IslamicFinance.de

Event marks opening of world’s first global Islamic asset manager

Riyadh, 8 October 2012: The Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Riyadh will be the site of the grand opening launch ceremonies for Safa Investment Services on 8 October 2012. The event will include presentations from leading specialists in Saudi banking and finance.

Safa Investment Services is the newest part of the growing financial market activities at The Investor for Securities (“The Investor”), a CMA-licensed investment company founded in 2007 in Riyadh. Over the last two years The Investor has become what is considered the most profitable investment company in Saudi Arabia, with now over $1 billion in total Assets Under Management (“AUM”).

Featured speakers include Abdullah Alfouzan, Chairman of The Investor. Mr. Alfouzan, a longtime former senior manager at the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority, said, “We are pleased to open this new and exciting department at The Investor. It is part of our strategy to broaden our services to include managing international liquid assets. We see hundreds of billions of riyals in Saudi savings that need investments in both liquid and longer-term investments, yet no one until now concentrated on the liquid side, in particular for global capital markets investments. Safa is a perfect complement to our fast-growing real estate mutual funds business.”

Safa Investment Services resulted in an agreement between The Investor and the Geneva-based investment company Islamic Wealth & Asset Management S.A. (“IWAMSA”). The Swiss company, led by Islamic banking pioneer John A. Sandwick, merged advanced asset management practices with respect for sharia, creating a service that allows Muslims to benefit from global investments but without sacrificing their core beliefs.

Mr. Sandwick said, “Professionally managed assets worldwide are now around $80 trillion, of which Muslims own at least $3 trillion. What is striking is that almost none of that is invested with any respect for sharia. A lot of that is invested in the types of securities that actually accelerated the global financial crisis.”

Continuing, Mr. Sandwick said, “Sharia-compliant investing means sticking to true assets, assets which are producing good for the community and the economy. It means avoiding those investments that ultimately harm the global economy. As an added bonus we discovered that sharia-compliant investing produces superior profits than conventional investing.”

Another speaker at the Safa grand opening event is Sir Iqbal Sacranie, a respected British businessman who has been a strong advocate for Islamic trade and finance. He was the founding Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain and sits on the Board of number of international charitable and community organizations. He was appointed as a founding Board member of IWAMSA.

Knighted by the Queen in 2005 for services to charities and communities, Sir Iqbal says, “To date we have seen many financial companies create sharia-compliant products. This is commendable and we hope to see it grow many more times than today’s $100 billion in assets. However, randomly buying investment products can do more harm than good. What has been needed in the Islamic banking industry is a professional service that manages assets in an independent, disciplined, professional context, removing the negative effects of random asset allocation. Further, sharia compliance means ethical investing, a value that spans all faiths. With the launch of Safa we now have the world’s first Islamic asset manager, a notable achievement for everyone.”

Mr. Sandwick continues, “The power of Muslim savings has never been appropriately harnessed on a global level to give maximum benefit to the owners and beneficiaries of those savings. We have targeted awqaf (Islamic endowments) and takaful (Islamic insurance), in particular, as these forms of Muslim-world savings are most in need of professionalism and the benefits of diversification. Modern Portfolio Theory and its successors show conclusively that concentration of assets is like putting all your eggs in one basket. Everyone now understands those risks, and Safa is there to help investors avoid them.”

Safa Investment Services is a global portfolio management service delivered to the Saudi market by The Investor. The exclusive custodian bank for these services is Deutsche Bank AG Riyadh Branch, and the sharia advisor is Shariyah Review Bureau. The Investor is regulated by the Saudi Capital Market Authority. IWAMSA provides technical services to The Investor.

For further information see www.safainvest.com, www.theinvestor.com.sa and:

Ms. Randa Nouri
Administration Manager
Safa Investment Services
The Investor for Securities
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Telephone: +966-1-200-7002 x 182
randa@safainvest.com

and

Mr. Ali Jaafar
Operations Manager, Safa Investment Services
Islamic Wealth & Asset Management S.A.
Geneva, Switzerland

Telephone: +41-22-707-6547
ali@safainvest.com