Racheal Lee Mei Nyee reported on 16 February in The Edge Daily, that Nomura Islamic Asset Management Sdn Bhd plans to launch its first product by the second half of this year for the Malaysian market before venturing into the Gulf and other Asian regions, its managing director Toru Nakano said.
The company had set a rather conservative target of USD 1 bn (RM3.6 billion) worth of funds under management within five years. The conventional division currently manages more than USD 1 bn of funds, which are invested both locally and overseas. The Nomura Group had had a presence in the Middle East for 35 years, it was yet to be familiar with Islamic finance and asset management.
News Agency Bernama reported on 29 January that 3 new foreign Islamic fund management companies (IFMCs) have been approved by the Securities Commission to start operations in Malaysia:
The new companies are Aberdeen Islamic Asset Management Sdn Bhd, BNP Paribas Islamic Asset Management Sdn Bhd and Nomura Islamic Asset Management Sdn Bhd; the others who have been approved to establish operations are Kuwait Finance House (Malaysia), DBS Asset Management, CIMB-Principal Asset Management, Global Investment House and Reliance Asset Management.