E Market Islamic Finance Platform – MarketplaceIF
Bank Negara Malaysia today launched MarketplaceIF, an e-market platform where those seeking Islamic finance financial solutions and services are able to meet providers.
The platform promotes the Malaysian Islamic finance market offering expertise in Sukuk, Asset Management, Financing, Advisory Services, Private Equity, Research, Venture Capital, Talent Development and Retakaful.
Malaysia Leads the Market
Malaysia is a pioneer in modern Islamic finance having been developing its industry for 30 years and is the global leader in Islamic financial services.
As of end of Q1 2016, Islamic compliant securities (Islamic Capital Market) listed on Bursa Malaysia totalled USD$342.7 billion, the highest for any exchange globally. The Kuala Lumpur based exchange has listed USD$36 billion of sukuk of which USD$14.2 billion are from foreign issuers, as well as USD$306.7 billion in market capitalisation of Sharia compliant stocks (equities).
Malaysia’s state pension fund (The Employees Provident Fund) will from 2017 begin offering Islamic investments to its members thereby creating the world’s largest sharia-compliant fund worth an estimated US$160 billion
As well as being home to the largest Islamic financial market, Malaysia leads in innovation within the sector, both in terms of pushing the boundaries and introducing new contract structures such as the recent Malaysian sovereign sukuk which used an innovative structure under the Shariah principle of Wakala; as well as in the FinTech sector where it in March launched an Investment Account Platform (IAP) which is envisaged to become a cross border multi-currency channel linking into regional and global economies.
