KUALA LUMPUR, 17 October 2019: BIMB Investment Management Berhad (“BIMB Investment”) today announced the launch of the long-awaited Global Shariah-ESG Equity fund for retail investors in conjunction with BIMB Investment’s ESG Investment Talk 2019: “Sustainability for Financial Rewards” at The Ritz Carlton Kuala Lumpur.
The BIMB-ARABESQUE i Global Dividend Fund 1 (“BiGDF1”), Malaysia’s first Artificial Intelligence Fund and the nation’s largest global shariah equity fund was previously launched in November 2015 for sophisticated investors with initial investment of RM30,000 is now made available for subscription by retail investors with initial investment amount of only RM500.
“BIGDF1 investment process and strategy have demonstrated resilience by delivering outperformance and to withstand market volatility. The Fund’s state-of-the-art investment technology with the ability to rebalance its portfolio on daily basis and integrates both shariah and ESG screening delivered consistent risk-adjusted investment performance. As at 4 October 2019, the fund’s three years performance stood at 25.46% and rated as Leader for Consistent Return and Total Return by Lipper. The fund’s size closing to RM1 billion year to date reflects investors’ confidence and trust of the fund’s performance over the past three years,” BIMB Investment CEO, Najmuddin Mohd Lutfi said in a statement.
The retail version of BiGDF1 was officially launched by YBhg Datuk Seri Dr. Mujahid Yusof Rawa, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office together with YBhg Datuk Zamani Abdul Ghani, Chairman of Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad, Encik Mohamed Ridza Abdulla, Chairman of BIMB Investment, Georg Kell, Chairman of Arabesque Partners and Encik Najmuddin Mohd Lutfi, BIMB Investment Chief Executive Officer.
“I am proud BIMB Investment is known as the biggest Shariah-ESG local fund house. They have shown tremendous success with proven track record for over the years, offering the widest range of Shariah-ESG investment solutions. They are the pioneer in this field to utilize modern technology through artificial intelligence (AI) and big data analytics. This goes to show that managing investments, Shariah-compliancy, the universal principle of transparency and good governance in Islam are important criterion that are imperative in determining the value of companies and corporations,’’ said YB Datuk Seri Mujahid. Datuk Seri also applauds BIMB Investment’s initiative to take the first step to revolutionized investment by introducing the first Wakaf unit trust fund soon.
“The topic on Sustainability for Financial Rewards is a great opportunity and probably will be a game changer for everyone. It is important to continuously educating the public on the sustainability issues as to create more awareness in this area as the society is evolving, adapting to a new environment towards smarter, cleaner, and healthier marketplace,” Ridza Mohamed Abdulla who was recently appointed as the new Chairman of BIMB Investment said.
Georg Kell, who is also the founding Executive Director of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) shared his insights on sustainability, its impact to financial and corporate stability during his keynote speech ‘‘Sustainability for Financial Rewards’’ at BIMB Investment inaugural ESG Investment Talk exclusively for corporate and institutional investors.
BIMB Investment has recently won Malaysia’s Best Islamic Asset & Fund Manager for the third consequent year and Best Risk-Adjusted Returns for ESG Principle Investments Fund Manager at the Alpha Southeast Asia Best Islamic Finance Awards 2019. The company has been awarded as the Best ESG Asset Manager of the year 2019 by The Asset Triple A Islamic Finance Awards 2019, an award in recognition of its significant contributions and achievements in ESG, sustainability and asset management in Asia.
