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Islamic services have long been a part of the financial mix within Brunei Darussalam. For the past two decades, Islamic banking, takaful (sharia-compliant insurance) and Islamic capital market products have been taking root and growing. These services now compete strongly against their conventional counterparts and continue to capture market share. With the government promoting sharia-compliant products and hoping to position the country as a regional centre for Islamic financial services, it seems that conventional banking and insurance products might find themselves in the minority within the Sultanate in the not too distant future. This chapter contains an interview with Javed Ahmad, Managing Director, Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam.

The banking sector has performed well historically, with a 70% increase in assets over 12 years. From 2007 to June 2012 total commercial banking assets in the Sultanate grew 30.5% to BN$20.1bn ($15.7bn). The sector is currently facing a period of re-adjustment, absorbing the implications of a more mature regulatory environment and looking at ways to support the government’s development plans. In a moderately sized market with limitations on the opportunities to boost loan growth in place, the challenges for commercial banks remain substantial. Nonetheless, most of the players remain bullish, devising new strategies and products to capture a greater share of the retail and corporate segments of the market. This chapter contains interviews with Dato Haji Mohs Rosli, Managing Director, Autoriti Monetari Brunei Darussalam; and Pierre Imhof, CEO, Baiduri Bank.

Dominated by hydrocarbons, the energy sector in Brunei Darussalam has seen production begin to falter in the past five years and, therefore, is now awaiting the results of exploration and development programmes being carried out by international oil companies. There remains a high degree of optimism that these efforts will bear fruit, with the government setting ambitious production targets over the next two decades. In the interim, the government faces the threat of revenue erosion from its biggest source of income. However, despite this pause, there continues to be significant activity in the energy industry. In many respects, the sector remains outward facing; the country leans heavily on hydrocarbons for export revenue. As such, the government is pushing hard to maximise output, a strategy that involves bolstering production from existing fields and ramping up the search for new ones. This chapter contains interviews with Pehin Dato Yasmin Umar, Minister of Energy; Dato Matsatejo Sokiaw, Managing Director and CEO, Brunei National Petroleum Company; and Qui Jianlin, Chairman, Zhejiang Hengyi Group, as well as and a dialogue with Yves Grosjean, General Manager, Total E&P Deep and Offshore Borneo; and Ken Marnoch, Managing Director, Brunei Shell Petroleum.

Buoyed by hydrocarbon revenues, Brunei Darussalam’s economy has continued to grow, enabling a new push to greater diversification and creating job opportunities for locals. The government maintains strong fiscal and current account surpluses and is showing an appetite to direct this toward future growth and diversification. Indeed, with oil and gas making up more than two-thirds of the economy, the government is well aware of the dangers of overdependence on these commodities. As such, the plans are in place to diversify the economy, particularly in downstream industries, and bolster a private sector capable of generating jobs for Bruneians. Moving downstream into value-added segments and creating new industries and local SMEs should help balance the future economy. This chapter contains interviews with Cham Prasidh, Cambodian Senior Minister and Minister of Commerce; Dato Ali Apong, Deputy Minister, Prime Minister’s Office, and Chairman of Brunei Economic Board; and John Baird, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs.

After a decade of investment, Morocco’s Oriental region is ready to build a strong reputation in the Mediterranean. For years, the Oriental, as the Eastern Region is known, suffered from insufficient transport connections to the rest of the country and a lack of the infrastructure necessary for supporting the development of its family-owned businesses and strategic industries. However, an increased focus by the government on devolving some decision-making powers as well as improving both growth and social development indicators in areas outside of Casablanca and Rabat has led to a shift in policy and the influx of government support of the kingdom’s regional governments. In 2012 the Oriental attracted Dh7.9bn (€703.2m) of private investment in 256 projects with the overwhelming majority of these in the building and construction sector. The region’s fortunes will be enhanced with further integration with Morocco’s neighbours. Sustained investment in new industrial zones and the regional focus on strategic sectors should also help to foster a strengthened private sector. This chapter contains an interview with Mohamed Mbarki, Director, Agence de l’Oriental.