PHOTO CAPTION: Caption (left to right): Dato’ Charon Wardini Mokhzani, Chief Executive Officer, CIMB Investment Bank; Dato’ Sri Nazir Razak, Group Chief Executive, CIMB Group; HRH Crown Prince of Perak, Raja Dato' Dr Nazrin Shah Ibni Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah, Financial Ambassador of Malaysia International Islamic Finance Centre (MIFC); Tan Sri Zarinah Anwar, Chairman, Securities Commission Malaysia and Jim McCaughan, President and Chief Executive Officer, Principal Financial Group, at the establishment of CIMB-Principal Islamic’s International Funds in Ireland.
CIMB Group Holdings Bhd’s joint venture company, CIMB-Principal Islamic Asset Management Sdn Bhd (CIMB-Principal Islamic), has recently obtained the approval from the Central Bank of Ireland to establish CIMB-Principal Islamic Asset Management (Ireland) Public Ltd.
In a statement by the bank on Jan 16, it said that CIMB-Principal Islamic Ireland, the first Malaysian-based international Islamic funds platform domiciles in Dublin, will act as an investment manager of a Dublin-based Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) for Islamic funds.
“Under the newly-launched platform, CIMB-Principal Islamic is registering three new UCITS-compliant equity funds which are the Islamic Global Emerging Markets Fund, the Islamic Asia-Pacific ex-Japan Fund and the Islamic Asean Equity Fund.
“These funds will eventually be registered and distributed in seven jurisdictions, the US, Switzerland, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Singapore. CIMB-Principal Islamic is the investment manager and master distributor for the funds,” it said.
CIMB-Principal Islamic is a 50:50 joint-venture Malaysian-based Islamic global asset management company between CIMB Group Holdings Bhd and Principal Global Investors.
CIMB Investment Bank Bhd chief executive officer Datuk Charon Wardini Mokhzani said institutional and retail investors globally will be able to see CIMB-Principal Islamic’s asset management track record with the new Islamic fund range in Ireland.
“If the funds do well, not only will they attract investment but institutional investors may also appoint CIMB-Principal Islamic to manage their discretionary mandates too.
“This pioneering initiative to internationalise Malaysian Islamic asset management capabilities clearly supports the Malaysia International Islamic Financial Centre’s (MIFC) aspiration to be a global hub for Islamic finance,” he said.
[By Farah Adilla, The Malaysian Reserve; Jan 17, 2012]
