By Rushdi Siddiqui, Global Head of Islamic Finance, Thomson Reuters

Dear Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, President, Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group:

Asalaam Alaikum:

The Islamic finance world welcomes your comments on the ‘Mega’ Islamic Bank to effectively compete against well capitalized conventional financial institutions.

“…The ‘Mega Islamic Bank’ comes as an initiative of the Islamic Development Bank in its efforts to address the dearth of senior financiers, the absence of the Islamic tools of stock exchange and the absence of market liquidity between Islamic banks.”

However, $1 billion, with $500 million in paid capital by the three founders (IDB, Dallah Albaraka and Qatar Government), is smaller than three existing Islamic banks, which have never addressed themselves as ‘mega.’ The three include Saudi Arabia’s Al Rajhi, Qatar’s Mashraf Al Rayan and Kuwait’s Kuwait Finance House (KFH). Furthermore, it seems the ‘mega’ story may be incomplete without Malaysia’s participation.

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“Angel investors don’t come with a halo and wings, but they can seem heaven-sent to an entrepreneur struggling to find financing.” - Cathie Gandel.

By Rushdi Siddiqui, Global Head Of Islamic Finance, Thomson Reuters

Malaysia has raised the profile of Islamic finance, Takaful and Halal industry, and, now, she must do the same to venture capital (VC). VC is an important emerging asset class that should contribute to government’s objective of building a knowledge based economy by 2020.
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