Appeal of Islamic banking

Foreign banks in Malaysia are developing innovative products and services to tap the growing market. The next phase of growth in the foreign banking space would likely be the Islamic banking sector, according to most industry players. Already foreign banks in Malaysia are stepping up efforts to position themselves well for this purpose.

Many have and are continuing to develop innovative products and services to tap the growing Islamic finance market, which they say is demonstrating encouraging growth despite the challenging financial environment. According to HSBC Bank Malaysia Bhd Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer the bank’s new Islamic subsidiary, HSBC Amanah Malaysia, was progressing as planned and was well-positioned to capitalize on the growth of Islamic finance in Malaysia. “Our strategy is to position and place the business on a strong footing through the introduction of new, innovative core products and drawing resources from a pool of Islamic finance expertise (locally and globally)” the CEO stated.

HSBC has opened four new full-fledged HSBC Amanah branches and there are plans for more such branches in the future. HSBC, which has conventional, takaful and more recently Islamic banking licenses, would continue to focus on its bancassurance/ bancatakaful model with its own customers as the target market.

HSBC, with its international brand name, is one of top 10 global insurers and has 125 years of banking presence in Malaysia.

19 August 2009