The fourth largest group of companies in Malaysia, RHB, will reportedly launch its first $100 million co-branded Islamic Index fund at the end of next month.
The fund, the 'Dow Jones-RHB Islamic Malaysia Index Fund' (DJ-RHBIMIF), will mainly target investors in the GCC states.
The RHB move aims to attract more foreign investments in sophisticated instruments, reported the <i>Bahrain Tribune</i>.
DJ-RHBIMIF will be an open-ended fund that tracks the Index and is designed to be passively managed with a low tracking error, according to the Chief Executive Officer of RHB Securities, Zaha Rina Zahari.
The new Islamic Market Index will help investors to benchmark their Islamic investment portfolios in prominent Malaysian firms whose activities conform to Islamic investment guidelines.
Zahari told reporters, "The index component stocks will be carefully monitored by Dow Jones Shri’ah Supervisory Board to ensure the integrity of the index based solely on global Islamic investing principles.”
Malaysia will also be the first Islamic banking hub in the world to launch the Islamic Index fund by utilizing the Dow Jones matrixes and legal framework. The country launched the first Islamic sukuk in the 1990’s.
Malaysian Ambassador Naimum Mohammed Ashkali reported that his country was one of the fastest growing economies in East Asia, recording annual economic growth of at least five percent.
