In a clear statement of intent, the Australian government has launched a series of initiatives that when completed and hopefully adopted will make the country one of the most proactive Islamic finance markets in the Asia-Pacific Region.
Australia is a relative newcomer to Islamic finance and has been left behind by the surge in interest in other Asia-Pacific countries such as Korea, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Thailand. Muslim countries in the region, especially Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei, are spearheading the recovery in global Islamic finance, especially through sukuk issuances and consumer finance.
Thus far Australian financial institutions have been limited in their involvement in the Islamic finance space. Lately, Australian investment bank and financial services provider, Macquarie Group, was engaging with Gulf Finance House to invest in equity for an Islamic asset management joint venture as part of a capital restructuring plan, but the plan never took off. Australian fund manager LM Investment Management Ltd. was involved in the launch of the LM Australian Alif Fund in 2009, which exclusively sought to invest in selected diversified Australian realty portfolios.
Sen. Nick Sherry, assistant treasurer of Australia, at the launch of a new book, titled “Demystifying Islamic Finance — Correcting Misconceptions, Advancing Value Propositions,” in Sydney recently confirmed that the Australian Board of Taxation at his request is undertaking a comprehensive review of Australia’s tax laws “to ensure that, wherever possible, they do not inhibit the expansion of Islamic finance, banking and insurance products.”
The terms of reference for the review include recommendations on Commonwealth (federal) tax laws, and findings on State and Territory tax laws, that may be impediments to Islamic finance. The board will consult progress in this respect in other jurisdictions such as the UK, Luxembourg, France, Malaysia and Indonesia.
“The guiding principle for the board is that the tax treatment of Islamic financial products should be based, wherever possible, on their economic substance rather than their form. I would emphasize that this review is not about creating special treatment — which no one in this area has ever asked me for. Rather, it is about creating a level playing field for the provision of Islamic financial products into the Australian market,” he said. Indeed the mandate of the Board of Taxation is to provide the government a final report by June 2011.
This review should also be seen in conjunction with a cross-government review of the regulatory environment launched by Australian Minister for Financial Services Chris Bowen with a similar goal of flattening out any inhibitors to Islamic finance operations in Australia.
The government is keen to emphasize the benefits that Islamic finance can bring to Australia and its great potential for creating jobs, wealth and contributing to financial and social stability. Australian bankers stress that there is a growing awareness – both in the community and also among policy makers – of the potential of Islamic finance in Australia. “We are taking a keen interest in ensuring there are no impediments to the development of Islamic finance in this country, to allow market forces to operate freely. This is in line with our commitment to foster an open and competitive financial system, and a socially inclusive environment for all Australians.”
Australia has one of the world’s largest contestable pools of investment fund assets. At the end of 2009, Australia had A$1.3 trillion of funds under management, which is equivalent in size to the domestic equity market capitalization and almost 110 percent of the country’s nominal GDP. Australia’s investor base is both sophisticated and outward looking, with significant exposures to global markets and alternative asset classes.
The Australian asset management industry has proven strengths in portfolio construction, risk management, wealth advisory, distribution capabilities, funds administration, and custody services – and is looking to export services to South East Asia and the Middle East region. Similarly, the sector has a strong and deep set of financial management skills and expertise, along with complementary skills in areas such as the law, that can be brought to the table in the wholesale Islamic finance sector. “We also have global leading skills in real estate and infrastructure financing — two areas with great potential in relation to wholesale Islamic finance activity as they both involve very real underlying assets, something we all know is needed in Shariah-compliant projects,” stressed one Australian banker.
In the last year or so, the potential benefits, that Islamic finance could bring to Australia has been identified by several key independent reports. The Australian Financial Center Forum published a report that identified Islamic finance as a possible means of accessing offshore pools of savings from the Middle East, to provide more diversified and competitive funding for Australia’s investment needs and access to such products to the country’s half a million Muslims under financial inclusion policies. The report encouraged amendments to the tax law that would ensure that Islamic finance products have parity of treatment with conventional products.
Sen. Sherry said the book “Demystifying Islamic Finance” is important because it “will go a long way toward dispelling the misconceptions which have, in some quarters, built up around Islamic finance.”
Australia like some other countries also have those opposed to facilitating Islamic finance on the misconceived grounds that “Islamic finance is used to spread terrorism, that it is a vehicle to promote the world domination of Islam over other faiths, or that it is designed to replace conventional financing.”
Sen. Sherry dismissed these views as ridiculous but admitted that they are of concern, albeit it small. He called for continuing the community dialogue, increasing awareness of the truth and highlighting the facts that Islamic finance like its conventional counterpart is bound by strict laws and regulations, including anti-terrorism and anti-money laundering laws.
“In addition, the Shariah prohibition of betting and gambling means that Islamic banks can use fewer risk-hedging techniques and instruments than conventional banks. As the world learned to its cost, the excessive use of risk-hedging instruments led to the growth of ‘toxic assets’ during the global financial crisis,” he explained.
During a visit to the Middle East in April, Sen. Sherry reiterated that “the Gulf region is at the heart of international Islamic finance, which has experienced very strong and very consistent growth, even in the face of the global financial crisis, growing at around 10 percent per annum for the last decade. The value of worldwide Islamic financial assets was $822 billion in 2009 and this is projected to reach $1.6 trillion by 2012. Moody’s Investor Services see a global market potential of at least $5 trillion at maturity. Australia is in a great position to capitalize on this growth, particularly in the wholesale market — one of our closest neighbors is Indonesia, with the world’s biggest Islamic population and we have a global leading edge in funds management. My message is that in Australia we have what the wholesale Islamic finance market is calling out for. These opportunities extend across the board – to Islamic insurance, or takaful, and to Shariah-compliant asset-backed securities, or sukuk.”
The Australian initiatives in facilitating Islamic finance must also be seen in the context of the vital relations between Malaysia and Australia in this area. Last month, Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia Zeti Akhtar Aziz and Australian Treasury Secretary Ken Henry signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to facilitate cross border co-operation in the financial services industry, including Islamic finance and the regulation of financial products. It also follows up on the deliberations of the high-powered Malaysian business and banking delegation that visited Melbourne and Sydney in December 2009. The key areas of focus under the MoU are capacity building and human capital development in the financial services industry; information exchange and experience in the legal, regulatory and supervisory frameworks; facilitating the development of an effective and conducive financial market infrastructure; and enhancing cross-border financial activities, including research on Shariah matters in Islamic finance products and services to promote consistent application for cross-border transactions.
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