Malaysia

The Islamic financial services (IFS) sector has been growing rapidly in Malaysia in recent years. As a result of government promotion, increased interest among both Muslims and non-Muslims, heightened awareness of the benefits of Islamic finance and improved regulation, sharia-compliant financial products have been gaining on conventional...

The country has long sought to become a global leader in Islamic finance services (IFS), and it has built up its sector to encourage international transactions and foreign investment and participation. While it has always been ranked highly in terms of business, it has generally been viewed more as a local market and less of an international...

Despite the traditional dominance of banks in providing debt finance, the Malaysian private equity (PE) industry is now gaining traction as an alternative source of capital for high-growth companies.

While the possibility of loose monetary policy ending in the US raised concerns in the Malaysian markets, 2013 turned out to be a strong year for new offerings and for the benchmark index. In the end, the effects of changes in the US were not as pronounced as feared and money flowed into Malaysia from elsewhere; 2014 also started on a good...

Bond issuance in Malaysia has slowed considerably in recent months. The growth rate in government bonds outstanding went from the high double digits before early 2013 to single digits and negative after. The total had grown more than 10% year-on-year between February 2010 and February 2013, hitting a high of 31.1% in February 2012. Growth went...

Pressure is mounting on Malaysia’s central bank to tighten loan restrictions after its annual report showed household debt levels inching towards 87% of GDP at the end of 2013. With the highest household debt levels in Asia, demand for credit is driven primarily by the purchase of property and vehicles.