CIMB Islamic Fund Launched

The CIMB Islamic liquidity fund, which was officially launched yesterday, is the first-ever Islamic Public Fund to be domiciled and registered in Brunei. It is a Syariah compliant, open-ended investment instrument that was approved by the national Syariah Financial Supervisory Board in February this year. Bank Islam Brunei Berhad is the custodian bank for this fund.

From The Star Online:

CIMB Group has started an Islamic fund in Brunei that will invest in US dollar assets, the first such fund in the country, to increase its business in Asia.The CIMB Islamic Imtiyaz Liquidity Fund USD would invest in investment-grade Islamic commercial papers and bonds, certificates of deposit, mortgage-backed securities and repurchase agreements, CIMB Group said in a release.

The fund will be offered to investors in Brunei and overseas.

“We aim to meet the growing regional and global demand for Islamic investment products,” said Badlisyah Abdul Ghani, group head of Kuala Lumpur-based CIMB Islamic.

“In doing this, you can be rest assured that Brunei, undoubtedly, will remain high on our shortlist of possible bases to domicile some of these products.”

The bank wants to lure new investments and tap rising demand for Islamic financial products in Asia, where more than half the world’s 1.3 billion Muslims reside.

The minimum investment in the Islamic fund, which is benchmarked against the seven-day dollar deposit rate, ranges from US$100,000 to US$1mil. The average maturity of the investments is three months or less, CIMB said.