“Safeena”

Asia Finance Bank and AmanahRaya Investment Bank have committed equity to a new USD 50 million shipping fund in Malaysia. During our visit in Malaysia, we caught up with Mr. Mohd Zamri Shariff, Head of Asset Management Division, Asian Finance Bank for an update on the first Sharia compliant shipping fund in the Asian region – the Safeena Islamic Shipping Fund (“Safeena shipping fund”). Safeena shipping fund which literally means “my ship” in Arabic was launched on 28 April 2008, with a committed equity participation from its two sponsors, Asian Finance Bank (“AFB”) and AmanahRaya Investment Bank (“ARIB”) amounting to USD 50 million.

Owned by a consortium of shareholders from leading Middle Eastern financial institutions – Qatar Islamic Bank and associates (70%), RUSD Investment Bank Inc of Saudi Arabia (20%) and Financial Assets Bahrain W.L.L (10%) – Asian Finance Bank is one of the three foreign Islamic banks that has been granted a license by Bank Negara Malaysia (Malaysia’s Central) to undertake Islamic banking business. In 2004, Malaysia awarded three licenses to Kuwait Finance House, Saudi Arabia’s Al Rajhi Bank and AFB, in an effort to develop into a region Islamic finance hub. The other sponsor of the shipping fund, AmanahRaya Investment Bank, is Malaysia’s leading Trustee Company, wholly owned by the government.

This is only an excerpt of “Safeena”

Content is restricted to subscribers. To continue reading please Log-In or view our subscription options.

Existing Users Login
Username
Password

Related Archive Files

• No Related Post