Ibrahim: ‘Islamic banks may consolidate in five years’

The Islamic financial institutions in Malaysia are likely to consolidate in the next five years, Maybank Islamic acting CEO Ibrahim Hassan said yesterday. He said the Islamic players were generally small in terms of capital and asset size and that they need to consolidate to be on par with conventional players. "I think there will be some consolidation in the Islamic finance industry (locally)," Ibrahim said at the fifth Kuala Lumpur Islamic Finance Forum. "Players are small in terms of capital and asset size as well as the fact that they need to consolidate in challenging counterparts of the conventional side," he told a session on Evaluating Issues and Challenges of Islamic Finance At The Time of Global Credit Crisis. — Bernama