Malaysia: UDA to work with Bank Muamalat in developing RM1b wakaf land

PETALING JAYA (Nov 12, 2013): UDA Holdings Bhd will work with Bank Muamalat (M) Bhd to develop 40.47ha of wakaf land with a gross development value of RM1 billion.

The land, ready for development, is spread throughout the country and owned by the respective state Islamic Religious Councils.

Bank Muamalat will provide the end financing for UDA to develop the land.

UDA Holdings group managing director Ahmad Abu Bakar said implementation of development projects on the wakaf land will be based on the concept of Ijarah or leasing.

"Through this concept of Ijarah, ownership of the land to be developed remains with the state Islamic Religious Councils, and only its usage will be transferred," he told reporters after the signing of a memorandum of understanding for the development of the wakaf land between Bank Muamalat and UDA Holdings, here today.

"UDA's model and springboard for the development of wakaf land on a commercial basis using the Ijarah concept, is based on the success in developing the 3.94ha belonging to the Penang State Islamic Religious Council," Ahmad said.

He said the development of wakaf land is still being fine tuned and UDA had also received letters of offer to develop such land in Selangor.

To realise the development of wakaf land, UDA acting as the developer, will underwrite the development costs, while also being responsible for marketing the projects.

"Development of the wakaf land will help add value as well as generate optimum returns," Ahmad said.

(The Sun Daily / 12 Nov 2013)

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Alfalah Consulting - Kuala Lumpur: www.alfalahconsulting.com
Islamic Investment Malaysia: www.islamic-invest-malaysia.com

Malaysia: Waqf Is Missing Piece In Islamic Financial System, Says CIMB Islamic

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 24 (Bernama) -- Waqf (Wakaf) is the missing piece in Malaysia's Islamic financial system despite the country being the market leader with various sophisticated products and services.

CIMB Islamic Bank Chief Executive Officer Badlisyah Abd Ghani said: "Malaysia has from the simplest saving products to sukuk as well as many different sophisticated products for institutional investors, corporate clients, small medium entrepreneurs and individuals.

"(But) what is missing in the market today is waqf in a commercial manner," he told reporters on the sidelines of the 10th Kuala Lumpur Islamic Finance Forum (KLIFF 2013) here today.

Waqf is an Islamic endowment of property to be held in trust for religious or charitable purposes.

Badlisyah said to have waqf in the financial market, there is a need for a conducive legal framework that will allow for its incorporation in an effective manner.

"If we have it, over time, waqf could be the bigger component of the Islamic financial market, as what was in the golden era of Islamic civilisation in the past," he added.

Badlisyah said in order to have that legal framework, there is a need for dialogues between the federal and state governments as the laws concerning waqf are currently under the jurisdiction of the state Islamic religious councils.

In his opening speech, he said the current legal framework for waqf does not allow for the proliferation of waqf across all areas of economy.

In the afternoon session, Badlisyah called on the government to provide incentives in the upcoming Budget 2014 to encourage industry players to list sukuk on Bursa Malaysia, a move which would further enhance the sukuk market.

"Of course, this need to be reviewed and studied by Bursa Malaysia and Securities Commission in terms of its viability but at the end of the day, it does create a good communication to the rest of the world that the market in Malaysia is significant because it is in the public domain," he said.

Badlisyah said, for example, on the London Stock Exchange, they have a few billion dollars worth of sukuk listed on the exchange and as a result, they claimed they are one of the largest sukuk markets in the world, despite some of these sukuk were issued outside London.

"It is the same in Malaysia. We already have the largest number of sukuk in the world, but it is just not listed and not in the public domain," he said.

With the listing of sukuk, overtime, it would encourage more trading of sukuk by individuals and the price discovery is also better as it is publicly available, resulting in a more vibrant sukuk market.

(National News Agency Of Malaysia / 24 Sept 2013)

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Alfalah Consulting - Kuala Lumpur: www.alfalahconsulting.com
Islamic Investment Malaysia: www.islamic-invest-malaysia.com

Waqaf, zakat are areas of growth in Islamic finance

Waqaf and zakat (tithe) management are among areas of growth for Malaysia as the global hub of Islamic finance, according to Fajr Capital Ltd chief executive officer Iqbal Khan.

“There are a lot of areas of growth in the Malaysian Islamic finance as the country is well positioned for this purpose and the regulations are already in place,” he told reporters after giving a public lecture on “Our Markets, Our Values — A principles-based approach to creating value in Muslim majority markets” in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. The lecture focused on the developments and key issues in the Muslim-majority markets including values which had fundamentally driven the history and development of the Islamic finance industry.

Earlier in September, Bank Mualamat Malaysia Bhd had tied up with Perbadanan Wakaf Selangor to enable its customers and the public to contribute cash to waqaf.

Kicking off the fund, Bank Muamalat had made a RM1 million contribution, while the bank employees had chipped in RM75,040 to be mainly chanelled to improve and develop health and education.

In 2010, Maybank Islamic Bank Bhd had launched Waqaf, a structured community-giving initiative that allows its customers and the public to make waqaf contributions through its payment channels.

It had then signed a memorandum of understanding with Yayasan Waqaf Malaysia. It is understood that in the latest Bank Muamalat venture, the bank also plays a role in the management of the funds.

Besides that, Iqbal added another area of growth includes the corporate social responsibility (CSR) sukuk where Malaysia can excel and become the role model economy which can create a good demonstration effect for other countries.

He said the CSR sukuk can be issued by any institution or government which have got long-term commitment budgeted for CSR causes for the next five to 10 years.

“What the CSR sukuk will do in the current climate is to create the funding for priority social sector initiatives like others. I hope Malaysia will be again the first one to issue such a sukuk,” he said.

He said previously, there was such a CSR sukuk done in the conventional format including debt for equity swaps and debt for CSR swaps including bond issuance for the purpose of vaccination on budgeted commitment of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Meanwhile, the Securities Commission (SC) held a public lecture in Kuala Lumpur yesterday by Iqbal, who is a recipient of the prestigious Royal Award for Islamic Finance 2012.

(The Malaysian Reserve / 04 Dec 2012)

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Alfalah Consulting - Kuala Lumpur: www.alfalahconsulting.com
Islamic Investment Malaysia: www.islamic-invest-malaysia.com