By Habhajan Singh
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd (BIMB) treasury head Norashikin Mohd Kassim is now the CEO at CIMB-Principal Islamic Asset Management Sdn Bhd.
She becomes the third CEO of the Islamic asset manager since it began operating in June 2008.
CIMB-Principal Islamic is a 50:50 partnership between CIMB Group Holdings Bhd and Principal Global Investors, the institutional asset manage- ment arm of the US-based Principal Financial Group.
The outfit was an effort to spin off the Islamic institutional mandates earlier managed by CIMB-Principal Asset Management Bhd.
It is understood that Norashikin has begun her stint at CIMB-Principal Islamic immediately after the holidays for the Hari Raya Aidilfitri.
Norashikin, who was the BIMB treasury director, takes over from Ramlie Kamsari who held the position since December 2012.
Prior to that, the outfit was led by Datuk Noripah Kamso from 2008 to 2012, during which she had established a global platform for the firm to extend its reach to UK, Europe, Gulf Cooperation Council, Asia, USA and Australia, according to information on her LinkedIn profile. Noripah was earlier the CEO of CIMB-Principal Asset Management from 2004 to 2008.
In her career, Norashikin had managed a landmark 30-year sukuk issue for a government authority and also steered the launch of a number of innovative Islamic reasury instruments like the profit rate swap, cross currency swap, Islamic options and Islamic structured investments.
The only person currently listed under “management” at CIMB-Pincipal Islamic’s website is Michael Zorich, its CIO.
In that role, he oversees all Islamic equity and sukuk investments managed by CIMB-Principal Islamic and plays an active role in the management of all global sukuk portfolios, it added.
CIMB-Principal Islamic is one of the 20 licensed Islamic fund managers as at end-2014, with an Islamic assets under management (AUM) totalling RM110.6 billion.
CIMB-Principal Islamic, whose principal activities are to establish and manage unit trust fund and fund management businesses in accordance with shariah principles, had an AUM of RM7.57 billion at end-2013. The AUM for 2014 is not available.
[This article first appeared in The Malaysian Reserve on 27 July 2015]
