Islamic Banks To Adopt Standardised Master Agreements

KUALA LUMPUR -- The Association of Islamic Banking Institutions Malaysia (AIBIM) has adopted two standardised interbank master agreements for deposit-taking and placement transactions.

Its president, Datuk Zukri Samat, said the standardised agreements were Interbank Murabahah Master Agreement (IMMA) and Master Agency Agreement (MAA).

He said just like any other money market products, the success of commodity murabahah-based instruments would depend a lot on the existence of a standardised document as well as universally-acceptable structure and widely recognised by the market.

"Understanding this prerequisite, AIBIM, at the request of and driven by its members, has developed common and standardised documents, comprising the MAA and the IMMA, which can be used by Islamic banking institutions for their interbank transactions involving deposit-taking and placement," he said.

Zukri said this in his speech at the launch of the master agreements by Bank Negara Malaysia governor, Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, here today.

The MAA and IMMA are bilateral agreements between the deposit-placing entity (DPE) or the principal and the deposit-taking entity or the bank.

As an agent, the bank will receive instructions from the principal to buy commodities from suppliers.

He said the purchase by the DTE or the bank would be effected upon spot payment and immediate delivery by suppliers.

"Upon conclusion of the commodity purchase by the bank on behalf of the principal, the bank may subsequently offer to purchase the commodities from the principal on a deferred cash payment basis, at an agreed sale price that takes into consideration the initial purchase price and the profit amount," he said.

Zukri said the sale would then be effected upon acceptance of the offer by the principal.

"Eventually, the adoption of both IMMA and MAA should help set the stage for a critical mass of Commodity Murabahah-based financial transactions ahead of the anticipated launch in July 2009 of Bursa Malaysia's Commodity Murabahah House, an international spot commodity platform," he said.