Islamic banking and finance is well established in Singapore with services provided by OCBC Bank, The Islamic Bank of Asia, a subsidiary of DBS Bank, and Malaysia’s Maybank is also active on the island. There has been steady growth in Islamic retail banking for Singapore’s small Muslim community and some Shariah compliant corporate finance. Capital market activity has been disappointing to date, and was adversely affected by the financial crisis. Singapore has rebounded strongly, and the Islamic REIT by Sabana Real Estate Holdings could be the first of many, as could be the Khazanah Sukuk. However it is unlikely that 2011 will see a flood of new issuances, and future developments will depend on how much interest from the Gulf and elsewhere there is in Singapore originated capital market products. As investors remain cautious about Islamic capital market products generally, activity is likely to remain subdued, at least in the short term.
PROFESSOR RODNEY WILSON
Singapore has established a sensible regulatory and legal framework and is building its talent base. We can expect Singapore to grow as the overall Islamic finance market in ASEAN becomes more robust with Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines becoming more active. Singapore has key strengths in fund management and private banking. These are sure to create long term success for Singapore in the Islamic finance market as well as improving the regional competitive position and delivering better services. If the economic recovery holds, the formula for success is already in place for Singapore to grow its contributions to Islamic financial services consumers. ABDULKADER THOMAS CEO and President, SHAPE ─ Financial Corp
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