Fresh from being fully acquired by China Galaxy Securities (CGS), the former CGS-CIMB brokerage and assets management firm will be using Malaysia as its knowledge base to grow the Chinese group’s Shariah compliant investment portfolio.
CGS Malaysia Deputy CEO Khairi Shahrin Arief Baki shared with IFN Investor that the group’s Shariah portfolio remains small – making up about 10% of the entire Malaysian revenue base in 2023 – and initiatives are being put into place to at least double this figure within the next few years.
“Our challenge is in deploying enough resources to grow the Shariah operations because the Malaysian unit is being given every opportunity by our China parent to run as independently as possible. It will take us some time to grow our Shariah staff strength, especially in asset management.”
Khairi said high expectations of outsiders on this Shariah focus would have to be tempered, even though the conventional operations of CGS Malaysia made the firm tops in market trade ranking on Bursa Malaysia last year. Having charted about RM250 million (US$57.11 million) revenue in 2023, the firm is eyeing RM300 million (US$68.53 million) annual revenue by 2027.
Part of this revenue growth will come from the firm’s Shariah compliant operations, as Khairi said Malaysia will remain the focus of Islamic financial activities for the moment. “We will also be expanding progressively in Indonesia with local partners there.”
Khairi explained much of the Shariah financial and investment expertise can be found within Malaysia, which the firm will tap towards growing its revenue base. “We don’t want to be expanding our focus too quickly because we want this knowledge base within CGS Malaysia to be solid first.”
Other markets that CGS Malaysia aims to venture into next with its Shariah portfolio would be Brunei and Singapore, given the close currency linkages between these two small Southeast nations. Once its operations in these four jurisdictions have been firmly established, Khairi said CGS Malaysia will explore opportunities in the rest of Southeast Asia.
Further beyond, “we are already having some talks with some parties in the Middle East, but these are just exploratory for now.”
