SC okays licence for India, Kuwait fund managers

 

Malaysia has approved India's Reliance Asset Management and Kuwait-based Global Investment House as part of the ongoing liberalisation measures in the capital markets

TWO more foreign Islamic fund managers have obtained licences to operate in Malaysia as the country gears up to be a global centre for Islamic fund management activities, says Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

The Securities Commission has approved India's Reliance Asset Management and Kuwait-based Global Investment House, and is currently reviewing applications made by other foreign financial institutions.

Najib said this was part of the ongoing liberalisation measures in the capital markets and to complement the broader Malaysia International Islamic Financial Centre initiatives.

"There are other things (in the pipeline) to create the interest of using Malaysia as a Islamic finance hub, but I don't want to pre-empt it," he told reporters after his keynote address at the Kuala Lumpur Islamic Finance Forum 2008 (KLIFF 2008) yesterday.

Najib, who is also the finance minister, added that the government has yet to make an announcement on a recent report by a business weekly that it may reduce companies' free- float requirement from the current 25 per cent minimum.

"We are open (to this), but at a pace of liberalisation that we are comfortable with," he said, emphasising that liberalisation policies will be done gradually.

Last week, Najib announced that companies could list on the local stock exchange even if they failed to find Bumiputera investors keen to buy 30 per cent of their shares.

On top of its recent RM7 billion fiscal stimulus package, Najib said the government is open to additional measures from time to time.

The government is monitoring the current global financial crisis but remains reasonably confident of its growth targets of five per cent for 2008 and 3.5 percent for 2009, he added.

"For this, we need to make sure that there is strong domestic demand. Thus, the fiscal stimulus must be on the ground by the first quarter of next year," he said.

KLIFF 2008 is being organised by the Centre for Research and Training and co-hosts by Labuan Offshore Financial Services Authority and Halal Industry Development Corp in collaboration with Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes, International Institute of Islamic Finance and Messrs Hisham, Sobri & Kadir.