CIMB Group Bhd, Malaysia's second largest lender, hopes to use its expertise in Islamic finance to distinguish itself from the competition when it formally opens its Australian operations this week, company executives said.
That may include bringing Australian companies to the Malaysian sukuk market as issuers for the first time.
"We are very keen to do an Islamic finance transaction as soon as possible, but we also have to be realistic, working on a 12-month time frame," Michael Forde, head of capital markets at CIMB Australia, said in an interview late last week.
Malaysia's liquid sukuk market has already attracted interest from international issuers including those from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kazakhstan and Hong Kong.