Asia Financial Services

The banking sector is currently facing a period of readjustment, 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...

The size of the insurance market in Brunei Darussalam, in terms of population and economic activity, is relatively small given that most locally registered companies do not have the capital or financial muscle to underwrite large-scale projects in the lucrative oil and gas sector. Nevertheless, the industry is slowly gathering momentum. Competition...

opportunities for the country. Currently, the banking sector has an average interest margin to gross income of 68.5%, suggesting that fee-based income still plays a relatively small role in boosting their balance sheets.

Opportunities to grow this in the corporate segment would, therefore, will be welcome.

The biggest development in Brunei Darussalam’s banking sector over the past 12 months is likely the arrival of a new credit bureau. Having begun operations in the fourth quarter of 2012, the bureau is the key tool of Autoriti Monetari Brunei Darussalam (AMBD) for lenders to determine their potential customers’ credit-worthiness. Following on from...

Islamic services have long been part of the financial mix within Brunei Darussalam. For the past two decades, Islamic banking, takaful (Islamic insurance) and Islamic capital market products have been taking root and growing. These services now compete strongly against their conventional counterparts and continue to grow market share. With...