The fund house said the launch of the RHB-OSK Islamic Regional Balanced Fund comes at a time when there is “significant interest” in Islamic finance by Hong Kong and cross-border investors.
The initiative follows the recent mutual agreement between the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) in Hong Kong and the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) to further develop the Islamic capital markets and Islamic collective investment schemes in both countries.
RHB AM is a wholly owned subsidiary of RHB Investment Bank and Malaysia's second largest retail and institutional fund manager with assets over $13.96bn (RM45.55bn).
Ho Seng Yee, chief executive and regional head of retail distribution said he was “encouraged by the increasing interest” and market demand in the Islamic finance industry in Hong Kong.
“This coupled with the ongoing promotional effort by both the SFC and SC has helped to pave the way for Islamic finance products to be offered in Hong Kong. We believe there is significant appetite by investors interested in participating in Islamic investment products as an alternative to other traditional options,” Ho added.
In order to tap into this demand, the fund house also plans to introduce two more Shariah-compliant funds in Hong Kong in next year, he added.
“We hope that this will further propel RHBAM towards our aspiration of becoming a regional ASEAN fund house and a major player in the Islamic fund management industry.”
The balanced fund will invest at least 40% of the assets in Shariah-compliant equities and up to 60% of the corpus in non-equity Shariah-compliant investments which comprises sukuk, Islamic money market instruments, and Islamic deposits with financial institutions.
The investment universe will span the Asia Pacific region, including China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan.
Investors are able to purchase the fund at a minimum initial investment of $1,000 while additional units can be purchased at a minimum of $100.
RHB Asset Management on Monday also lunched a global Islamic bond fund in Malaysia.
