AFB sees funded assets growing to RM1bil

Asian Finance Bank Bhd (AFB) expects its funded assets to grow to RM1bil by the year-end from RM600mil currently. Chief executive officer Datuk Mohamed Azahari Kamil said its funded assets were more than RM100mil when he took over last August. He said his predecessor had done a very good job in laying all the groundwork for the current team to build on, reports The Star.
“There are several deals in the pipeline with various companies from different sectors such as plantations, independent power producers, sales and lease of aircraft, and oil and gas,” he said at the signing ceremony between AFB and Lembaga Tabung Haji (LTH), the Malaysian newspaper reported.
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AFB yesterday signed a financing facility agreement for a Tawarruq term financing-i of RM65mil with TH Indo Industries Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of LTH. AFB is also the first foreign bank to be appointed LTH’s deposit collection agent.
Azahari said the Tawarruq term financing for TH Indo was for working capital and was a short-term loan of about a year.
“We are committed to the Government to help stimulate the economy by continuing to provide funding to government-linked companies in need of financing facilities for their business expansion, particularly in the Middle East,” he said.
Apart from growing its assets, AFB is also keen on growing the number of retail outlets and product expansion. The bank currently has two branches locally and a representative office in Jakarta. The bank is expected to increase the number of branches in Malaysia to between five and seven in the next two to five years.
“We are conducting feasibility studies to set up a branch in Kuching. Hopefully, this branch will be ready by the year-end,” Azahari said, adding that the bank was also in the midst of setting up a representative office in Brunei.
To a question, Azahari said it was “currently in talks” with several takaful companies hoping to distribute Islamic insurance, and other companies for distribution of more third party products.