 million of seed capital to a Waqf Fund which will be invested into investment portfolios, to include fixed income, equities, balanced fund and real estate. The local financial institution said that majlis Agama Islam Wilayah Persekutuan (MAIWP) will be the trustee of the Waqf fund while the bank will be the project manager. Profits or capital yield from the investment portfolio will be used to fund programmes related to development of educational and health care infrastructures, as well as to develop young entrepreneurs. Maybank Islamic Chief Executive Officer, Muzaffar Hisham said Waqf was one of the potential investments which can be developed to fund various economic activities for the benefit of the community.

MAYBANK Islamic Bhd hopes the government will introduce tax incentives for corporations, particularly to support the development of waqf and zakat. Potential growth in the two major sectors of Islamic endowments is given and they could benefit from tax breaks. The bank also hopes the government will continue its favourable policy on foreign currency transaction in Islamic banking, such as the International Currency Business Unit (ICBU) initiative which allows local players to conduct Islamic banking in international currencies via a division set up under the Islamic Banking Act 1983.

Maybank Islamic Bhd has dimissed speculations that it is in talks with Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd over a potential merger and acqusition (M&A). Its chief executive officer Muzaffar Hisham said the proposed merger of three local financial institutions to create a mega Islamic bank has not prompted Maybank Islamic to rush into M&A for expansion. Muzaffar said Maybank Islamic will continue to focus on its key objective, namely humanising financial services, which has been the driver of the bank’s outstanding track record over the last three to four years. Meanwhile, Muzaffar said Maybank Islamic is optimistic of maintaining its growth momentum in the second half of the year after recording an encouraging performance in the first half.

Maybank Islamic is confident of continuing its growth trajectory this year. Chief executive officer Muzaffar Hisham said the bank is looking at a pre-tax profit and zakat growth of between 10 and 15 per cent, after a 25 per cent growth to RM1.19 billion last year. The bank's growth will be led by an increase in cross-border transactions, which he said are on a steady rise. Indonesia and Singapore are the next key growth areas for Maybank Islamic. Muzaffar said he wants to grow the bank's cross-border investments via its treasury services window at Maybank Hong Kong. The bank has a strong retail banking presence in Singapore and has issued one sukuk in the island state. In Indonesia, its Islamic banking reach is through Maybank Group's subsidiary, Bank Internasional Indonesia. He added that the bank is also targeting to attract corporations from the United Kingdom wanting to expand in Asia.

Maybank Islamic Bhd, the Islamic banking arm of Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), aims to expand to all Asean member countries that Maybank has a presence in. According to its CEO Muzaffar Hisham, the bank intends to continue its regional expansion to other Asean nations after focusing on Singapore and Indonesia as part of its internationalisation initiative. Muzaffar said the bank has invested a lot of time and effort in the expansion opportunities, which were in line with the aspiration of Bank Negara Malaysia to internationalise Islamic finance. The bank grew by an average of 25% per year, held 30% market share locally and contributed 30% to the loans portfolio of Maybank domestically. Up to the first quarter of this year, Maybank Islamic has 4 million depositors with a deposit value of RM70 billion.