DOHA: Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) and Qatar’s leading investment bank QInvest, have launched a new range of innovative Shari’ah-compliant funds, the “Shiraa Funds”.
Shiraa Funds are a range of innovative products investing into a selection of global Shariah-compliant funds, and spanning across international equity and sukuk markets with the objective to deliver sustainable and attractive long term performance to QIB clients.
The Shiraa Funds will be initially offered to QIB’s Private, Tamayuz and Wholesale banking clients. Shiraa Funds’ main advantage is that clients can choose which fund to invest in depending on their preferred risk and return profile. Each of the options offers a different type of potential return and hence carries a different level of associated risk: Shiraa Defensive Fund focuses strongly on capital preservation with a low level of risk. Shiraa Moderate Fund achieves competitive returns by taking a moderate level of risk and Shiraa Long-Term Fund will accomplishes higher returns by taking higher levels of risk.
The investment process uses a top-down approach in which different asset classes are combined together to target different return ranges as well as a bottom-up approach in selecting talented investment managers who take advantage of market movements by paying close attention to fundamentals.
The Shiraa Funds will be managed by the Asset Management team of QInvest. The Shiraa Funds will be made through the QInvest Managed Account Platform (QMAP) which was launched last year and offers a highly diverse product range for Sharia-compliant investors globally. QMAP is unique in that it is the first fully Shariah-compliant managed account platform, which allows the team to build and distribute custom products for clients across multiple asset classes. It provides investors with the opportunity to select from a range of high quality Sukuk and equity funds that are managed by top tier professional teams.
Bassel Gamal, Group Chief Executive Officer of QIB, said, “The launch of Shiraa Funds, QIB’s newest investment proposition, marks yet another milestone in our growth, and the result of a fruitful collaboration with QInvest. The aim is to deliver sustainable and attractive long-term performance to QIB clients. The new funds signal the start of QIB’s offering of portfolio management to our clients.”
He added, “Shiraa Funds will bring a number of benefits to investors including the choice of the most suitable fund for each client, best in class investments. The funds enjoy the best performing Shariah-compliant investment vehicles available to investors and active management, as Shiraa Funds are being actively managed by Qinvest, thus ensuring on-going monitoring and analysis of current and potential investments.”
Tamim Hamad Al Kawari, Chief Executive Officer of QInvest, commented, “These new products are very much in line with the new strategy for our Asset Management division which was recently announced. This cooperation with our largest shareholder, QIB, is a testament of the benefits of the new strategy.”
The Peninsula
