Malaysia-based fund house, Maybank Asset Management, has chosen Standard Chartered Malaysia as the trustee for its newly-launched Maybank Bosera Greater China Asean Equity-I Fund, it was announced last week.
The fund sits under the ASEAN Collective Investment Scheme (CIS) umbrella, an initiative launched in 2013 which enables retail investors in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand to directly purchase products using a streamlined process.
The cross-border ‘passporting’ scheme complies with a set of common standards agreed by the Securities Commission of Malaysia, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand.
The fund, which has been approved by the Securities Commission of Malaysia, was launched on 27 April to invest in Shariah-compliant assets. It will be available to retail investors in the three Asian markets, and also distributed across the Standard Chartered footprint.
“The launch of this first-of-its-kind Shariah-compliant fund is timely, given the burgeoning Islamic wealth management market,” said the bank in a statement.
Timely
Nor’ Azamin Salleh, chief executive of Maybank Asset Management Group Berhad, said: “The ASEAN passport fund scheme is a boon for Maybank AM because it facilitates greater cross-border offerings of funds, allowing us to easily reach beyond domestic borders.
“With greater adoption of this scheme, we anticipate significant growth in such retail funds over the next few years.
“This partnership can be the cornerstone of future collaborations that will not only tap into the market potential of one of the world’s more dynamic regions, but will hopefully help to raise standards of commercial and regulatory expertise across the region.”
Milestone
News has also emerged that Standard Chartered in Malaysia and Singapore will be working together with several of Maybank AM’s subsidiaries to provide custody and fund services out of Singapore.
“We are very excited to be partnering Maybank in this milestone launch,” said Margaret Harwood-Jones, head of the investors and intermediaries team at Standard Chartered.
“With a global Muslim population of over two billion and conventional investors looking for safe alternative investment schemes, the growth opportunities for this market versus the conventional banking fund market are tremendous.”
