Maybank Invt to expand Mideast business

By Adeline Paul RajPublished: 2009/11/09

Maybank Investment Bank Bhd (MIB) is setting up an Islamic investment bank in Saudi Arabia as part of plans to expand its business in the Middle East, an official said.


The new bank, known as Anfaal Capital, will be a joint venture with ICD (the private-sector arm of Islamic Development Bank), Cepco (a private investor) and International Investment Bank of Bahrain.

The Maybank group will hold 18 per cent of the joint venture.

"We've been given a provisional licence by the CMA (Saudi Arabia's Capital Market Authority) and we hope to get a formal licence granted to us within 12 months," Ali Abbas Zaidi (picture), MIB's head of Islamic market, told Business Times in an interview.

MIB is part of the Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) group, which has the biggest Islamic banking business in Asia-Pacific.



Ali said MIB wanted to grow its Islamic business by expanding its product range and paying more attention to the Middle East and Indonesian markets.

"We want to expand our range of products, especially in investment banking and markets, and expand the geographies we operate in. The Middle East and Indonesia are two key areas of focus," he said.

Maybank also has a branch in Bahrain, set up seven years ago, on which MIB can leverage to do more Islamic business in the region.

Ali sees strong potential for growth in Indonesia given that Islamic assets there account for only a very small portion, believed to be around 1 or 2 per cent, of the country's total banking assets.

In Malaysia, close to 19 per cent of total banking assets is Islamic.

"So, all the products that we've developed over a number of years in Malaysia, we're going to take across to Indonesia, get the regulators' approval and then launch them," Ali said.

That process of bringing over the products has already begun, he added.

In Malaysia, Islamic finance continues to be fast-growing, especially in the capital market, but there needs to be more focus on areas besides sukuk, or Islamic bonds.

"We need to move beyond this fixation on sukuk," Ali remarked, adding that other areas such as Islamic private equity, venture capital and asset management should be developed further.

Ali, who joined the Maybank group just eight months ago, has over 16 years experience in investment banking. Previously, he helped develop the global Islamic investment banking business at Deutsche Bank and HSBC Amanah.