The SE, the first of its kind in Asean, will be a dedicated fundraising platform for projects with positive social outcomes which mobilises private and philanthropy capital to meet the needs of the underprivileged.

He said the SC will establish an advisory committee to speed up the implementation of the exchange with proper governance and assurance within its framework. It will include representatives from the SC, finance ministry (MoF) and Bursa Malaysia.

“We want to time the official operation of the exchange with the Asean Summit, which will be chaired by Malaysia in 2025,” he said on the sidelines of the Global Forum on Islamic Economics and Finance (GFIEF).

Awang Adek said the SE will enable entities such as NGOs, social enterprises and state Islamic religious councils to fund social projects.

He said the implementation of the SE was inspired by India’s Social Stock Exchange, which is a segment of its National Stock Exchange and the Bombay Stock Exchange.

“In India, this is run on their stock exchange, so we will have to explore whether it can be run by Bursa Malaysia. That’s one possible option,” he said.

The SE was one of the two initiatives announced by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at the GFIEF yesterday.

He said the SE initiative provides a platform for social enterprises and nonprofit organisations to raise funds at zero coupon and zero capital repayments for projects benefitting the underprivileged, fostering a more inclusive and equitable financial ecosystem in the process.

The other initiative is introducing fundraising for waqf developments through peer-to-peer (P2P) financing and equity crowdfunding platforms, with the government providing matching funding through the Malaysia Co-Investment Fund (MyCIF) at 0% financing rate.