New Sharia products in Asia sought

The booming Islamic finance industry has yet to rub off on wealthy Asians who say there are far too few Sharia products to invest in, the private banking arm of Malaysia's second largest lender said yesterday.
Sharia investing is a key pillar in the Middle East and has caught the interest of non-traditional centres such as London and Singapore, but rich Asians are still cool on it.
Asia is a big potential market for the $1 trillion Islamic finance sector, with the Asia-Pacific home to 28 per cent of the world's high-net-worth-individuals, who are defined as those with investible assets of more than $1 million.
Even in Malaysia, which has the world's largest Sharia bond market, wealthy individuals have limited interest in Islamic assets.
"The appetite is still quite small because they continue to nibble," said CIMB Private Banking co-head Carolyn Leng.
The bank says it is Malaysia's top private banking firm with assets of 4.4 billion ringgit ($1.23bn). The bank expects to increase this to about 7bn ringgit by 2010, Leng said.
"Offering of Islamic products are not that great here, what you have is probably what the market (outside) has as well. Product innovation is key, we need to be a lot more creative."
Structured products and Islamic bonds are the main sharia products that wealthy Malaysians put their money into, Leng said.
In contrast to Asia, Middle East investors have a wider choice of Islamic offerings as banks tap their global resources to structure innovative products, Leng said.
"There are a lot of derivatives-based kind of products. The way they structure some options into their products is interesting because it's done in such a way that it's a profit-sharing method," she said.
Islamic banking products can be bought and sold by all investors, regardless of individual religious belief, and is premised on the notion of ethical investing.
Islamic banks have been barely bruised by the global financial crisis, although falling property and commodity prices and slowing economies are starting to affect the sector.
Source : Gulf Daily News

Business Oportunity in Indonesia

The Indonesian government is targeting growth of the electronics industry around 13.15 percent in the period 2005-2009 with a target investment reached 2.5 billion U.S. dollars.

"Industrial consumption of electronics and components industry is a priority that will be developed in accordance with the National Industry Development Policy", said Minister of Industry, Fahmi Idris on the celebration of the achievement of the production of television (TV) Sharp to-10 million units in Jakarta on Thursday.

He said that currently there are approximately 230 companies in the field of electronics that operate in Indonesia. The government view the electronics industry, including leading the industry with a target of average growth in 2005-2009 reached 13.15 percent.

"To achieve these targets required additional investment of not less than 2.5 billion U.S. dollars, with hopes to create 15,000 new job opportunities per year," said Fahmi.

For that, he continued, the government has been working to create a conducive climate, especially related to taxation, fiscal incentives, and employment laws.

In addition, the government also refers to the electronics industry during this, there are many on the island of Java and Batam more spread to other areas through the regulation number 1 of 2007 to give fiscal incentives for certain industries and / or in certain regions, especially outside Java Island.

However, responding to question the government's plan and the elimination of the decline in Luxury Goods Sales Tax (PPnBM) a number of electronic products, Fahmi only hope that there are stages to this is the last one, given that the proposal has been around two years, but have not signed the Minister of Finance.

Meanwhile, Director General of Industrial Equipment and Transportation on (IATT)) • DEPPERIN Budi Darmadi said until now the target of investment of 2.5 billion dollars during 2005-2009 has reached around 70 percent.

"Until now about 70 percent of the target investment in the field of electronics has been reached. A number of companies from Japan, South Korea, and China, such as Sharp, LG, and Changhong, has been to instill and increase investment in Indonesia," he said.

President director of PT Sharp Electronics Indonesia (SEID) Fumihiro Irie said on the same opportunity that this year the government has added approximately 140 billion investment.

"Around Rp100 billion, we have investasikan to add new production lines refrigerator, because there is a large demand from the market in the country," he said.

While the rest, information Irie, is used to increase the production capacity of washing machines. He was optimistic Indonesia's electronic market will still grow next year with growth of around 20-25 percent, reported by Republika News.