KUALA LUMPUR – The International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (“IILM”), an international organisation that develops and issues short-term Shari’ah-compliant financial instruments, has onboarded Affin Islamic Bank Berhad (“Affin Islamic”) as its eleventh Primary Dealer, becoming the third Malaysian-based Primary Dealer for the IILM’s short-term Ṣukūk programme. 

The agreement was formalised at the signing ceremony between the IILM’s Chief Executive Officer, Mohamad Safri Shahul Hamid and Affin Islamic Bank Berhad’s Chief Executive Officer, Datuk Paduka Syed Mashafuddin Syed Badarudin during the Global Forum on Islamic Economics and Finance (“GFIEF”) in Kuala Lumpur, today.

The signing ceremony was witnessed by Bank Negara Malaysia (“BNM”)’s Deputy Governor, Adnan Zaylani Mohamad Zahid.

Chief Executive Officer of ILM, Mohamad Safri Shahul Hamid said, “The IILM has served the global Islamic financial markets well over the last 10 years with its short-term Ṣukūk issuance programme and has to-date issued over USD105 billion worth of short-term Ṣukūk, which continues to be well received by Islamic investors. This is in line with the IILM’s core mandate to enhance cross-border investment flows, international linkages and financial stability by creating more liquid Shari’ah-compliant financial instruments for institutions offering Islamic financial services (“IIFS”).”

“We welcome and applaud Affin Islamic as the IILM’s latest Primary Dealer, which is a testament to the importance and significance of the IILM short-term Ṣukūk for investors in Malaysia and at large. We are fully committed to and focused on delivering our mandate and playing our part in bridging the gap, particularly in the Islamic liquidity management space globally,” Safri added.

Chief Executive Officer of Affin Islamic Bank Berhad, Datuk Paduka Syed Mashafuddin Syed Badarudin said, “We are indeed very pleased to be joining IILM’s global network of diversified Primary Dealers and to be able to offer our investors unique liquidity management Shari’ah-compliant solutions. The IILM’s instruments are globally recognised to be innovative, unique and of high quality and plays an important role in increasing liquidity in Islamic financial markets. The IILM's role in Islamic banking industry continues to be important and we look forward to forming a close relationship with them.”

The IILM’s USD 4 billion short-term Ṣukūk issuance programme is rated “A-1” by S&P and “F1” by Fitch Ratings. The IILM regularly issues short-term Ṣukūk across varying tenors and amounts to cater to the liquidity management needs of institutions offering Islamic financial services.

The IILM’s short-term Sukῡk is currently distributed through a diversified network of 10 primary dealers globally, namely Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Al Baraka Turk, Boubyan Bank, CIMB Islamic Bank Berhad, Dukhan Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Kuwait Finance House, Maybank Islamic Berhad, Qatar Islamic Bank, and Standard Chartered Bank.