Plan For Islamic Banking Ops In China To Materialise In Second Half 2012, Says Affin

By Dalila Abu Bakar KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 (Bernama) -- Affin Holdings Bhd expects its plan to set up Islamic banking operations in China to materialise in the second half (2H) of this year. Deputy Chairman Lodin Wok Kamaruddin said Affin Holdings would collaborate with its shareholder, Hong Kong-based Bank of East Asia Ltd (BEA), to offer Islamic banking products in China. BEA, which holds some 23 percent of Affin Holdings, is the biggest foreign bank in China. "We hope to make a breakthrough this year. It takes a bit of time but Insyaallah (God willing), by middle or end of this year, it will materialise," he told Bernama in an interview. He said Affin is currently looking at various opportunities to set up some form of Islamic banking operations in China and it would be under the brand name of "Affin Bank". "It could be in the form of branches...We have not finalised on the structure of the operations," he said. According to him, Affin wanted to further strengthen and tighten its relationship with BEA by not only working with the latter in Malaysia but also in China. He said there was room for expansion for Affin Islamic, which has been growing steadily. Affin Islamic is a wholly-owned unit of Affin Bank, which in turn is 100 per cent-owned by Affin Holdings. Lodin also said that Affin Bank is revisiting its plan to acquire an 80 per cent stake in an Islamic bank in Indonesia, P.T. Bank Ina Perdana. "We did announce that we wanted to acquire Bank Ina about one and a half years ago. However, we have to put this plan on hold because of a report, which stated that the central bank of Indonesia is considering to cap foreign ownership in its banks to less than 50 per cent. Now that this will not happen, we are revisiting the Bank Ina proposal again," he said. According to him, Bank Ina, a full-fledged Islamic bank, has 20 branches in Indonesia. "Indonesia is a good market as Muslims make up 90 per cent of its population of between 200 million and 300 million," he said. On the local front, Lodin said Affin Bank is looking at a few options to expand its Islamic finance business, either organically or inorganically. "We are looking at various options to grow our Islamic banking business which includes possible merger. If there is an opportunity for us to grow by merger and acquisition, why not?" he added. -- BERNAMA