By NNN-Bernama,
Kuala Lumpur : With the recovery in global economy, Malaysian financial exchange Bursa Malaysia has retained its position as the top sukuk (Islamic bonds) listing destination.
In a statement here Monday, the exhange said 2010 had been a good year with total global issuance of sukuk reaching 30 billion USD, representing an increase of 20 per cent on the previous year, and a two-fold increase from 15 billion USD in 2008.
“Of that amount, some US$8.6 billion sukuk programme was listed on Bursa Malaysia, accounting for almost one-third of the total global issue,” it noted.
“As Malaysia has a well established legal and regulatory framework to support sukuk issues, we are hopeful that 2011 holds greater promise in this space for us,” the exchange’s Global Head of Islamic markets, Raja Teh Maimunah, said.
She added that the general consensus among industry players was that global sukuk issuances for 2011 would surpass the record high of US$34.5 billion in 2007. Among the notable listings last year were a RM4.5 billion Musyarakah sukuk from Malaysian conglomerate Sime darby Berhad, the Government of Malaysia’s US$1.25 billion Global Sukuk Al-Ijarah and the Islamic Development Bank’s US$3.5 billion sukuk.
As at Dec 31, 2010, the total value of sukuk programmes listed on Bursa Malaysia stood at US$27.7 billion, retaining its position as the leading sukuk listing destination.
“We are seeing issuers more willing to list their issues and be subjected to reporting and disclosure and requirements in order to attract investors as the credit crisis have caused investors to be more aware of the importance of transparency and are thus demanding greater governance,” Raja Teh Maimunah said.