Malaysia's Bank Islam and Barclays Bank have signed a memorandum of agreement to launch Islamic investment products and hedging solutions.
Both banks reportedly entered into the Shariah-compliant deal, in which Barclays acted as counterparty for an investment that raised MYR110m ($33.8m). Bank Islam's Ziyad NID-I deposit, launched in December 2009, is a six-year product linked to a basket comprising BHP Billiton, Canon, China Mobile, CNOOC and KDDI.
"The agreement covers Shariah-compliant risk management solutions and will formalise the already-established collaboration between the two banks," Bank Islam's managing director, Datuk Seri Zukri Samat, told journalists yesterday.
The firms expect to collaborate on further structured product launches in due course.