Malaysia’s international finance centre saw insurance entities from Qatar, the UAE and Switzerland enter the market during its silver jubilee year.
Wealth management was one of the high growth sectors with a nearly 28% increase in the number of Labuan foundations, bringing the total to 166.
The Labuan Financial Services Authority’s (FSA) 2015 annual report stated that the growing trend shows that Labuan’s comprehensive wealth management instruments continue to entice the interest of high net-worth individuals.
More than 77% of Labuan foundations originated from Asia Pacific.
Islamic finance
The Labuan FSA introduced international waqf guidelines in 2015, an endowment made by a Muslim to a religious, educational or charitable cause. According to the regulator it made Labuan the first finance centre to facilitate the establishment of waqf under common laws.
The capital market sector continued to grow with private fund size increasing by 0.9% to $12.3bn (£9.3bn, €11.1bn). In geographical distribution, 58.5% of the private funds originated from the Asean region.
The Labuan International Commodity Trading Companies (LITCs) sector also fared well with eight new approvals granted, bringing the total to 43. About 79% of these companies originated from the southeast Asia region.
