Going gets tough for Mideast banks

Mideast banks at crossroads

IT’S the case of so much promise but so little returns. The Middle Eastern financial institutions that have come to Malaysia under the liberalisation of the Islamic banking industry almost a decade ago have seen the going tough.

Strapped by paltry returns and stymied by fierce competition from the Malaysian banks, the future of the three Middle Eastern financial institutions here has come into focus. More so when their parent companies back home are reaping a much higher return on equity.