Tuesday March 27, 2007
At last week's Invest Malaysia 2007 conference, Asian
Finance Bank (AFB) CEO Faisal Alshowaikh said with great
confidence that Malaysia is very well known in the Middle East,
although monies from the Gulf States have yet to flow in big
numbers. He explains how the bank would be playing a big role in
drawing more money from the Gulf States to Malaysia and the
region.
Q: As you pointed out, AFB is a newly created bank
while Al Rajhi Bank and Kuwait Finance House are established
ones with years of experience. Where does AFB’s ability to
compete lie?
A: Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), that has a 70%
stake in AFB, and Saudi Arabia’s RUSD Investment Bank and Global
Investment House of Kuwait (GIHK), which hold 20% and 10% stakes
respectively, are big names in the Middle East.
QIB is also involved in real estate activities in Qatar and
manages the Arab Finance House in Lebanon. It is in the midst of
establishing the European Finance Bank in London.
RUSD has a strong presence in Saudi and a branch in Labuan.
GIHK, with its multi billion dollars in funds, is the most
capitalised company in the Middle East.
QIB’s associates are Tadhaman International Islamic Bank and
Gulf Finance House.
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Faisal Alshowaikh
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We have all the expertise to do any transaction and our bank
represents the entire Gulf States.
(Faisal himself has been in the banking industry for decades,
having worked with the Bahrain Islamic Bank for 16 years before
joining AFB. Prior to that, he was with various institutions,
including Standard Chartered Bank, Gulf International and
KPMG.)
Q: Growing via mergers and acquisitions (M&As) is a
global trend. Is M&A on your drawing block in the near term?
A: We believe in growing organically and if we buy,
it has to be a perfect fit and we should have outright
advantage. We would not expand for the sake of expansion, but do
not preclude M&As in two to three years.
Q: Can Malaysia’s Islamic banking and finance sector
increase its market share?
A: The Malaysian authorities are hoping to capitalise
on the excess liquidity in the Gulf and bring it here. The
sector can grow via foreign direct investments and investment
opportunities.
Being a bank with roots in the Middle East, we want to play a
major role in bringing the funds here and by so doing, we are
helping the sector to grow.
The Gulf investors are aware of Malaysia’s development and we
should see more inflows, over time.
We also want to work with other banks and not compete with
them. We believe there are great opportunities to increase
market share. There is room for one or two more Islamic banks.
