| James Kon |
IN REALISING Brunei Darussalam’s aspiration to become an Islamic finance fub in the global market, Perbadanan Tabung Amanah Islam Brunei (Perbadanan TAIB) is working towards establishing its own Syariah-compliant banking subsidiary in the country. As the initial step to realise this objective, key documents were signed by Perbadanan TAIB and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) to establish an Islamic bank in Brunei Darussalam yesterday.
Held at The Empire Hotel & Country Club’s Business Centre, the guest of honour at the signing ceremony was Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Paduka Seri Setia Ustaz Haji Awang Badaruddin bin Pengarah Dato Paduka Haji Awang Othman, the Minister of Religious Affairs in his capacity as the Advisor of the Board of Directors of Perbadanan TAIB.
Also in attendance were Pehin Datu Lailaraja Major General (Rtd) Dato Paduka Seri Haji Awang Halbi bin Haji Mohd Yussof, the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports in his capacity as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Perbadanan TAIB; as well as senior officers from the government as well as Perbadanan TAIB and ICD Group.
Signing on behalf of Perbadanan TAIB was Haji Khairuddin bin Haji Abdul Hamid, the Deputy Permanent Secretary (Investment) at the Ministry of Finance and member of Perbadanan TAIB Board of Directors. Khaled Al-Aboodi, the CEO of ICD signed on behalf of the ICD.
Dato Paduka Dr Awang Haji Mohd Amin Liew bin Abdullah, the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of Perbadanan TAIB, said, “On September 29, 2016, TAIB celebrated its silver jubilee anniversary.
“Throughout the 25 years of its operation, we have witnessed how Perbadanan TAIB has progressed in delivering better customer service and has now expanded to eight branches all over Brunei Darussalam. “It has also deployed its resources to embrace the digitisation era where a dedicated call centre had been established as a centralised channel to attend to and resolve customer’s queries effectively. Alternative channels for our customers to perform their banking transactions have also been developed such as mobile apps and Internet banking.
Photo shows the exchange of documents between Perbadanan Tabung Amanah Islam Brunei (Perbadanan TAIB) and the Is-lamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) to establish an Islamic bank in Brunei Darussalam, at the The Empire Hotel & Country Club yesterday. Seen in the photo are Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Paduka Seri Setia Ustaz Haji Awang Badaruddin bin Pengarah Dato Paduka Haji Awang Othman, the Minister of Religious Affairs; Pehin Datu Lailaraja Major Gen-eral (Rtd) Dato Paduka Seri Haji Awang Halbi bin Haji Mohd Yussof, the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports in his capacity as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Perbadanan TAIB; Haji Khairuddin bin Haji Abdul Hamid, the Deputy Permanent Secretary (Investment) at the Ministry of Finance and member of Perbadanan TAIB’s Board of Directors; and Khaled Al-Aboodi, the CEO of ICD.
Perbadanan Tabung Amanah Islam Brunei (Perbadanan TAIB) and Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) representatives sign the documents.
Dato Paduka Dr Awang Haji Mohd Amin Liew bin Abdullah, the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of Perbadanan TAIB, delivering his speech during the event. – PHOTOS: BAHYIAH BAKIR
Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Paduka Seri Setia Ustaz Haji Awang Badaruddin bin Pengarah Dato Paduka Haji Awang Othman, Minister of Religious Affairs in his capacity as Advisor of the Board of Directors of Perbadanan TAIB; Pehin Datu Lailaraja Major General (Rtd) Dato Paduka Seri Haji Awang Halbi bin Haji Mohd Yussof, the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports in his capacity as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Perbadanan TAIB; Haji Khairuddin bin Haji Abdul Hamid, the Deputy Permanent Secretary (Investment) at the Ministry of Finance and member of Perbadanan TAIB Board of Directors; and Khaled Al-Aboodi, the CEO of ICD, in a group photo.
“Perbadanan TAIB does not want to rest on its laurels. Perbadanan TAIB will aspire to bring its operations to the next level by providing more sophisticated banking products and services such as trade finance and working capital for the corporate sector in particular to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) start ups. There is definitely a niche for Brunei Darussalam in the rapidly global Islamic finance environment and we want to be part of it,” he added.
When asked about the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Advisory Agreement signed with ICD, the Deputy Chairman of Perbadanan TAIB said, “(This) will help provide us with a committed approach to working closely together to reach our common goal to the establishment of a full-fledged Islamic bank. This also marks the start of an important transformation journey for Perbadanan TAIB.” On ICD’s role as a multinational and multilateral development financial institution, he shared, “It is established to support the economic development of its member countries through the provision of finance for private sector projects, promoting competition and entrepreneurship, providing advisory services to the governments and private companies and encouraging cross-border investments.”
He also added that Perbadanan TAIB is confident that it will be able to leverage and adopt the best international practices, to help give the bank a head start in supporting economic growth and promoting long-lasting financial stability, when partnering with the ICD.
Meanwhile Khaled Al-Aboodi highlighted Brunei’s well-placed position to take advantage of the growth of Islamic finance.
“Brunei is well-placed to ride the next wave of growth in the Asian Islamic Finance Industry. Given that Islamic finance has reached systemic importance in Brunei and that the country is located in the heart of a region that contains five of the 10 largest Muslim countries by population,” he said.
“I believe that this undertaking will not only serve under banking markets but also contribute to the economic development and well being of Brunei through efficient, Syariah-compliant means,” he added.
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