SINGAPORE, Nov 20 — Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) has launched its Islamic wealth management (IWM) regional offshore hub for solutions via Maybank Singapore, extending its IWM position beyond Malaysia and Indonesia.

"Singapore has been identified as the group’s IWM regional offshore hub as it is an established financial hub for wealth management,” said its group chief executive officer, community financial services, Datuk John Chong, at a press conference here.

"Maybank Singapore can leverage its position here supported by expertise and experience garnered over the years in Islamic finance and Islamic wealth from Malaysia,” he added.

Chong noted that Maybank group’s Islamic banking arm, Maybank Islamic Bhd, was the fifth largest Islamic bank by assets globally at more than US$67 billion (RM313 billion) in 2022.

"With the position of Maybank in the region, this is an important proposition for all of us,” he said.

Chong said Maybank Singapore is currently the first bank to offer end-to-end Islamic wealth solutions for customers through their different life stages, including planning for wealth transfer for the next generation.

These solutions are aligned with Maybank’s five IWM pillars, namely wealth creation, accumulation, preservation, purification, and distribution.

"The expertise and experience of the team which is located in Malaysia (will be leveraged) to support Singapore as well as the region,” said Chong, adding that Maybank has launched IWM in Indonesia and Malaysia as well.

"At the end of the day, it is for us to connect the dots for all our customers in the region for the solutions,” added Chong.

Meanwhile, Maybank Islamic’s director of Islamic finance strategic programme Muhd Ramadhan Fitri said the offering in Singapore "is a lot more on higher or upper affluent segment as well as high net worth.”

"We are offering our client in Singapore a lot more exposure to global asset classes compared to Indonesia and Malaysia,” he said.

Muhd Ramadhan noted these solutions are meant not only for Muslims but also for non-Muslims.

Citing Malaysia’s customers, he said Maybank has almost 95,000 IWM customers, and the portion is somewhat balanced between Muslim and non-Muslim customers.

As for wealth managers, Maybank head of group wealth management and community financial services Alvin Lee said the banking group has about 1,500 wealth managers across the three countries.

"All the relationship managers can sell a Shariah product because every one of them will be trained on the product before they can advise customers.

"Additionally, we will be hiring and initially building a team of 50 Shariah advisors. These are advisors who not only recommend or propose investment products but also take customers through the IWM pillars,” he said.

In Singapore, Maybank has the largest offering of Shariah-compliant unit trust funds, at 13 funds.

Maybank group has won the top awards at The Asset Triple A Islamic Finance Awards 2022, retaining its position as the Islamic Bank of the Year in Asia Pacific and Malaysia, respectively, for the ninth consecutive year.

It also won the Best Islamic Retail Bank in Malaysia award, a title it has held since 2010. — Bernama