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| Southeast Asia |
| Singapore Islamic Bank losing lots of money will refocus biz |
| 2010-05-25 |
| SINGAPORE/KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 (Reuters) - DBS Group (DBSM.SI), Southeast Asia's largest lender, is shrinking its Singapore-based Islamic unit in yet another sign that the city-state's efforts to promote sharia banking is struggling. Islamic Bank of Asia (IB Asia), in which DBS has a just over 50 pecent stake, has transferred 10 of its 65 staff to DBS and redeployed others to new roles within the Islamic bank, a spokeswoman said. "IB Asia will continue to focus on wholesale banking but prioritise its business focus on fee-based investment banking business activities and in private equity," she added in response to queries from Reuters. "We remain committed to growing our Islamic banking franchise in this region." IBA, Singapore's only wholly-owned full licensed Islamic bank, suffered a loss of $77.1 million in 2009 after making specific allowances on debt owned by customers in the Gulf region. The bank had $725 million in assets as at end-2009, including $453 million in payments due from non-bank customers. that's an AIG-like loss of about 10% of assets in one year of Islamic Banking |
| Posted by:lord garth |
| #5 Meanwhile, in China today SecTreas Geithner said, European leaders face “the difficult challenge of trying to restore sustainability to an unsustainable system" |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-05-25 19:33 |
| #4 How do these figures compare to those of NON-Islamic banks in the rest of the world? |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-05-25 07:14 |
| #3 If DBS are fronting up with these kinds of numbers, there is a disaster out there. A disaster focussed exclusively on the Muslim world, more specifically on the moneyed Muslim world. How much love will their oil be able to buy them, afterward? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-05-25 07:00 |
| #2 Any bank, Islamic or not, would have lost a pile money real estate lending in the ME over the last year or so. And, The bank had ... $453 million in payments due from non-bank customers. Means $453M in late/overdue payments. Which would be roughly twice its assets (725M - 453M). Not good. In fact, very bad. And DBS (which I'm familiar with) is probably the best regulated bank in Asia. If DBS are fronting up with these kinds of numbers, there is a disaster out there. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2010-05-25 03:53 |
| #1 In Allan We Trust |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2010-05-25 00:46 |