KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 13 ― Bursa Malaysia Bhd launched the Islamic Securities Selling and Buying Negotiated Transaction (ISSBNT) framework today ― the world’s first shariah-compliant alternative to securities borrowing and lending.
Chief Executive Officer, Datuk Seri Tajuddin Atan said the ISSBNT provided a new mechanism for institutional Islamic capital market participants to trade with greater flexibility, while still adhering to Islamic finance principles.
“This new offering reinforces our unique position to provide ample conventional and Islamic products and services in the marketplace,” he said in a statement today.
Tajuddin said the ISSBNT was another step towards ensuring that Malaysia remained the world’s leading, fully-integrated Islamic investing marketplace, offering a complete set of Islamic financial market instruments and trading alternatives.
“The nation’s Islamic finance framework and development have placed Malaysia in a leading position globally,” he added.
Tajuddin said Bursa Malaysia would continue to introduce platforms and services that are global ‘firsts’ or novel in the Islamic capital market sphere, and progress towards being the centre or artery of shariah investments by domestic and international investors.
He said the ISSBNT framework was designed based on the Securities Borrowing and Lending Negotiated Transaction (SBLNT) framework and was expected to facilitate hedging and risk management activities of Islamic fund and wealth managers.
He said the framework was also expected to accelerate the development of the Islamic Exchange Traded Funds (iETFs) by spurring liquidity.
“Locally, the conventional SBL market has grown from RM400 million in October 2012 to RM4.7 billion in October 2017.
“ISSBNT was developed to meet demand for a Shariah-compliant version of SBL, considering the massive size of Islamic assets under management in Malaysia, which stood at RM161 billion as of September 2017,” Tajuddin added.
He said ISSBNT activities would be facilitated through the trading and non-trading clearing participants of Bursa Malaysia Securities Clearing Sdn Bhd. ― Bernama
