Ireland has ushered in its first Malaysian-managed fund platform this week.PARA_BREAK_SENTINEL_9f8e7d6c

Ireland has ushered in its first Malaysian-managed fund platform this week. The Central Bank of Ireland has approved the establishment of CIMB-Principal Islamic Asset Management (Ireland) Public Limited: a joint venture between Kuala Lumpur headquartered CIMB Group and Principal Global Investors, a global diversified asset management firm. The newly created joint venture will support a range of international Islamic funds on the platform from its Dublin domicile. With CIMB-Principal Islamic acting as investment manager, it will be the first platform to offer UCITS-compliant Islamic funds. To kick start the platform, three equity UCITS are being registered. They include: Islamic Global Emerging Markets Fund; Islamic Asia-Pacific ex-Japan Fund, and Islamic ASEAN Equity Fund.

Once registered the funds will be distributed in the UK, Switzerland, Germany, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Singapore. Commenting on the joint venture, Dato’ Charon Wardini Mokhzani, CEO of CIMB Investment Bank, said that 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”. Jim McCaughan, President and CEO, Principal Global Investors, added: “The combination of our global asset management expertise, with CIMB Principal Islamic’s leadership in Shariah investing provides a compelling case for investors. Principal Global Investors has had success for over a decade in our own UCITS platform and we are excited to share our knowledge and distribution with CIMB Principal Islamic.”