Flying the Flag for Malaysia
Valued at US$2.5 trillion, the Islamic financial market is one of the fastest growing in the world. A subsidiary of the nation’s largest financial group Maybank – Maybank Islamic is the largest Islamic bank in Malaysia, with a domestic market share of 30.8 percent, deposit and investment account at 28.9 percent and total assets of RM259.2 billion as at September 2020. Group CEO of Islamic Banking, Maybank and CEO of Maybank Islamic, Datuk Mohamed Rafique Merican reveals the stunning history, present achievements, and way forward.
“We are proud of our many achievements as Malaysia’s largest Islamic bank. Our commitment to sustainability and the evolution of our digital offerings saw us crowned as Global Islamic Bank of the Year by London-based magazine The Banker in 2020. Also, on the Global Sukuk League, we stood at number 3 internationally, and number 1 in Malaysia.
In 2020, Maybank Group Islamic Banking (MGIB) launched a number of firsts in our product offerings. For instance, our first Social Impact Deposit extended financial relief to our customers who were financially impacted by COCID-19. The Multi Asset Investment Account-i (MAIA), which is the first of its kind offered by a commercial bank, invests equally in a diversified portfolio of the Bank’s stable financing assets and Islamic marketable securities.
Outside of Malaysia, we completed the US$2.5 billion Sovereign Sukuk issuance for Indonesia, with US$750 million allocated for green projects. And over in Singapore, we launched an online donation payment service to Singapore’s NGO Rahmatan Lil Alamin Foundation Ltd via Maybank2u and PayNow.
Five Year Plan
Our five-year plan is to provide seamless financial solutions that can bring positive economic, social and environmental impact across the globe. To do so, we are expanding the role and impact of our Islamic Banking Business. While credit intermediation will continue to be our core engine, we are actively expanding into the investment intermediation role. This will allow us to grow our assets, while maintaining our capital efficiency and increase our fee-based income.
Having successfully launched MAIA late last year, we plan to introduce a multiple of new funds to allow us to embrace the risk-sharing model that is more equitable in terms of risk-return and reduce our reliance on balance sheet.
Another new business driver would be the trillion-dollar global Halal industry, and we want to nurture and scale up Halal entrepreneurs with capacity building programmes to assist them on the distribution of products locally and globally. Through our Dubai DIFC (which is our first overseas branch), we are tapping on the increasing demand for cross border financing in the global halal economy and also capturing the trade flows between the GCC countries and the ASEAN market.
We are also empowering the underserved segments economically and up-scaling them to be bankable customers through Social Finance. This will strengthen Islamic finance’s proposition as an inclusive and responsible financial system.
In the next five years, we aim to be among the top 3 Islamic financial groups in the world, while pursuing our commitment to sustainability, ensuring that our business impact is also positive for the environment, communities that we serve and future generations.”
