BusinessTimes
ING Funds Bhd is gearing itself to play a leading role in developing and marketing Islamic funds for the group in the Asia-Pacific.
Chief executive officer Steven Ong said ING Investment Management (IIM), an investment manager with US$535 billion (RM1.8 trillion) assets under management, is considering investing more resources to make Malaysia its centre for the issuing of global syariah-compliant funds.
Once the plan is in place, ING Malaysia will launch syariah-compliant funds, not only locally but also market them throughout the region, Ong said.
"For syariah-compliant funds, we want to position ourselves as the development hub for ING Asia Pacific," Ong told reporters after launching the company's latest fund, ING Baraka Commodities Capital Protected in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
IIM has 13 locations with another due to start operations in Dubai.
"Malaysia is in very good position to support the rest of the ING's affiliate offices in the region. We are in the planning stage and looking at it seriously. The regional office has to approve the setting up. Obviously, we have to bring in more fund managers," he said.
"We can expect to start next year in the first quarter," Ong added.
ING Funds was launched in 2004, and has achieved this year's target of RM2 billion assets under management as at end of last month.
The fund manager is planning to offer at least one or two more Syariah-compliant funds next year.
Meanwhile, its latest fund offers exposure to two main board commodity sectors within the Dow Jones Islamic Market World Index (DJIMWI), namely basic materials (ranging from metals, chemicals to forestry) and oil and gas (reliable energy source).
The fund was designed to provide investors capital protection on their initial investment and potential aggressive capital growth through an actively managed commodity index.
The index, known as SGAM (Societe Generale Asset Management) Al Baraka Commodity Index, consists of top 30 global equities in the basic materials and oil and gas sectors selected from the DJIMWI.
The fund has an approved fund size of 200 million units and will be on offer for 45 days from October 2 to November 15 2007, with a minimum initial investment of RM5,000.
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