New Shari'ah compliant products in the pipeline From IB Asia

By: John Foster

Vince Cook, chief executive of the Islamic Bank of Asia speaking at the bank's annual general meeting in Bahrain announced $200 million deals in the first quarter of 2008. This figure was part of the $500 million cross-border transactions the bank made in its first year of its operation.

Cook also announced that the bank was working with three Singapore-based clients on future Sukuk issues, but was not rushing these issues to market. He said: "The announcement by the monetary authority of Singapore to issue sovereign Sukuk will really help with the development of an Islamic capital market in Singapore. These government Sukuk will have a high sovereign rating and will spur an interest in the Singapore market and in turn help us raise capital for Singapore based corporations through the Islamic capital markets."

He also emphasised the importance of innovation in the Islamic banking industry and the need to develop agile and clever products to help the industry grow. He said: "The next phase for us is to launch more complex treasury products, including a proprietary and efficient profit rate swap structure, FX forwards, cross currency ideas and structured products. These structured products will position IB Asia as one of the few standalone Islamic banks able to provide the type of investment solutions coming from international investment banks."