GCC investor community growing in Malaysia, says HSBC Malaysia CEO
Malaysia is on the threshold of a very exiting period for investors, according to the Deputy Chairman and CEO of HSBC Malaysia Berhad, the global bank’s country branch. Most of all, the Economic Transformation Program of the Malaysian government stands in the focus, a strategy that sets an agenda for growth over the next ten years, aims to double the GDP per capita income in the country and seeks to attract flows of foreign investment through certain incentives.
“The strategy very much does focus on investors from the Middle East who have a cultural understanding and a religious affinity,” says Hussain.
The program, introduced in 2009, provides strong focus on a few key growth engines, namely oil, gas and power, financial services, tourism, electronics, retail, healthcare, communications and infrastructure as well as agriculture.
The fields of expertise which are attractive for Middle East investors include, besides the oil and gas sector, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals and power as well as number of different sectors in which the Middle East has considerable expertise, Hussain says.
HSBC’s Malaysian branch has a role to play in connecting both markets. The bank, ed in Malaysia 127 years ago, operates in the Middle East as well as in Malaysia, and this is why “we understand where people’s priorities lie, where people’s expertise can be brought to bear,” says Hussain.
He stresses one example of a heavily oversubscribed 2 billion-dollar global sukuk which was recently issued under HSBC’s lead management.
“A lot of the oversubscription came from investors in the Middle East, which indicated the resonance of the investor community from there,” he mentions. “Malaysia to my mind is the global center for Islamic finance today.”
The Middle East investor community is widespread, with a lot of interest coming from Saudi Arabia and the UAE. National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank had already capital raises in Malaysia, both managed by HSBC.
HSBC predicts a GDP growth at an average of five per cent over the next two to three years.
“We think that this is an economy with strong fundamentals, strong in natural resources, strong in terms of domestic consumption,” Hussain says. “These are things that will allow the economy continue to grow,” and due to Malaysia’s close vicinity to China and India the country “is in a neighborhood which is destined for growth.”
Malaysia is on the threshold of a very exiting period for investors, according to the Deputy Chairman and CEO of HSBC Malaysia Berhad, the global bank’s country branch. Most of all, the Economic Transformation Program of the Malaysian government stands in the focus, a strategy that sets an agenda for growth over the next ten years, aims to double the GDP per capita income in the country and seeks to attract flows of foreign investment through certain incentives. “The strategy very much does focus on investors from the Middle East who have a cultural understanding and a religious affinity,” says...
Malaysia is on the threshold of a very exiting period for investors, according to the Deputy Chairman and CEO of HSBC Malaysia Berhad, the global bank’s country branch. Most of all, the Economic Transformation Program of the Malaysian government stands in the focus, a strategy that sets an agenda for growth over the next ten years, aims to double the GDP per capita income in the country and seeks to attract flows of foreign investment through certain incentives.
“The strategy very much does focus on investors from the Middle East who have a cultural understanding and a religious affinity,” says Hussain.
The program, introduced in 2009, provides strong focus on a few key growth engines, namely oil, gas and power, financial services, tourism, electronics, retail, healthcare, communications and infrastructure as well as agriculture.
The fields of expertise which are attractive for Middle East investors include, besides the oil and gas sector, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals and power as well as number of different sectors in which the Middle East has considerable expertise, Hussain says.
HSBC’s Malaysian branch has a role to play in connecting both markets. The bank, ed in Malaysia 127 years ago, operates in the Middle East as well as in Malaysia, and this is why “we understand where people’s priorities lie, where people’s expertise can be brought to bear,” says Hussain.
He stresses one example of a heavily oversubscribed 2 billion-dollar global sukuk which was recently issued under HSBC’s lead management.
“A lot of the oversubscription came from investors in the Middle East, which indicated the resonance of the investor community from there,” he mentions. “Malaysia to my mind is the global center for Islamic finance today.”
The Middle East investor community is widespread, with a lot of interest coming from Saudi Arabia and the UAE. National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank had already capital raises in Malaysia, both managed by HSBC.
HSBC predicts a GDP growth at an average of five per cent over the next two to three years.
“We think that this is an economy with strong fundamentals, strong in natural resources, strong in terms of domestic consumption,” Hussain says. “These are things that will allow the economy continue to grow,” and due to Malaysia’s close vicinity to China and India the country “is in a neighborhood which is destined for growth.”
