Fund top $1 billion

Gulf Daily News, 8 May 2006

By Tariq Khonji

Manama

Bahrain-listed Islamic funds have topped $1 billion (BD378 million) in assets, the highest concentration of Islamic funds in the world.

Bahrain Monetary Agency (BMA) governor Rasheed Al Maraj said this is out of the nearly $8bn (BD3bn) invested in BMA-registered funds.

"They have some way to catch up with their conventional counterparts, but the average annual growth in Islamic fund assets, over the past five years, has topped 20 per cent," he said.

BMA financial institutions supervision executive director Abdulrahman Al Baker said Islamic funds in Bahrain amount to 78 of about 200 Islamic funds that the agency is aware of worldwide - making it the highest concentration in any one country in the world.

Bahrain-based International Islamic Capital Market chief executive officer Ijlal Alvi said the industry had the potential to reach "trillions of dollars, if there was more innovation and better regulation".

They were speaking on the first day of the World Islamic Funds and Capital Markets Conference, which opened at the Gulf Hotel's Gulf International Convention and Exhibition Centre yesterday.

Over 200 investors, fund managers and others in the field are attending the two-day event.

Mr Al Maraj said the BMA strongly supports the mutual funds industry as an integral part of the financial sector.

Ijlal said the limited number of issuance currently restricts active trading of sukuk in the secondary market.

"As at end-2005, 1,882 funds were registered in Bahrain, of which 86 were locally incorporated funds, representing over $2.8bn (1.05bn) in assets under management," he said.

"Recent initiatives have included the streamlining of the application process and commercial registration process for mutual funds and the creation in 2004 of a new corporate vehicle, the so-called Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), that was better suited to mutual funds than the corporate vehicles previously available."

Reference: Funds top $1 billion

Islamic Capital &
Money Market
Unification
Read More