Bank Islam Malaysia has made history by becoming the first pure-play full-fledged Islamic financial institution to be listed on Bursa Malaysia. This came following the completion of a restructuring exercise within the existing holding company, BIMB Holdings Bhd, which led to Bank Islam taking over BIMB Holding’s listing status.

According to a statement, BIMB Holding’s restructuring exercise saw it taking various improvement measures, including a private placement, a scheme of arrangement to settle outstanding warrants, and the internal reorganisation of subsidiaries. It also undertook a distribution and capital repayment exercise, involving the distribution of BIMB Holding’s entire shareholdings in Bank Islam and Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Keluarga Bhd to the shareholders of BIMB Holdings.

With this update, the new corporate structure will see BIMB Holdings – which was originally the parent company of several subsidiaries, including Bank Islam, BIMB Securities, and Takaful Malaysia – relinquishing its status. Instead, it will now become the wholly-owned subsidiary of Bank Islam, with the bank assuming the parent company role (thereby assuming the listing status). The new Bank Islam group will also include BIMB Investment Management and BIMB Securities. Meanwhile, Takaful Malaysia will be a standalone takaful operator.

The chief executive officer of BIMB Holdings and Bank Islam, Mohd Muazzam Mohamed said that with this, Bank Islam is now given full autonomy to pursue its corporate and business strategies, as well as adopt capital management initiatives. “With the listing, Bank Islam will have access to a wider and diverse capital base, allowing for its efficient use towards greater support of its future expansion programmes and business growth,” he said.

Additionally, the listing will give investors the opportunity to participate directly in the equity and future growth of the new group, said Mohd Muazzam. The Bank Islam group can also then capitalise on the growth in Islamic finance and the Islamic capital market as it expand its customer base.

“Through a synergistic and holistic approach, Bank Islam aspires towards a prominent position in offering shariah-ESG total financial solution through renowned excellence in digital banking and social finance by the year 2025,” Mohd Muazzam added.

Moving forward, Bank Islam said that it will rely on five pillars to develop a more resilient business flow amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, namely wealth management, social finance, enterprise banking, wholesale banking, and digital bank.

“On behalf of Bank Islam Group, I welcome all our shareholders and investors as we embark on an exciting future for Bank Islam and further catalyse the growth of the Islamic equity market in the country and region. We look forward to improving ratings and valuations for the new Bank Islam group,” said Mohd Muazzam.

• TAGS:
• Bank Islam
• BIMB Holdings Berhad
• BIMB Investment Management
• BIMB Securities Bhd
• Bursa Malaysia
• Mohd Muazzam Mohamed
• Takaful Malaysia