Gatehouse Bank ventures into Southeast Asian market via Malaysia (By IFN)

Gatehouse Bank ventures into Southeast Asian market via Malaysia

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MALAYSIA: UK-based Shariah compliant Gatehouse Bank is set to make its expansion into Malaysia with the opening of a representative office in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. This is the first time the bank has ventured into the Southeast Asian market. Richard Thomas, its former CEO, will head up the Kuala Lumpur office in May. Thomas was the bank’s CEO in 2009 following the merger of Gatehouse with Shariah compliant investment firm Global Securities House UK, a subsidiary of Kuwait-based The Securities House. Prior to that, he was also the head of Islamic financial services at the Arab Banking Corporation (ABC) in London, as well as CEO of ABCIB Islamic Asset Management. Gatehouse specializes in global real estate investments and has made a GBP165 million (US$252.54 million) acquisition of law firm SJ Berwin’s offices in London in September 2012, in collaboration with Khazanah Nasional, Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund. The bank has also signed an MoU with the Association of Islamic Banking Institutions Malaysia (AIBIM) to support the operation of an interbank Murabahah master agreement and Wakalah placement agreement in 2010. Although there have been no official announcements on the bank’s plans in Malaysia, expectations are high in terms of the bank’s presence in the region and future expansions. There has been an influx of UK-based institutions opening representative offices in Malaysia in the first quarter of 2013, including the Bank of London and The Middle East and legal firm Trowers & Hamlins.