When the Singapore government announced that Singapore will try to take a piece of the banking pie that is Islamic banking a few years ago, I said on this blog that it was an exercise in futility. Despite Singapore’s aim to be a banking hub, I thought the Islamic banking sector was never on because there was just no way we were ever going to be able to compete against Indonesia and Malaysia in Islamic banking.
It took them awhile but it’s seems Singapore finally got the idea as reports are out that DBS Group is getting out of the Islamic banking market. Competition is just too lopsided as the Islamic banking market in Singapore is worth only about $130 million while the Islamic market is $8 billion for Malaysia and $1.2 billion for Indonesia.
We are talking about millions while our neighbors are talking about billions! Frankly it’s no contest and there’s no doubt that Islamic banking is a battle Singapore has lost.