Q: Malaysia is the chair of ASEAN this year with a theme focusing on inclusivity and sustainability. How do you see Islamic finance contributing to this agenda?
A: Let me first give a short context on the journey of Islamic finance here in Malaysia. Over the last 4 decades, Malaysia has built a progressive and resilient Islamic finance ecosystem that has transformed from a niche offering into a dynamic, values-driven model for sustainable growth.
By end of 2026, it has been projected by Fitch Ratings that ASEAN’s Islamic finance industry to surpass US$1 trillion. It has already reached nearly US$950 billion in the first half of this year with Malaysia’s Islamic financing assets representing 42% of this.
The foundation of Islamic finance rests on fairness, transparency, and shared responsibility which resonate deeply with ASEAN’s development priorities. With the theme of “Inclusivity and Sustainability”, ASEAN reaffirmed its commitment to build a people-centred, values-driven regional community that ensures “no one is left behind.”
The promotion of inclusive economic growth needs to include embedding ethics in finance and business too. This is where I see Islamic finance having a big role to play, serving as a key catalyst for ethical, inclusive and sustainable growth in the ASEAN region by advancing values-based intermediation rooted in Maqasid al-Shariah (objectives of Islamic law to promote human welfare and well-being), mobilising green and sustainability-linked Shariah-compliant sukuk, and expanding Islamic social finance, microfinance and blended finance solutions that promote social equity and shared prosperity.
But more importantly, Malaysia has positioned Islamic finance not just as a financial system, but as a mechanism to deliver inclusive prosperity and ethical development.
As leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) convened in Kuala Lumpur this past week for the 47th ASEAN Summit, the region now stands on the threshold of a new economic era — one shaped by rapid digital transformation, sustainability imperatives, and the shared pursuit of inclusive prosperity. Mohamad Yasin Abdullah, Maybank Group CEO, Islamic Banking and CEO of Maybank Islamic Berhad shares his views about how the region can unlock inclusive and ethical growth, and what the next chapter of Islamic finance might look like.
Q: You mentioned Islamic social finance. How do you see it contributing to regional development goals?
A: Social finance is one of the most powerful expressions of what Islamic finance stands for. It’s about ensuring that financial success translates into real, positive impact for communities.
Within Maybank Islamic, for instance, our social finance programmes have impacted over 66,000 beneficiaries across ASEAN utilising over RM35 million of our business zakat funds, supporting several of the UN Sustainable Development Goals such as poverty alleviation, access to basic needs namely electricity and clean water and economic empowerment of the underserved communities.
More broadly, the Islamic finance ecosystem brings additional mechanisms—such as zakat, waqf and risk-sharing models—that can strengthen the region’s capacity to align financial solutions with social impact. These tools complement the wider industry’s shift towards values-based finance, reinforcing how both Islamic and conventional finance approaches can work together to drive more inclusive and purposeful growth.
Q: Digitalisation seems to be a recurring theme in financial transformation. How is it shaping the future of Islamic finance in ASEAN?
A: ASEAN sees advanced technologies like artificial intelligence, 5G, and digital infrastructure as key drivers of its future economy and social development while anchoring the digital transformation in values like inclusivity, ethics and sustainability.
Islamic finance too sees digitalisation as central in its next phase of development, to transform how people access financial services, how banking and financial products are designed, and even how the banks measure impact.
Malaysia is already leading in this space as it leverages fintech, digital platforms and data-driven innovation to open new pathways for financial inclusion and impact. The government’s recent initiatives announced at Budget 2026—such as the digitisation and tokenisation of Sukuk for retail trading—are all forward-looking steps that can make capital markets more efficient, transparent, and inclusive.
At Maybank Islamic, we’ve been exploring ways to integrate Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) into our Islamic offerings. The idea is to open our platform to partners and innovators, enabling them to build new solutions that reach underserved communities while staying true to Shariah principles.
Digital innovation also presents opportunities to modernise traditional Islamic social instruments like zakat and waqf, allowing them to be managed more transparently and channelled more effectively to social causes.
Q: Another area of growth is the Halal economy. How do Islamic finance and the Halal sector reinforce each other?
A: ASEAN’s agenda envisions a region where the halal food industry is coordinated and export-ready, food systems are resilient and trade-enabled via streamlined supply chains, and smaller enterprises are positioned to tap into regional and global markets through improved standards and infrastructure.
In our view, the Halal economy and Islamic finance are two sides of the same coin. Both are rooted in ethical, Shariah-compliant principles, and both are expanding rapidly across ASEAN.
For Malaysia, we are lucky because our ecosystem is particularly well integrated—from Halal certification and logistics to Islamic banking and Takaful. This creates a strong foundation for cross-border trade and investment within ASEAN and beyond. The halal businesses are often the SMEs and they are the backbone of local economies, and empowering them can drive job creation, innovation, and export competitiveness across the region.
In recent years, Maybank Islamic has played a catalytic role in this space, supporting Halal SMEs through tailored financing models that encourage both competitiveness and sustainability. Our ongoing partnerships with ecosystem enablers across ASEAN aim to empower Halal businesses to expand cross-border, access capital efficiently, and integrate sustainability practices into their operations. Our Salaam Market platform (Malaysia’s first B2B Halal marketplace) launched in Malaysia last year will soon be expanded to Singapore and moving forward, we aspire to expand to more countries by focusing on robust beyond banking propositions as we leverage our presence in ASEAN and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.
Q: What will define the next chapter of Islamic finance in ASEAN and how do you see Islamic banks like Maybank Islamic fit into this?
A: I believe three factors will shape the next phase: digital inclusion, sustainability, and collaboration.
Digital tools will make Islamic financial products more accessible and affordable. Sustainability—through green and social Sukuk, ESG integration, and purpose-driven investments—will ensure that growth benefits people and the planet. ASEAN’s strength lies in its diversity, and if we can leverage our shared values to build a cohesive regional Islamic finance framework, we can create an ecosystem that supports long-term resilience and prosperity.
Where are we as a bank in all this? Being the largest Islamic bank in Asia Pacific by asset size, we are committed to serve with purpose.
Over the last five years, we have maintained top-tier leadership in the Sukuk ringgit league and the top global arranger in terms of issuances as at end September 2025—while pioneering green and sustainability-linked issuances that advance climate-resilient development.
In 2024, our financing assets stood at US$70.7 billion while profit before tax at US$0.9 billion. Backed by prudent Shariah, risk and compliance management, we offer full suite of banking and unique digital Shariah solutions to over 12 million retail and non-retail customers.
Our Islamic banking transformation journey began from 2010, from being compliant-oriented to value-based and purpose driven and having built a strong foundation in product manufacturing, we are now evolving into a product innovator to provide the best to our customers.
Leveraging Maybank Group’s international operations and its more than 40,000 workforce globally, we are well-positioned to become a leading global Islamic finance institution via key areas of Islamic corporate and investment banking, Islamic wealth management, global halal partner and a global innovative bank. This will give us the opportunity to deepen the ASEAN Integration by leveraging our expertise and ecosystem to drive cross border product offerings.
Q: Finally, what’s your vision for Malaysia’s role moving forward?
A: As ASEAN embraces deeper economic integration, Islamic finance can serve as a unifying pillar — fostering shared prosperity through values-based finance. By combining Malaysia’s experience, ASEAN’s digital potential, and our collective commitment to sustainability, we can build a future where finance is not only profitable, but purposeful.