AmIslamic targeting 8-9% loan growth for FYE15

KUALA LUMPUR: AmIslamic Bank Bhd, the Islamic banking arm of AmBank Group, is targeting loan growth between 8% and 9% for the financial year ending March 31, 2015, driven by its corporate banking segment, managing director and CEO Datuk Mahdi Murad said.
He said the bank is targeting a single-digit growth in loans for the financial year ending March 31, 2014.
"We are targeting single-digit growth FY15 but we are hopeful to achieve double digits. The driver will be (the) corporate banking side," Mahdi told reporters after the presentation of RM586,000 in business zakat to 11 charity homes and organisations here last Friday.
AmIslamic will announce its financial performance for the financial ending March 31, 2014 in May.
"Our asset composition is more towards the retail segments. It is about 60% now. So, we are targeting to expand the non-retail segment by 45% for the financial year ending March 31, 2015," he said.
"We are already strong in the retail businesses like Islamic mortgage and Islamic loan hire purchase. We are now moving towards more commercial and fee-based because this year and next year, we expect more government projects to be funded under the Economic Transformation Programme and other infrastructure projects," he said.
Mahdi said the bank will concentrate on both retail and non-retail segments.
AmIslamic plans to introduce a new product known as Commodity Murabahah, in June.
"We are still working on it now. We will still come-up with other additional products as well," he said.
As for Islamic banking growth, Mahdi said the outlook is buoyant as there is more room for expansion and it is expected to achieve double-digit growth in 2014.
According to the recent Securities Commission Malaysia's annual report 2013, the Islamic capital market grew by 8.8% to RM1.5 billion, with Shariah-compliant assets representing 56% of the overall capital market.
Mahdi said Malaysia maintained its leadership in the world's largest sukuk market, accounting for 69% of global sukuk issuances in 2013.