With a strong Islamic banking sector, a growing Islamic insurance (takaful) industry and an expanding market for Islamic bonds (sukuk), Brunei Darussalam has recently been drawing much attention internationally as a center for Islamic financial services (IFS). Indeed, Brunei Darusslam is now amongst the nine countries worldwide where Islamic finance has reached systemic importance – places...
Brunei Darussalam Financial Services
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Chapter | Islamic Financial Services from The Report: Brunei Darussalam 2016
The Sultanate’s small but solid banking sector has been going through some significant changes in recent times. Consolidation has led to fewer lenders, a process that is likely to continue, while at the same time those banks that do remain are some of the best resourced in the region. Indeed, Brunei Darussalam’s banks have high levels of liquidity, good capital adequacy ratios and well-managed...
Commanding the second-highest GDP per capita of all ASEAN nations, at $40,979 in 2014, Brunei Darussalam remains one of the most advanced economies in the South-east Asian region. This is in large part due to the Sultanate’s well-developed energy sector; however, with oil and gas prices falling substantially from mid-2014, new efforts are being made to increase the efficiency of production and diversify the economy to ensure future stability and sustainability.
Brunei Darussalam made headlines in April with the announcement of several sukuk (Islamic bond) offerings ahead of the launch of a standalone stock exchange in the Sultanate.
Preparations for the launch of a standalone stock exchange in Brunei Darussalam look to be moving ahead, supported by progress on a regulatory framework for the bourse.
Further solidifying the importance of Islamic finance in Brunei Darussalam’s developing capital market, the country’s financial regulator said in June it is preparing to issue long-term sharia-compliant bonds in the near future.