Singapore bank launches Islamic branch

04 March 2010 , By The Star

OCBC Bank Bhd sees good business prospects in Johor with the close proximity of Iskandar Malaysia and the state as a whole to Singapore.

OCBC director and chief executive officer Jeffrey Chew Sun Teong said that Iskandar, Malaysia’s first economic growth corridor, had been gaining momentum since its launch on Nov 4, 2006.

“We do not want to miss out on the opportunities in Iskandar and our presence gives customers a choice of conventional and Islamic banking systems,” he said.

Chew was speaking at the opening of the OCBC Al-Amin Bank at Taman Sutera Utama in Skudai, the bank’s first Islamic branch in the southern region.

The Taman Sutera outlet is OCBC’s seventh branch in Johor. The others are in Johor Baru, Taman Molek, Muar, Segamat, Kluang and Batu Pahat.

OCBC Al-Amin is OCBC’s wholly-owned Islamic banking subsidiary that now has five branches. The first was opened in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, in December 2008 followed by those in Kota Damansara and Wangsa Maju in Selangor and Sungai Petani in Kedah.

He said the Singapore-based OCBC was a foreign bank with the largest number of branches in Johor. It opened its first branch in Batu Pahat in the 1920s.

“Our branches in Johor serve Singapore clients as well including Singapore-based small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with operations here,” said Chew.

He said that the republic’s two integrated resorts would have economic spillover effects on Johor, including the SMEs, and provide job opportunities for Malaysians.

OCBC Al-Amin Bank director and chief executive officer Syed Abdull Aziz Syed Kechik said that prospects in Iskandar Malaysia were good especially in the tourism and real-estate segments.

He said the bank was also looking at Teluk Ramunia and Pengerang in south-east Johor, which were intended to become a regional oil and gas hub by 2013.