SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Malaysia’s biggest lender by assets, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), launched an Islamic wealth management regional offshore hub in Singapore on Monday.
“We have chosen Singapore as our offshore hub for our Islamic wealth management given the position of Singapore as a wealth management player not just in the region but also globally,” John Chong, Maybank’s Group CEO of Community Financial Services, said at the launch.
The launch comes at a time when Singapore has experiencing strong inflows of wealth drawn by the city-state’s political stability, low taxes and policies favourable to setting up funds.
Maybank’s Islamic banking arm, Maybank Islamic Bhd, is the world’s fifth largest Islamic bank by assets at $67 billion.
Maybank said the launch will make it the first lender in Singapore to offer “end-to-end Islamic wealth solutions” and help it capture the growing demand for Shariah-compliant wealth product and services globally.
(Reporting by Yantoultra Ngui, Editing by Louise Heavens)
