By the very nature of their businesses and operations, financial institutions are intrinsically exposed and linked to the consequences of important concepts such as climate change. How institutions choose the assets they finance, the tools and structures they use, how they operate and how they report on their activities is crucial to measuring and managing how sustainable a financial institution is deemed to be.

Hajah and Darurah are increasingly important principles in Islamic finance. Literally translated as ‘need’ and ‘dire necessity’, Hajah and Darurah represent an important and fundamental shift in the thinking surrounding the development and provision of Islamic financial products. Implications for Islamic financial institutions could potentially be far-reaching, with the most significant effects being seen in Shariah, product developm...

With blue finance steadily making waves in sustainable finance, the World Bank Group’s private sector development arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), is actively working on developing the asset class. ISFI spoke to Christina Ongoma, the manager of financial institutions group for upstream advisory services at the IFC, about how the institution works with first-time sustainability issuers.

The Bursa Carbon Exchange (BCX) is set to launch its trading platform in the fourth quarter of this year, Dr Chen Wei-nee, the head of the carbon market at Bursa Malaysia, told ISFI. Dr Chen also shared that the move toward a carbon compliance market in Malaysia may take a matter of years.

The Malaysian Ministry of Economy has launched the National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR) as part of the government’s interim measures to meet net-zero targets. ISFI has learned that the initiative under the roadmap to develop Southeast Asia’s largest hybrid solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant will be financed through Islamic finance instruments.

Solarvest Holdings (Solarvest) will issue its maiden Sukuk under its newly established RM1 billion (US$214.02 million) sustainability Sukuk program in Q3 this year, Davis Chong, the executive director and group CEO of the clean energy solutions provider, told ISFI.

Having issued its principles-based SRI Taxonomy last December to serve as universal guidance for the classification of economic activities that qualify for sustainable investment, the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) is now exploring ways to provide greater clarity on the guidance.

Agrobank is set to launch its agriculture-based Takaful program early next year, a spokesperson from the bank told ISFI. The fully Shariah compliant development financial institution is expected to disclose the details for the upcoming product in Q4 this year.

Gatehouse Bank is looking to launch an additional financing product to existing customers to improve the energy efficiency of their homes before the end of the year, Andy Homer, the chief customer officer at Gatehouse Bank, told ISFI.

Aldar Investment Properties (Aldar) issued a US$500 million 10-year Reg S green Sukuk facility on the 18th May 2023, receiving total orders of over US$2.3 billion. The half-billion facility represents Aldar’s debut issuance under its US$2 billion corporate Sukuk program.