Brunei aims to become regional financial hub

Brunei aims to become regional financial hub

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (AFP) - Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah
announced Saturday his kingdom has established a financial center
aimed at making the oil-rich state a regional hub.

The Brunei International Financial Center "is designed to make
our nation state as the financial center for monetary sector,
banks, security and insurance," he said in a speech to mark his
54th birthday.

"Such effort will provide employment opportunities, in
addition to allowing skill and technology transfer of the
financial arena to the locals," he added.

Brunei is attempting to diversify its oil-based economy, and
has long habored ambitions to become a financial hub, which
officials hope would rival neighboring Singapore and Malaysia.

Its ambition took on greater urgency after the Asian financial
crisis in 1997 and the collapse of construction group Amedeo
Corporation which saw Prince Jefri Bolkiah, the Sultan's brother,
accused of squandering billions of dollars from the country's
largest private company.

The collapse of Amedeo was estimated to have wasted some US$16
billion and severely set back the local economy, driven mainly by
the tiny Southeast Asian state's oil exports.

Deputy Finance Minister Selamat Munap has told Singapore
newspaper the Business Times the financial center would be
modeled "somewhere between the Singapore and Bahrain IFCs
(international financial centers)."

He said five legislations relating to international banking
and trusts were already in place, and regulations on insurance
licensing, securities and mutual funds would be ready by year-
end.

The planned financial center will offer both conventional and
Islamic facilities, he said.

In his speech, Sultan Bolkiah also said the government-owned
Development Bank of Brunei would be renamed the Islamic
Development Bank of Brunei (IDBB).

The IDBB will be managed according to Islamic laws under which
no interest is charged on loans, he said. The Sultan also called
on his subjects to uphold long-held values in the face of global
changes.

"We will continue to choose a positive values system and
uphold them. Such values include loyalty and love for the
religion, race, Crown and country," he added.

Early Saturday morning, members of the Royal Brunei Air Force,
the Royal Brunei Police Force and other uniformed officers held a
military parade and 21-gun salute for the Sultan at a stadium
here.