SINGAPORE - BANKING - Potential for growth in S'pore

www.todayonline.com - Singapore is challenging established wealth centres more fiercely than anywhere else in Asia, according to UBS bank and Campden Research. Yet, in Islamic banking, it lags behind.

Even though Singapore has had Islamic banking since 1995 and there are investments such as the NTUC Income Takaful Fund, banks generally offer only a few choices such as savings and checking accounts. Some banks have far less.

DBS' Islamic Bank of Asia offers corporate banking and asset management, for example, and not consumer products. And when Standard Chartered Bank launched new Islamic financial solutions for private banking clients in June, it did so in London, Geneva, Jersey and Dubai - but not Singapore, where it is still working on regulatory approvals.  (source)

CAPITAL MARKETS - MALAYSIA - M'sia's capital markets to double to S$1.9 trillion by 2020: Najib

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's capital markets are expected to more than double in size to RM4.5 trillion (S$1.9 trillion) by 2020, Prime Minister Najib Razak said yesterday as he announced a new 10-year blueprint to boost competitiveness.

"With greater internationalisation, this figure could increase to as much as RM5.8 trillion over the same period," Mr Najib said in his keynote address at the Invest Malaysia conference, an annual gathering of Malaysia's top corporate leaders. (full story)