16 Apr 2015, 12:07 pm
Waratah and Shariah advisory and investment group Amanie will form a company called Ausmal Synergy, to be based in Labuan, Malaysia. The two will be equal shareholders in the new business, Waratah said in a statement.
The move is part of a new focus on the Middle East for Waratah, the company said.
Waratah chief executive Ben Kirkpatrick said: "Our next goal is to secure funding arrangements with partners who have been introduced to our Shariah partners over the past few months, to provide the required capital."
Islamic banking and finance is projected to exceed $2.5 trillion of assets in 2015 as the industry extends its reach into new international markets, the Dubai-based AlHuda Centre of Islamic Banking and Economics (CIBE) said in January.
The CIBE said the industry realised $2.1 trillion of assets in 2014, owing to “gains in popularity in traditional markets” such as Malaysia and the Middle East, and boosted by moves into new markets in Europe, Australia and China.
