Thursday, August 5, 2010

BNM asking banks to provide rebate

By Habhajan Singh

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) is now asking banks to provide rebate for early settlement of financing based on Bai Bithaman Ajil (BBA), a move seen to protect the interest of consumers who have in the past been jolted by banks demanding the full price of the financing.

In another move, the central bank's Shariah Advisory Council (SAC) also decided that compensation may be imposed on late payment of financial obligation arising from exchange contracts like the BBA and hire purchase and also interest-free loans known as qard.

The issue of rebate, or ibra in Arabic, would be a welcome relieve for individual and corporations that have made avail the Islamic financing as it was previously left to the discretion of the banks.

"In line with the need to safeguard maslahah (public interest) and to ensure justice to the financiers and customers, Islamic banking institutions are obliged to grant ibra' to customers for early settlement of financing based on buy and sell contracts (such as bai' bithaman ajil or murabahah ).

"In order to eliminate uncertainties pertaining to customers' rights in receiving ibra' from Islamic banking institutions, the granting of ibra' must be included as a clause in the legal documentation of the financing," the SAC decided at its meeting on Jan 28, according to a BNM statement released yesterday.

It said SAC had decided that tawidh (compensation) may be imposed on late payment of financial obligation arising from exchange contracts (such as buy and sell and hire purchase) and qard (loan).

"Nevertheless, ta'widh may only be imposed upon the lapse of the repayment period agreed by both contracting parties. The amount of t a'widh received may be recognised as income by the seller/financier/creditor on the basis that it is imposed as compensation for actual loss incurred by the seller/financier/creditor," it said, adding that the rate will be determined by BNM.

On ibra, the SAC ruled: "In line with the need to safeguard maslahah (public interest) and to ensure justice to the financiers and customers, Islamic banking institutions are obliged to grant ibra' to customers for early settlement of financing based on buy and sell contracts (such as bai' bithaman ajil or murabahah ).

"In order to eliminate uncertainties pertaining to customers' rights in receiving ibra' from Islamic banking institutions, the granting of ibra' must be included as a clause in the legal documentation of the financing . The determination of ibra' formula will be standardised by Bank Negara Malaysia."

On April 19, The Malaysian Reserve reported on a recent High Court judgement that ruling that Islamic banks 'must grant' a rebate even if the BBA contract is silent on the issue when a default occurs.

The judgement, in four BBA cases heard together by High Court Judge Datuk Rohana Yusuf in Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd v Azhar Osman, brought to the fore an issue that has been a bone of contention for consumers making avail of Islamic home financing as Islamic banks deem rebate as discretionary. Consumers, on the other hand, would want more certainty in that matter.

(This story appeared in The Malaysian Reserve on June 28, 2010. The Malaysian Reserve is a daily business/finance newspaper published out of Kuala Lumpur, with a sectoral page on Islamic finance on Mondays, edited by Habhajan Singh)

CIMB Islamic sees more deals to be secured


The reviving sukuk market augurs well for Islamic banks involved in the debt capital market as more issuances are expected in the second half of the year. With sukuk market conditions improving better and faster in the international market than the conventional bond market, CIMB Islamic, a leading player in the global sukuk market sees more deals to be secured and done in the second half of this year.

Its CEO Badlisyah Abdul Ghani is confident as the bank has managed to secure deals even at the height of the recent sovereign credit crisis.

"The global financial crisis did not directly affect our businesses and has insignificant impact on activities in our domestic markets. Our global businesses were affected a little bit but we managed accordingly based on the situation. In fact, we successfully closed a sovereign sukuk deal for the Government of Malaysia at the height of the crisis," he said.

Despite the slowdown in the first part of the year, CIMB Islamic has to date done 37 sukuk issuances in the Malaysian market alone.

"We are comfortable with how the market is now. We expect more deals coming in the second half. We are confident that we will do well in the sukuk market as we have done in the past.

"In some years, we did less number of deals but bigger ticket size per deal, and in some years, we did more deals but smaller ticket size. So long as we maintain our leadership position in the market, we are quite happy," he told The Malaysian Reserve in an interview.

In sync with the bank's aspiration to become the world's valued global Islamic bank, CIMB Islamic is now enhancing its Islamic consumer banking value proposition not just in Malaysia but also in all markets that CIMB Group has a presence.

"Currently, CIMB is the fastest growing Islamic bank with assets growing at an average growth rate of 100% per annum. Our focus in building our infrastructure to better serve our customers has made us the biggest Islamic bank in the world by branch network with more than 800 branches across South-East Asia.

"Although our competitors have been in the market for far longer, since we started in 2003, we have grown from a very, very small player to become the second largest Islamic consumer bank in Malaysia and the biggest Islamic investment bank in the world,"he said. For the first quarter of this year, he said CIMB Islamic has secured the top position for Islamic financing for nonresidential property and is ranked at No 2 for Islamic financing for residential property.

"We believe our growth is attributable to our principle of meeting our customers' need with the best Shariahcompliant products and services and our intention of course is to be better at what we do in meeting the demands of customers in t he ma rke t s t h at we serve," he said.

Now that Malaysia business is fairly developed, he sees the bank expanding and entrenching itself as a leading Islamic bank across all market segments in South- East Asia in the next five years. This is in line with the overall CIMB Group's vision to be the most valued universal bank in the South-East Asia. In contributing towards this vision, CIMB Islamic has charted a five-year strategy for its overseas expansion so that it could edge its competitors and capture market shares in the markets where CIMB Group has presence.

For the immediate term, the bank wants to focus building up the business in South-East Asia, predominantly in Indonesia and Singapore.

Badlisyah said: "We are focusing in South-East Asia at this moment and although CIMB group has established a joint venture in Bahrain where we are also doing Islamic investment banking activities, the business there is mostly to bridge Middle East investor's foray into South-East Asia."

The Islamic banking group is aiming for a higher contribution from the bank's operations to the group's revenue for the current financial year from the 10% recorded in 2009. However, he said the CIMB group is also growing very fast and hence, the contribution rate from CIMB Islamic may remain at the same level in the short term. As far as revenue contribution by Islamic banking businesses outside of Malaysia is concerned, he said it is still insignificant and will continue to be so due to the relative newness and smallish size of the business.

(This story, written by By Dalila Abu Bakar, appeared in The Malaysian Reserve on June 28, 2010. The Malaysian Reserve is a daily business/finance newspaper published out of Kuala Lumpur, with a sectoral page on Islamic finance on Mondays, edited by Habhajan Singh)

Brighter outlook for sukuk market in the second half

The growth prospect of the sukuk market in Malaysia is expected to be better in the second half of this year compared to the first six months, said chief executive officer of CIMB Islamic Bank Bhd Badlisyah Abdul Ghani.

"In the first half, investors and issuers wanted to be sure of the direction of the market in general before making decisions. I think sanity as well as better colour on the market can be seen now. I see better prospect in the second half compared to the first half," he told The Malaysian Reserve in a recent interview.

Badlisyah said investors and issuers will tap the sukuk market at the right time in the second half of the year. "They (investors and issuers) are fairly cautious but it does not mean that they will not go into the market in the second half. It is always natural for them to take time to understand and appreciate the condition of the market before tapping it," he said.

According to reports, sales of ringgit sukuk have fallen by more than 40% in the past months of this year compared to that of last year due to the smaller number of infrastructure projects that were implemented in Malaysia during the period. "If you compare year-onyear, the first part of the year is weaker.

Although our sukuk market is fairly independent, investors and issuers will have to look at market development as a whole, not just in Malaysia but also what is happening in Europe and Dubai to decide on the appropriate course of action," he said.

Generally, Badlisyah is bullish on the growth prospects of the local sukuk market as the players and issuers are seen to be equally active in the market to meet the demand of the wide sukuk investor base. "We should have about the same level of sukuk issuance as we had last year, if not better," he said.

Badlisyah expects the sales of global Islamic bonds to reach US$25 bi l l ion (RM80.88 billion) this year, up 24% from last year. He said Malaysia will continue to dominate the global market accounting for 60% of the total. Badlisyah who has been at the helm of CIMB Islamic since 2002 said the global Islamic franchise of the CIMB Group hopes to continue as one of the biggest lead managers for sukuk globally as well as in Malaysia.

"CIMB Islamic has been at the top of the global and local sukuk lead manager table since the birth of the Isl ami c c api t a l ma rk e t industry. We want to remain that way and will continue to go the extra mile in bringing quality transactions to the market to achieve it. We have done 37 issuances so far this year. The number looks good and we hope to do more before year-end," he said.

(This story, written by By Dalila Abu Bakar, appeared in The Malaysian Reserve on June 28, 2010. The Malaysian Reserve is a daily business/finance newspaper published out of Kuala Lumpur, with a sectoral page on Islamic finance on Mondays, edited by Habhajan Singh)

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Gulf states may have single Shariah council by 2013

Gulf Arab states may have a single Shariah board for the region’s Islamic financial institutions by 2013 to standardise the industry and increase services available to Muslims, a Shariah scholar said, reports Bloomberg (June 13, 2010).

A region-wide Shariah council is "not a far-fetched reality" since there is a pool of experts in the United Arab Emirates, said Hussain Hamed Hassan, head of Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC’s Shariah committee and chairman of the Shariah Coordination Committee of the Islamic Financial Institutions in the UAE. "It will happen, but it’s a question of time," he was quoted by the newswire.

The report added that regulators around the world, including Bahrain and Malaysia, are looking for ways to better evaluate risks of the Islamic banking industry and make products suitable for investors globally. Malaysia’s central bank is preparing a system that would enable cross-border transactions among Islamic financial institutions, Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz said in May.

Islamic law, or Shariah, restricts investors to transactions based on the exchange of assets rather than money alone because interest payments are banned. Islamic products are reviewed and approved by a board of scholars and, without globally accepted standards, financial institutions and bond issuers rely on rulings by these scholars to offer services to devout Muslims.

"How can an industry progress when a bank in Sharjah cannot buy the sukuk issued by a bank in Dubai? The industry needs to have some stability in order for it to grow," said Hassan, who also serves on the Shariah board of the Bahrain-based Accounting & Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions, the report added.

Demand for Shariah-compliant products is increasing as the wealth of Muslims rises, spurred by export-led Asian economic growth and crude oil income in the Persian Gulf. Created in the 1970s, the Islamic finance industry’s assets may quadruple to US$2.8 trillion (RM9.2 trillion) by 2015 from about US$700 billion (RM2.3 trillion) in 2005, according to the Kuala Lumpurbased Islamic Financial Services Board.

Bank Islam Brunei signs IT pact with Silverlake sign

Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam (BIBD) has extended its strategic information technology (IT) partnership with Silverlake Sistem Sdn Bhd to further enhance the bank's operations and customer services through the provision of innovative financial solutions.

BIBD's acting managing director, Javed Ahmad, said the continuous relationship with Silverlake was in line with the bank's vision to introduce state-of-the-art financial services in Brunei.

"Together with Silverlake, we are upgrading our existing IT infrastructure and hope this transformation programme will be completed in 16 months," he told reporters after signing the agreement with Silverlake in Petaling Jaya yesterday.

The agreement involves a major upgrade of BIBD's system from the existing Silverlake Axis Integrated Islamic Banking Solution (SIIBS) Core Version 3 to Version 8.

In addition, the new system would house five new modules involving sale and case management, financing origination, enterprise collection, global payment and corporate banking systems. SIIBS is a suite of banking products designed to facilitate and automate syariahcompliant banking products.

"We want to further grow our business in Brunei by expanding our expertise in multiple areas and developing an innovative Islamic finance products to assist the country in realising its financial potential," Javed said.

Islamic banking currently represents 40% of the total banking sector growth in Brunei and the number is expected to grow to 55-60% over the next three-five years. He said BIBD's immediate target was to strengthen its operation in Brunei before expanding its business in South-East Asia.

"We have an aspiration to be in the region, including Malaysia. But at the moment, we will concentrate to grow our business in Brunei," he said.

BIBD is the largest banking provider in Brunei with a total assets of about RM12 billion. With more than 14 branches and 500 staff, the bank's strong business is in Islamic retail banking, contributing 70 per cent of its total revenue. — Bernama

(This story appeared in The Malaysian Reserve on June 2, 2010. The Malaysian Reserve is a daily business/finance newspaper published out of Kuala Lumpur, with a sectoral page on Islamic finance on Mondays, edited by Habhajan Singh)

CIMB applies for Thai Islamic licence


The central bank of Thailand has received about 10 applications to set up stand alone Islamic banks in the country, including one from Malaysia, said Islamic Bank of Thailand (IBT) president Dheerasak Suwannayos. The other applications are all from Middle East nations such as Kuwait, Qatar and United Arab Emirates. (The Malaysian Reserve, July 12, 2010, p1)

Monday, June 14, 2010

The Edge’s Ho Kay Tat to join Star Publications

By Habhajan Singh
The Star, Malaysia’s largest selling English newspaper that is beginning to make inroads into new territories like radio and the Internet, is set to embrace Ho Kay Tat (picture) as the newest member of its senior management team.
The 51-year-old group chief editor of The Edge group may join Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd as an executive director and chief operating officer, according to an industry source.
"The deal was done last week," said one source.
A source close to the white-haired editor believes that Ho may assume the role of Star’s managing director, a position now assumed by Linda Ngiam Pick Ngoh, who is said to be retiring next year. She is also Star’s CEO.
Since Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek’s won the MCA presidency in March in a threecornered fight against incumbent Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat and former president Tan Sri Ong Ka Ting, industry insiders had began speculating it would result in changes at the Star senior management.
The Chinese political party controls the newspaper via its investment arm, Huaren Holdings Bhd, which has a 41.5% stake in the listed publisher.
The grapevine was flushed with various possibilities, with some speculating that the changing of the guard at the political party would lead to the departure of the publisher’s executive deputy chairman Datuk Clement Hii Chii Kok. Clement Hii, 53, came on board as a director on Jan 5, 2009 and later redesignated to the current position days later.
The Sarawakian, himself a former journalist, is also the group managing director of SEG International Bhd. One source said that Ho had met Clement Hii to discuss the possibility of his move ‘many weeks ago’. Ho has been in journalism for 24 years. He spent six years with the News Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Bhd before joining Reuters in 1990 and served as the KL correspondent for the Singapore Business Times in 1994.
He joined The Edge as an editor in August 1996 and later became its editor-in-chief (EIC).
For some years, he had also served as The Edge’s managing director, a role he gave up towards the last quarter of 2009. The Edge’s deputy EIC Dorothy Teoh is expected to take over from Ho. Ho could not be connected at press time.
This is not the first time that an editorial person is being moved into the management role, noted Berita Publishing Sdn Bhd’s group EIC Datuk A Kadir Jasin. "It is not out of the ordinary. If you recall, Star’s previous MD Datuk Steven Tan was also a journalist. He crossed over from journalism to management and went on to become one of the most successful MDs at The Star," said Kadir, a former NSTP group EIC.
In January 2009, Star announced the complete exit of Steven Tan from the company, to pave the way for Clement Hii’s entry. Tan had in June 2008 voluntarily retired as group MD/CEO, to be succeeded by Ngiam.
Online news portal, MalaysiaKini, first went to town on Friday with the story of Ho joining The Star, observing that the top echelon in The Star can expect more drama as Dr Chua tightens his grip on the party-owned media. It said the daily has suffered a setback in terms of reader perception following the MCA presidential elections early this year when the paper was seen to be ‘taking sides’ in the battle for the presidency of the country’s largest Chinese political party.
Following close on its heels, The Malaysian Insider ran a similar story the next day. This news portal added that MCA’s Dr Chua is also set to name the newspaper’s new non-executive chairman, identified as former banker Kuah Han Liang, who was previously with Deutsche Bank Malaysia, contrary, it said, to speculations that the post was going to Royal Selangor International MD Tan Sri Yong Poh Kon.

(This story appeared in The Malaysian Reserve on 17 May 2010. The Malaysian Reserve is a daily business/finance newspaper published out of Kuala Lumpur, with a sectoral page on Islamic finance on Mondays, edited by Habhajan Singh)