Despite being well established in the country, insurance remains a fairly small part of Malaysia’s financial industry. According to IMF calculations the insurance sector accounts for 6% of total financial assets, and insurance assets are equal to around 15% of GDP. Insurance penetration, though improving, remains low. More foreign investment and consolidation may help, as critical mass and...
Asia Financial Services
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Chapter | Islamic Financial Services from The Report: Malaysia 2014
As a result of government promotion, increased interest among Muslims and non-Muslims, heightened awareness of the benefits of Islamic finance and improved regulation, sharia-compliant financial products have been gaining on conventional finance. The country’s IFS sector dates back to 1969, when the government established the Pilgrims Management and Fund Board to help Malaysians pay for the...
Chapter | Capital Markets from The Report: Malaysia 2014
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 first six months of 2014, nine IPOs were reported by the stock exchange. In 2013, $2.56bn was raised in IPOs. That was considerably less than in 2012, when the exchange raised $7.15bn, but up from $2....
In a stress test conducted in early 2014, the central bank found that Malaysia’s banks would be able to hold up even if the system faced shocks greater than those in the 2008 crisis. After a number of years of consolidation and in an environment of tight regulation, Malaysia’s commercial banks have continued to improve. Local banks have been ordered by Bank Negara to increase their collective...
Malaysia’s natural resources and its well-educated population are some of the many credentials that keep the country in good stead, with priorities centred on preparing for the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015 and steering the policy framework toward more inclusive political representation. The economy is built around global trade, and the government is working to encourage greater private investment.
Plans by three of Malaysia's biggest lenders to merge into the country's largest bank conglomerate have thrown a spotlight on the health of the industry.