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Best Islamic bank in Asia
Best Islamic Bank in Malaysia
There was a time when CIMB Islamic was mainly a brainy capital markets and structuring house. Today, it’s a full-service, universal, international Islamic bank. Although CIMB isn’t even the biggest Islamic bank in Malaysia (that’s Maybank), it does now rank second in size, following 48% compound annual growth in total assets between 2007 and 2011, and complements that with easily the widest range of product and ability not just in Malaysia but in Asia as a whole.
To take the domestic picture first, CIMB is either a national leader or on the top tier in investment banking, consumer banking, asset management, takaful and wealth management. On the investment banking side in particular, it has always been associated with firsts and other landmarks: the first exchangeable sukuk and the largest sovereign sukuk. It leads the domestic sukuk league tables (and is usually near the top of the international ones too) and was on 29.2% of all Malaysian ringgit sukuk during our review period, as well as 15.7% of global sukuk. It is consistently present on the most important Islamic deals: Projek Lebuhraya Usahasama (Plus), the world’s largest sukuk issuance, at M$34.35 billion ($11.4 billion); Axiata, the Rmb1 billion ($160.7 million) dim sum sukuk; all Khazanah’s exchangeables; the Shariah-compliant IPO for Felda Global Ventures and IHH Healthcare. It’s also a leader in project finance, including the Kimanis Power and TNB Janamanjung financings in 2012, and has a busy and dedicated Islamic syndicate desk, a rarity in Malaysia. There’s a dedicated business for securitization and structured finance in both conventional and Islamic formats; lately it’s been active on the Shariah side in aircraft financing.
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| Badlisyah Abdul Ghani, CEO, CIMB Islamic has the gusto to do things differently |
This sort of presence has always been there on the investment banking side, but the strength in retail is newer. Today CIMB Islamic Bank Berhad, which holds those businesses, has M$40 billion of assets, attracted by the customary CIMB gusto for doing things differently. The bank boasts that it can usually open an account, provide a debit card and open an online platform within 10 minutes; it can approve an investment or financing capability in the same timeframe. A host of new flow products appear regularly; recent examples are the Brand Power NID-i investment and another linked to the performance of the London gold market. Although some seem to be moving towards the baffling end of innovation (does Malaysian retail really need a CIMB Islamic flippable range accrual structured product?) there’s no denying the success of the strategy: not even an existing legal entity until 2005, CIMB Islamic Bank reaches 7.7 million customers in Malaysia today. The international side, too, goes from strength to strength. CIMB Islamic is in 14 countries now and has 1,109 branches across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations states. The keystone of the international business in the long run will be Indonesia, an immense potential opportunity for Malaysian Islamic banks, which CIMB addresses through its CIMB Niaga Syariah subsidiary. Regional integration is a group priority now, and with structured product desks established in Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand, we’re likely to see a lot more activity out of Asean in the years ahead.
