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Posted: 18 Nov 2011 05:35 PM PST

THE recent Meeting of Central Banks and Monetary Authorities of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member countries was quite a challenging one.

This was because the meeting , which was held at Sasana Kijang, was held at a time when the world was in financial dire straits coupled with the eurozone's worsening debt crisis.

Sasana Kijang is Bank Negara's newly-established centre for excellence in knowledge and learning in central banking and financial services as well as for the promotion of regional and international collaboration.

The governors of the central banks of the OIC member countries had to deal with various financial issues and tackle solutions that could mitigate the threat of the global financial crisis.

Various aspects of Islamic finance was discussed and how it could be adopted by central bankers' in maintaining the stability of their financial system and avert another round of financial meltdown since the last one sparked by the subprime mortgage crisis.

Bank Negara governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz said the gathering of practitioners from the international financial community was timely in light of the continued growth of Islamic finance in the current highly challenging international financial environment.

She added that Islamic finance continued to expand, facilitating greater economic and financial linkages between Asia, the Middle East and other emerging economies. Zeti said this at the fifth annual Islamic Financial Intelligence Summit organised by The Banker Magazine and Financial Times. The event was one of the series of OIC events held in conjunction with the meeting.

The global Islamic finance industry continued to chart double-digit growth of 21%, with the syariah compliant assets now breaching the US$1 trillion mark.

The other events comprised the annual Experts' Group Workshop and the Governors' Meeting of Central Banks and Monetary Authorities.

Organised in collaboration with the Statistical, Economic, Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (Sesric), the OIC series was held for four days from Nov 14-17 and was attended by top dignitaries and central bankers.

Among the dignitaries who attended the OIC Central Banks and Monetary Authorities meeting were Central Bank of Bahrain governor Rasheed Mohammaed Al Maraj, Central Bank of Turkey governor Dr Erdem Basci, Central Bank of UAE governor Sultan bin Nasser Al-Suwaidi, State Bank of Pakistan governor Yaseen Anwar, Sesric director-general Dr Savas Alpay and OIC Secretariat director of economic affairs department Gholam Hossein Darzi.

The theme of the meeting this year was Central Banking and Financial Sector Development, which covered the framework for central bank and sound financial sector development that would support and catalyse sustainable economic growth in developing economies.

In her keynote address entitled "The New Islamic Finance Landscape", Zeti said a central aspect of the new Islamic financial landscape was the increased focus on financial stability, adding that this would enhance its potential as a form of financial intermediation amid an increasingly more challenging environment.

Zeti said the increased focus on financial stability had several implications for the new financial landscape, of which, the most significant would be the fundamental changes in the regulatory environment.

She said much progress had already been made by the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) in promulgating an extensive set of prudential standards for the Islamic financial services industry since its establishment in 2002.

The IFSB, she said, had already introduced standards for capital adequacy, risk management, corporate governance and syariah governance which were significant in promoting international uniformity of the regulatory framework and international best practices for the Islamic financial system in different jurisdictions.

At the meeting, the central bank governors and head of delegations agreed that emerging economies would continue to contribute towards driving global economic recovery and growth as well as the potential role of Islamic finance in supporting this endeavour be given special attention.

They also affirmed to leverage on individual strengths and cooperate in building capacities, including the training programmes organised by Sesric for central banks of the OIC member countries.

Meanwhile, in a separate statement, the council of the IFSB has announced the appointment of the central bank governor of Bahrain Rasheed Mohammed Al Maraj as its council chairman effective January 2012 and Qatar central bank governor Sheikh Abdullah Saoud Al-Thani would be deputy chairman.

Catholic University of Argentina professor of international economics Martin Redrado, who was also former governor of the central bank of Argentina, spoke on capital flow into emerging markets.

He said the treasury and central banks in these markets should coordinate the intervention mechanisms and resources to deal with capital flows in order to minimise volatility in the domestic financial markets and avoid threats to financial stability.

"Building liquidity buffers, including foreign reserve accumulation and the development of a highly liquid and solvent financial system is an effective tool for emerging markets to withstand the increased volatility of capital flows,'' he said.

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Politicians rule on Forbes list

Posted: 18 Nov 2011 05:33 PM PST

Forbes announced its annual ranking of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women on Aug 24, and the one who came out tops is the lady that's been in the thick of the action trying to iron out the eurozone debt problem with her European comrades.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, along with US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Brazillian President Dilma Rousseff took the top three spots on the list this year.

While politicians take the lead in this year's ranking, others that made it to the list came from diversified fields including business, media, entertainment and non-profit organisations.

Coming in at fourth and fifth are PepsiCo Inc chief executive Indra Nooyi and Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg.

Collectively, all 100 women control US$30 trillion. These influential women are on average 54 years old with 29 of them being chief executives and eight are heads of state. Seventy-four in the list are returnees.

Among the 26 newcomers, US entartainer Lady Gaga is the youngest at age 25. Queen Elizabeth II is the oldest woman in the list at 85.

Christine Lagarde moved into the Top 10 for the first time. The International Monetary Fund managing director has been on the list since 2004.

"Our list reflects the diverse and dynamic paths to power for women today whether leading a nation or setting the agenda on critical issues of our time," said Forbes Woman president and publisher, Moira Forbes.

"Across their multiple spheres of influence, these women have achieved power through connectivity the ability to build community around the organisations they oversee, the countries they lead, the causes they champion, and their personal brands."

From the Top 15, StarBizWeek features three pioneering women who have gained international recognition on their own merits.

They have not only created an image of resilience and fortitude for themselves, but also proved that women can make it on turf traditionally associated with men.

Angela Merkel German Chancellor

Born: July 17, 1954 in Hamburg, Germany

Current earnings: US$303,800

THE first female to lead Germany since it became a modern nation in 1871, Merkel entered the political scene in 1990 and was quickly appointed the minister for women and youth.

She was named secretary-general of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in 1998 and two years later, became the party leader. She narrowly defeated Chancellor Gerhard Schroder for the top position in 2005, winning by only three seats.

After the CDU agreed to a coalition deal with the Social Democrats, she was declared Germany's first female chancellor. Merkel is also the first former citizen of the German Democratic Republic to lead the reunited Germany.

Born to a Lutheran pastor and teacher, she grew up in the rural area north of Berlin and graduated with a doctorate in physics at the University of Leipzig. Before politics, she had career as a chemist at the Central Institute for Physical Chemistry, Academy of Sciences.

She is married to a chemistry professor from Berlin, Joachim Sauer. She does not have any children.

Although initially perceived as dowdy, she has managed to gain the confidence of the Germans to win a second-term of chancellorship in 2009.

When BBC News profiled her, it quoted the head of the Liberal Institute in Potsdam, Detmar Doering as saying that Merkel did not need to rely on charisma to win voters because she is a pragmatic politician who inspires confidence.

"Some people said Angela Merkel was boring and provincial, but they under-estimated her," he said, "German voters aren't stupid - they don't want a Britney Spears as the chancellor of Germany, they want a serious leader whom they can trust. Merkel knows what she's doing."

Despite torrents of criticisms, she managed to steer Germany onto safe grounds during the 2008 financial crisis thus proving her mettle.

On matters of integrity, Merkel decisively distanced herself from the man who brought her into his cabinet in 1990 the moment a fund scandal involving him broke out. She showed pragmatism and took a conscientious stand by writing a front-page article inciting the resignation of Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

As the current crisis unfolds in the eurozone, all eyes are on Merkel and her counterparts. Whatever the outcome, Merkel could further prove that it is indeed important to include women in decision-making spheres.

Hillary Clinton US Secretary of State

Born: October 26, 1947 in Chicago

Current earnings: US$191,300

GRADUATED from Yale Law School, Clinton was the first former First Lady to serve in a president's cabinet and the first woman to run for US presidency.

In 2007, she announced that she wanted to run for presidency but when it became apparent that nominee Barack Obama held the majority of the delegate votes, she conceded her nomination.

Clinton was nominated the secretary of state for Obama's 2009 cabinet after he won the US presidential election.

She had always showed strong interest in politics and was actively involved in Republican groups as a young woman. During college, she participated in student politics and was elected senior class president before she graduated from Wellesley College.

In 1998, Clinton weathered through a rough patch of her life when the Monica Lewinski sex scandal erupted. Although she publicly supported her then president husband, it was reported that she had considered leaving him.

When her husband Bill was impeached from the Oval Office, she decided she would seek the US Senate seat from New York, making her the first wife of a president to seek and win national office and the first woman to be elected to the US Senate from New York in 2000. She also won re-election in 2006.

Clinton was the hand that pulled New York through some of its darkest hours when terrorists attacked and brought down the World Trade Centre on Sept 11, 2001. She developed a plan to rebuild that part of the city.

Christine Lagarde IMF managing director

Born: Jan 1, 1956 in Paris

Current earnings: US$467,940

LAGARDE has been in the news lately, because people wanted to hear what she has to say about the persisting financial issues affecting the world. It is after all, a very challenging time for the head of the International Monetary Fund.

"At finance meetings all over the world, she is treated practically like a rock star," says former IMF chief economist Kenneth Rogoff of her. "She is enormously impressive, politically astute and has a strong personality."

Before IMF, Lagarde was involved in France politics.

She was appointed trade minister in 2005 which resulted in French exports soaring to record levels.

Two years later, she became the first female to assume the finance minister position.

This was not only a first for France but for any of the G8 major industrial countries.

Interestingly, BBC News reported that she blamed the 2008 global financial crisis partly on the "male-dominated, testoterone-fuelled culture at global banks".

During her political career, she won international respect for promoting France's negotiating power in key forums like the G-20 and approving a bail-out mechanism to aid struggling members of the eurozone.

Despite Asia and South America openly questioning her bid to lead IMF in the initial stages, she has proved to be a worthy person for the role by taking the current eurozone crisis by its horns and weathering it out alongside country leaders. When she was 17, she travelled to study in the United States for a year where she learned to speak English fluently. Lagarde graduated from a law school in Paris and obtained a masters' degree from the Political Science Institute in Aix en Provence.

In 1981, she returned to the United States to join international law firm Baker & McKenzie as an associate, specialising in labour, anti-trust and mergers and acquisitions.

She went on to become the first female chairman of that firm 18 years on.

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RHB Cap set for another good year

Posted: 18 Nov 2011 05:32 PM PST

RHB Capital Bhd, which has been enjoying record net profit for the past five years, is set for another year of good performance, says its managing director Kellee Kam.

"Among the key growth drivers is loans growth which is running at 18%," he tells StarBizWeek.

"We are still looking at a lower to mid double-digit loans growth next year."

Arising from the government's Economic Transformation Programme projects, there will be ample opportunities for wholesale and bridging loans as well as capital market transactions.

Retail banking, commercial properties financing and hire purchase in certain segments can still be profitable while posing decent risk.

However, the overall outlook for next year will be cautious. "One cannot ignore the state of the western economies," says Kam. There's been a fair amount of weakness in Europe; every week, a new chapter emerges from Greece to Italy to Portugal to Spain and now, even the French are not able to escape from the economic uncertainties.

"We will be more cautious on loans growth and ensure that we are going into very prudent areas," says Kam, pointing out that this part of the Asean region was still experiencing decent growth of 4% to 5%.

For future earnings momentum, RHB Cap is eyeing basically three engines of growth commercial and corporate banking, regional investment banking and Islamic finance.

"As a financial services group, we will have multiple engines moving at the same time. Over the next three to five years, we will have a good source of sustainable income and achieve a competitive position if we can get these three pieces (of the puzzle) right," says Kam.

Second engine of growth

Now that RHB Cap has built up the pace as a group, it wants to aspire to the next level of growth.

The commercial bank is the largest driver of the group's business while the investment bank contributes 5% to 6% of group pre-tax profit.

"Although the investment bank has done well, we believe that we should take it up a notch," says Kam. "One interesting prospect is to create an institution that not only has a leadership position in Malaysia but will also build the foundation for regional growth."

A merger with OSK Holdings Bhd, for which talks are ongoing, will create an investment bank with the largest asset size in Malaysia; from a market share perspective, it will be the largest stockbroker in Malaysia; from an investment banking perspective, it will continue to keep the group in the top three to four position, both in terms of volume and value.

"The proposed merger brings together a good balance in terms of number and size of deals, also gives us full clientele coverage," says Kam.

Today, RHB Cap is doing well at the top end of ladder with the large caps and corporates and the OSK franchise, which is strong in retail, small and mid caps, will help the group to complete its service capability.

OSK is the largest retail group and a specialist in mid to small caps. Backed by a banking platform, there should be a fair amount of cross sell synergies in the retail and commercial business space.

RHB Cap has been expanding the Malaysian franchise. "When our clients grow, they will start looking outside of Malaysia," says Kam. In the past, apart from Singapore and Thailand, RHB could not follow them.

OSK has done a good job in having built up an investment banking franchise outside of Malaysia into Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia and Hong Kong. OSK has two offices in Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Meanwhile, RHB has its own joint venture stockbroking company in Vietnam.

"Between OSK and ourselves, we would have covered the Asean region," says Kam. "We have a significant amount of complementary and no large overlaps where we would have to worry about our workforce.

"Onshore, we operate within the different segments that we serve while offshore, we are looking to build. RHB does not have a large network outside Malaysia, which OSK has." he adds.

RHB has the balance sheet and the banking platform to back an investment banking franchise; that gives the group a headstart in recruiting experienced people.

"We are trying to recruit people with the correct experience, attitude and track record. That is getting more and more difficult because competition is everywhere _ in Singapore, Hong Kong and we also have other competitors in Malaysia.

"If we do this correctly, we will hopefully have access to a whole new set of talent and create one of Malaysia's leading investment banks which will also be a credible regional investment banking platform," says Kam.

Competition in investment banking

How does RHB view the competition heating up among banking groups to establish similar regional investment banking outfits?

"It is healthy to have this level of competition; it gives us motivation to move faster," says Kam. "The pace of growth that we had to undergo was partly due to the fact that the rest of the competition was moving so quickly."

"When some of the larger banking groups started developing their regional investment banking platform, it became important for us to look for an avenue to either develop that ourselves or through a transaction like the one with OSK. This is to ensure that we are not disadvantaged when we go head to head with these groups.

"The country is developing a very strong set of financial institutions; customers will benefit from the multiple institutions that can take them across the region," he adds.

Why the present timing?

"There are strategic business opportunities in the downturn as we build businesses over the long term," he says.

As the Asean region gets more integrated, customers start moving around and exchanges develop and get more closely linked, there are opportunities for an investment bank that has the ability to service Asean markets.

Gaining traction

Singapore and Malaysia have a developed exchange; the others are growing rapidly like those in Indonesia and Thailand. Cambodia's exchange is slated to open by next year while Vietnam has the potential to grow and become one of the larger capital market players.

"There is thus a pipeline for investment banks as different economies develop over the next five to 10 years. If one is able to place oneself as a credible investment bank, one will be able to tap more than a fair share of the opportunities," he says.

Under Basel III, banks also have to start diversifying their sources of revenue and tap on more fee income type of businesses; they cannot just rely on capital intensive sources of revenue.

"We wanted to build up the management bandwidth," says Kam, adding that a CEO was also being sought for the investment bank.

"The concept is not to serve our customers by how we are structured, rather it should be on how they would like to be served.

Customers don't really care which division the officer is from but how he can serve them best," he notes.

The necessary talent was brought in to become the strong management team that would mobilise all those lines in retail, corporate and investment banking as well as Islamic finance.

"With the Employees Provident Fund as the major shareholder, we have benefited with a fair amount of opportunities, new capital and stability in direction and leadership," says Kam.

Between 2008 and 2010, the total electronic network was doubled from 800 to 1,700 machines while over last 12 months, the group experienced almost 100% growth in Internet banking customer base.

Last year, RHB was top in mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in Malaysia. Today, it is still top four in the debt and equity capital markets; it was top in M&A until June, and within the top three as of September.

"Hopefully, we will bring that back up again," he says.

The picture at RHB was very different back in 2006, when the group was competitively challenged, progressively losing market share, short of capital, and had no clear focus and strategic direction.

"We put together a transformation programme to address the financial and capital structure of the group; internally, we realised that even if we had got ourselves to be financially stable, we needed also to get ourselves to be competitive operationally," Kam recalls.

The management and changes put in place then with emphasis on efficiency saw the cost to income ratio dropping from 45% to 41%, and probably closing around 43% this year.

Institution building

One of the group's key goals is to build a successful institution.

Some of the established financial institutions in the world change or rotate CEOs every few years but they are still very stable.

"We want to provide opportunities for our talents without saying that if he or she leaves, the organisation cannot function.

"You have to ensure that the place runs like an institution with proper succession plans, to ensure stability and continuity.

"I hope that we have shown over the last three to four years, RHB is a bank that has changed management at various levels, to a certain extent more frequently than others, but we have kept improving and business momentum has been maintained.

"This is testament to the fact that RHB is an institutionalised banking group, and also credit to those who have built up the necessary infrastructure and succession to ensure that group continues on its growth path," says Kam.

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Jumaat, 18 November 2011