Maybank is the largest bank in Malaysia with consolidated assets of RM702bil at end-March 2016
SINGAPORE: Maybank Islamic Bhd is confident its Islamic banking business in Singapore will contribute further to revenue in the future.
Group head, Islamic banking, and chief executive officer Datuk Muzaffar Hisham said this was in view of the ongoing support from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in promoting Islamic banking.
"We are very pleased with the support," he said when met by Bernama and Mediacorp on the sidelines of the two-day Islamic Banking and Investment Asia/Middle East Congress 2016 in Singapore.
It is reported that Singapore's central bank will continue to strengthen Islamic finance owing to its cross-border growth.
The report said that since MAS established its sukuk facility in 2009, there had been eight sukuk issuances totalling S$600 million (RM1.7 billion).
Muzaffar said in less than three years, Islamic banking in Singapore had contributed about 5% to its revenue.
"We not only hope to maintain, but look to it contributing more than 5%.
"I believed Singapore is a centre of cross-border transactions, particularly for non-domestic currencies such as the US dollar, British pound sterling and the Japanese yen.
"I am confident that Singapore is not only a key financial centre, but also a country promoting Islamic banking through MAS," he added.
On Tuesday, Maybank and Singapore-based RB Capital inked a S$260 million Islamic financing deal, one of the biggest in Singapore.
The landmark deal involved the 442-room mid-tier Holiday Inn Express Singapore Clarke Quay as the underlying security.
Hospitality-related assets are not typical in Islamic financing, which makes this the first undertaken in a secular country.
Maybank Group's Islamic banking business in 2015 surged 20.4% in total income versus the previous year.
Maybank Islamic maintained its position as the top Islamic bank in Malaysia with a 28% market share of Islamic assets.
It ranked fourth in the Global Sukuk League Table for financial year 2015 with a market share of 8.6% from 106 issues totalling US$2.96 billion (RM11.58 billlion).
For the financial year ended Dec 31, 2015, Maybank Islamic's total assets exceeded US$36 billion. - Bernama
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