KUALA LUMPUR: The size of Malaysia’s Islamic capital market exceeded RM1 trillion in 2010, a 15.2 per cent growth, says the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC).

In the SC’s Annual Report 2010 released yesterday, it said fund-raising via shariah-compliant instruments, continued to retain its popularity.

It approved 21 sukuk issues with a value of RM40.3 billion, which accounted for 63.4 per cent of the total bond approvals in value in 2010.

The sukuk musharakah represented RM16.7 billion or 42.1 per cent of total sukuk approvals.

The SC said Malaysian intermediations continue to expand their presence in the markets with CIMB Islamic playing a leading role in the landmark US$500 million foreign currency sukuk issued by the Islamic Development Bank in December 2010.

Prudential Fund Management Bhd became the first Malaysian intermediary to take advantage of the mutual recognition agreement with Dubai for cross-border distribution of Islamic funds and launched its Prudential Shariah Opportunities-Asia Pacific Equity Fund in December 2010.

The SC said the number of Islamic fund management companies also increased to 15 with the approval of four new Islamic fund management licences.

During 2010, the SC intensified its prudential and conduct supervision of market institutions and intermediaries, while enhancing its oversight functions.

According to the SC, 29 administrative sanctions were meted out against intermediaries for various misconduct, breaches of licensing conditions, and breaches of the takeover and mergers provisions.

In 2010, new market opportunities were initiated via various cross-border regulatory arrangements to facilitate domestic intermediaries, to expand operations across borders and promote inflows into the capital market.

Source : The Borneo Post