IslamicFinance.de

Noor Bank entered a successful collaboration with Azimut (DIFC) to launch the largest US-dollar Islamic fixed maturity plan (FMP) in the UAE under a Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) domiciliation. Raising Dhs507 million in subscriptions within two weeks of its launch, the FMP that will mature in four years is set to provide an income of 5% per annum through investing in sukuk portfolio. Noor Bank began operations in Dubai in 2008 as an Islamic financial institution. Azimut is Italy’s leading independent asset manager (active since 1989). The parent company Azimut Holding was listed on the Italian stock exchange on 7 July 2004 (AZM.MI) and, among others, is a member of the main Italian index FTSE MIB.

Bricklane’s funds have been certified as compliant by the Shariah Committee of Minarah Consulting chaired by Sheikh Faizal Manjoo. Through Bricklane’s online platform, individuals can invest flexibly in geographically focussed funds that buy and let residential properties, one focussed on London, and another on the Regional Capitals of Leeds, Manchester and Birmingham. Available through ISAs and SIPPs, and with Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) tax status, it is the most tax-efficient way to invest in UK residential property. Performance for the Bricklane funds has been strong in both absolute and relative terms, with the Regional Capitals fund returning 8.7% to investors in its first year, and its London fund returning 10% at its first anniversary in July 2018.

The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) has established an investment fund aimed at curbing Palestinian poverty. The fund will help finance the Palestinian People’s Economic Empowerment Institution. The Palestinian government has given instructions to the Ministry of Social Development to prepare to launch the institution in mid-2019. The poor inside Palestine are the institution’s first target, and priority will be given to areas Israel has targeted with economic restrictions such as Gaza, the Jordan Valley, Jerusalem, the areas adjacent to the settlements and the West Bank wall. It will also work to empower women and the poor abroad, particularly those living in Palestinian refugee camps.

Malaysia’s Shariah-compliant BIMB Investment Management launched the world’s first environmental, social and governance (ESG) sukuk fund on August 1. BIMB’s ESG Sukuk Fund is the company’s fifth ESG-focused fund as a result of its partnership since 2015 with London-based Arabesque Asset Management. BIMB Investment CEO Najmuddin Mohd Lutfi said the company plans to launch more ESG that incorporates fintech like artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, data analytics. The next investment focus could be in U.S. equity and multi-asset funds.

There are three Sharia-compliant mutual funds in India: Tata Ethical, Taurus Ethical and Reliance ETF Shariah BeES. The first two are actively-managed multi-cap schemes and Reliance ETF Sharia BeES is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that invests in the Nifty50 Sharia Index.
There are also sectoral funds with investment in Reliance Pharma, ICICI Pru Pharma Healthcare & Diagnostics, SBI Technology Opportunities, ICICI Pru Technology or Franklin India Technology. However, these funds are vulnerable to cyclical fluctuations in their respective sector.

The Managing Director of Jaiz Bank Hassan Usman has said the bank would soon begin the disbursement of the $20m facility for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The bank had in March signed the agreement with the Islamic Corporation for the Development of Private Sector to finance SMEs with $20m (N6.1bn). Usman said the bank would soon begin the disbursement, adding that the fund would be disbursed before the end of the year. He said the bank had commenced a five year strategic plan to provide better services to its customers. For example, the bank had increased its visibility in Lagos by opening more branches and plans to extend to other regions of the country as well.

The Saudi-based International Islamic Trade Finance Corp (ITFC) plans to launch a $300 million fund alongside U.S. fund manager Federated Investors. The sharia-compliant fund is expected to launch later this year and would invest in energy-related structured trade, supply chain financing and project finance assets of sovereign entities. The fund will be managed by ITFC with input from Federated Investors. The two firms have worked together on Islamic trade finance transactions since 2014.

Physical Gold Fund SP (PGF) has been endorsed as Shariah-compliant by Amanie Advisors. Amanie Advisors issued the fatwa in accordance with the Shariah Standard on Gold set by the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) and developed in cooperation with the World Gold Council. According to Alex Stanczyk, managing director of Physical Gold Fund SP, this fund is unique in the Mena region and is a perfect fit for the values expected by Islamic investors.

Sigma Pensions has commenced plans to boost investments in private equity through Sharia Funds. Chairman Mark Collier stated this in a conference hosted by the firm recently in Lagos. According to Collier, there is huge interest in Sharia Funds, and Sigma is interested in providing greater choices for its investors and contributors. Sigma CEO David Uduanu said it was vital to discuss ways to increase the penetration of pension funds in private equity. He said Sigma Pensions has started a conversation between the pension funds and the private equity industry that would lead to more investments of pension funds in private equity and more investment of private equities in Nigerian SME’s.

BIMB Invest is expected to achieve a subscription of RM100 million of its BIMB-Arabesque ValueCAP Malaysia Shariah-ESG Equity Fund within a year. The fund was launched together with Arabesque Asset Management and ValueCAP and approved by the Securities Commission Malaysia. As the fund is mainly targeted at corporate and institutional investors, BIMB Invest is hoping to get the likes of pension funds, insurance and takaful firms on board. The fund will invest in about 100 local listed companies that are Shariah-compliant as well as in line with ESG practices. It will analyse the ESG factors of each company using Arabesque’s proprietary methodology, the Arabesque S-Ray, which daily assesses the performance of companies.

BIMB Investment is targeting RM100 million in subscription for its newly launched BIMB-Arabesque ValueCAP Malaysia Shariah-ESG Equity Fund. The fund will be invested in 100 local shariah compliant companies listed on Bursa Malaysia. BIMB Investment CEO Najmuddin Mohd Lutfi said the investments would be based on selected companies that have strong financial standing. He said companies who are interested to increase their social responsible investment (SRI) and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) portfolios should also tap into this fund.

Lotus Capital, a full-service, Halal investment management company listed its Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The listing event was commemorated with a Closing Gong ceremony.

Franklin Templeton is evaluating opportunities to expand its Shariah business, which grew 32 percent in 2017. Franklin Templeton funds have become Qualified Foreign Investors (QFI) in Saudi Arabia, allowing the funds to invest directly in the kingdom’s stock market, it was announced on Monday. Sandeep Singh, Franklin Templeton’s regional head of Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa and head of Islamic Business said, that they operated in the Middle East and North Africa for almost 20 years and that they will remain dedicated to growing their business alongside the region’s growth.

ABL Asset Management has launched the ABL Islamic Asset Allocation Fund (ABLIAAF), an open-end Shariah Compliant Asset Allocation Scheme. The fund is now open for subscription. ABL Islamic Asset Allocation Fund will operate under the guidelines of Al-Hilal Shariah Advisors Private Limited. The Shariah Supervisory Counsel is headed by Mufti Irshad Ahmad Aijaz, who is a renowned Shariah Scholar. ABLIAAF will invest in Shariah Compliant Equity, Fixed Income, Money Market Instruments and other permitted instruments. ABL Asset Management CEO Alee Khalid Ghaznavi said with this launch the company further expanded its offerings including Income Funds, Money Market Funds, Stock Funds, Fund of Funds, Asset allocation schemes and Pension Funds in both Islamic and Conventional manner.

US-based Blossom Finance recently launched a fund that will lend local-currency on the Indonesian island of Java via Permodalan BMT (PBMT) Ventura. Baitul Maal wat Tamwil (BMTs) are financial institutions that follow Shariah law. They provide savings and loan services primarily to people who do not use traditional banks. The new fund is Blossom’s first microfinance fund that is open to investment from the public. The minimum investment is USD 1,000, although US-based investors must be accredited before participation. Blossom is accepting investments into the fund in US dollars as well as the cryptocurrencies Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum. In testing its platform since 2015, Blossom has generally returned investors annualized profits around 7% with terms of 6 to 12 months.

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) launched a $500 million fund to strengthen science, technology and innovation in the Muslim World. The launch of the fund was made at the IDB's 43rd Annual Meeting in Tunis. The fund had been announced for the first time in Kazakhstan in September 2017, by the IDB President, Dr. Bandar Hajjar. He said 57 IDB member countries face challenges in development and many of them could not solve their problems on their own. He added that the IDB wants to be a catalyst so that people can lead the process of development. Dr. Hayat Sindi, chief scientific adviser to the IDB president, said the bank would like to give every scientist an opportunity to provide solutions to development challenges. She said the aim of the fund was to give a boost to creative minds.

Public Mutual has on Tuesday launched an e-series fund called Public e-Islamic Flexi Allocation Fund (PeIFAF). The fund's objective is to achieve capital growth over the medium to long-term by investing up to 98% of its net asset value in Shariah-compliant equities or sukuk. Public Mutual CEO Yeoh Kim Hong said PeIFAF has a flexible fund mandate that enables the fund managers to capitalise on investment opportunities. The minimum initial and additional investment amount is only RM100 and the sales charge is up to 3.75%. The initial issue price for PeIFAF is 25 sen per unit during the 21-day initial offer period from Tuesday to April 23. To coincide with the launch of this fund, it is holding a campaign during the initial offer period. The campaign offers 203 prizes. The grand prize is RM3,000 of money market fund units.

On the 4th of February, Rabat will be the host city for a workshop introducing a multimillion-dollar fund from the Islamic Development Bank called Transform to Morocco. The fund is intended to stimulate growth in science, technology and innovation and its first undertaking is an online platform called Engage. This venture will help match businesses with innovators and will fund scientific initiatives. The February workshop will be presented by Dr Hayat Sindi, who will meet with chief Ministers and Government Agencies during her tour in Morocco. She will meet spokespeople from the Ministry of High Education, Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of Industry, Investment, Trade and Digital Economy.

Saudi SEDCO Capital announced the offering of its first Shariah-compliant real estate investment traded fund SEDCO Capital REIT. The fund will be offered to the general public through an initial public offer during the period of Jan. 24 to Feb. 6. With an occupancy rate of over 92%, SEDCO Capital’s real estate portfolio has grown to include seven assets across various geographical regions. According to CEO Hasan Al-Jabri, SEDCO Capital Real Estate Income Fund targets to generate an initial net yield of 7% through the acquisition of additional assets and by utilizing capital. To facilitate the offering period, three receiving entities were appointed for investors to subscribe, these include NCB, Al Rajhi Bank and Samba Financial Group.

Affin Hwang Asset Management has launched the TradePlus Shariah Gold Tracker (GOLDETF MK) on Bursa Malaysia, the first commodity-tracking ETF listed in Malaysia. The fund provides investors with exposure to gold through a shariah-compliant investment structure. The fund tracks the LBMA Gold Price AM Index by investing in physical gold bars purchased from London Bullion Market Association-accredited refineries. Datuk Seri Tajuddin Atan, CEO of Bursa Malaysia, said this ETF would allow investors to buy and sell gold in the same manner as trading shares on Bursa Malaysia. The government of Malaysia has also announced that ETFs traded on Bursa Malaysia will be exempted from stamp duty starting from 1 January 2018. GOLDETF’s annual fees (including management, trustee and custody fees) is 0.76%.