By NNN-Bernama
Bachok, Malaysia : More efforts will be made to lure global financial institutions to choose Malaysia as their centre for Islamic financial services, particularly Islamic banking, takaful (insurance) and the Islamic capital market, says Malaysian Deputy Finance Minister Dr Awang Adek Hussin.
Malaysia has already taken several measures to transform the country into a world-class Islamic financial centre, Awang Adek said, adding that all the efforts had shown results and attracted international financial institutions, including one from Japan, which showed interest in issuing Islamic bonds in Malaysia.
“About 70 per cent of the 50 billion USD in Islamic bonds issued globally are from Malaysia,” said Awang Adek, when presenting computers to 33 schools in this district of the northern Malsyian state of Kelantan on Sunday. The computers were donated by the British American Tobacco Malaysia (BATM) Foundation.
BATM Foundation IT Director Zainal Arifin Khalid said the foundation had approved a 13 million Ringgit (one USD = about 3.44 Ringgit) allocation to help more than 1,600 needy students nationwide under several schemes.
He said it was part of the foundation’s welfare intiative to help students in rural areas to excel in their studies.