Malaysia is world’s top sukuk listing destination

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KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia Bhd (Bursa Malaysia) topped the world’s exchanges in terms of value of sukuk programme listings in 2009, recording a total of US$17.6 billion.Since its inaugural sukuk listing in August 2009, the Exchange listed 12 sukuk programmes by end of December 2009 which contributed towards this development.

Bursa Malaysia chief executive officer Datuk Yusli Mohamed Yusoff in a press statement said, “Despite the slow down in trading activities and issuances in 2009, Bursa Malaysia has marked a new era of sukuk listings.

“Our expedient achievement is reflective of Malaysia’s significance in the world of Islamic capital markets.

“Bursa Malaysia will continue to facilitate investors with the most conducive Islamic platform and will strive to remain in the leading position of sukuk listing worldwide,” hesaid.

He added that the positive commitment shown by market participants is a reflection of their confidence in the Islamic capital market underlined by a high level of governance and transparency, where issuers are provided with the access to greater profiling opportunities on Bursa Malaysia.

Meanwhile, the first sukuk listing on Bursa Malaysia was registered in August 2009 with the inaugural US Dollar (US$) listing led by Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) Al-Ijarah Sukuk and Ringgit Malaysia (RM) listing by Cagamas MBS Bhd (Cagamas MBS) Islamic papers.

In November 2009, GE Capital Sukuk Ltd issued its first foreign sukuk of US$500 million on the bourse.

Subsequently, in Decem­ber 2009, the Exchange witnessed the listing of CIMB Islamic Bank’s RM2 billion subordinated sukuk programme while Khazanah Malaysia listed its out­standing sukuk programme amounting to US$ 14 billion.

Currently, Malaysia has over 30 years of experience in Islamic finance and is the world’s largest sukuk origination centre driven largely by an investor-friendly regime, as well as a robust regulatory and Shari’ah framework propelled by heightened promotional efforts under the Malaysia International Islamic Financial Centre (MIFC) initiative.