MALAYSIA - BANKING - CIMB takes aim at Goldman, JPMorgan

www.btimes.com.my - CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, Southeast Asia’s top-ranked investment bank over the past three years, is taking aim at a bigger market following its acquisition of some of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc’s operations in Asia.

The Malaysian company can now compete with rivals including Goldman Sachs Group Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co for Asia- Pacific deals, Chief Executive Officer Nazir Razak said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur. CIMB agreed in April to buy most of Edinburgh-based RBS’s investment banking and cash equities businesses in the region for US$142 million.

The acquisition, which initially seemed to be an “audacious” idea, will complete the bank’s operations and help CIMB boost market capitalization to more than RM100 billion (US$31 billion) by 2015, Nazir said. That’s about 75 percent more than its current value. The Kuala Lumpur-based lender also targets becoming one of the top three Southeast Asian banks by assets and return on equity.  (source)

MALAYSIA - CAPITAL MARKETS - IFR-Khazanah readies yuan-denominated sukuk

(The following story was in IFR Asia magazine, a Thomson Reuters publication, on Sept. 17.)

By Nethelie Wong

HONG KONG, Sept 17 (IFR) - Malaysia's Khazanah Nasional is set to make history through a small, but path-setting sukuk in the offshore renminbi market. Last week, the government investment arm mandated BOC International, CIMB Bank and RBS to lead the first-ever Islamic financing in Hong Kong's booming Dim Sum market. (source)

SUKUK - Sukuk Four-Year Low Yields Fail to Deter Funds: Islamic Finance

Aug. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Islamic bond yields at four-year lows are failing to deter investors amid a flagging global recovery and dwindling new issuance of sukuk.

The average yield on dollar-denominated notes that comply with religious principles from Dubai to Malaysia fell 25 basis points, or 0.25 percentage point, so far this week to 5.22 percent, the lowest level since November 2005, according to the HSBC/NASDAQ Dubai US Dollar Sukuk Index. The yield has dropped 204 basis points this year.