Business

Wednesday November 4, 2009

Maybank open to partnership in Turkey


New avenues in trade finance and products to be considered

KUALA LUMPUR: Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) is not looking to expand its business in Turkey but is open to collaboration with its counterparts there, says president and chief executive officer Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar.

“We are open to collaboration in terms of trade finance and products. The collaboration does not have to be in the form of equity,” he told reporters yesterday after the Sixth Annual Kuala Lumpur Islamic Finance Forum.

He said Maybank currently had no intention of looking at equity investment in Turkey and its main focus of business was currently the South-East Asia market.

It was reported yesterday that a leading Turkish bank, Bank Asya, was keen to tap the expertise of Maybank and CIMB Bank Bhd to jointly establish Islamic banking operations in Turkey.

Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah had said Bank Asya representatives had expressed the bank’s interest at a business meeting with the Finance Ministry during the World Bank/International Monetary Fund Conference in Istanbul recently.

On this, Wahid said Maybank would meet with the Finance Ministry to get more information.

Meanwhile, at the opening of the forum, Wahid said the tax incentives proposed under Budget 2010 would enhance Malaysia’s competitiveness in Islamic finance.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak echoed the same sentiment during his speech when he said Malaysia’s Islamic capital market was one of the most outstanding and had been growing at exponential rates, with the full complement of products.

“By the end of the second quarter this year, the Islamic financial service sector accounted for close to 19% of total banking assets. Total financing now amounts to RM115bil and constitutes 15.5% of the total financing portfolio of the banking industry. Net non-performing financing remains low at 2.4%,” he said.

He added that in terms of size, Malaysia’s Islamic capital market had reached RM803bil as at end-August, representing 54% of the Bursa Malaysia’s market capitalisation.

“And as we look to the future, there will be no shortage of demand for Islamic capital market products in both domestic and international arenas,” Najib said.

He added that the strong interest among the international financial markets to grow their Islamic finance industry would only help expand the reach of Islamic finance and the skills of its leaders.


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