BIMB Investment Management Bhd along with its strategic partner, Arabesque Asset Management Holding Ltd, UK launched the BIMB-Arabesque Asia-Pacific Shariah-ESG Equity Fund. Being the first Asia-Pacific Big Data and Fintech fund in Malaysia, the Fund is another innovative product that sustains the country’s leadership as an Islamic finance marketplace.
The Fund is a Shariah and Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) compliant fund that invests in Asia-Pacific listed companies using financial technology and big data analytics, offering sustainable long-term capital appreciation opportunities.
“BIMB Invest is the first local fund management firm to implement a unique quantitative, rule-based, technology in Shariah-compliant equities by integrating ESG sustainability analysis with financial analysis that has certainly fulfil the diverse needs of clients with the right products, returns and seamless fund management processes across asset classes,” said Nik Mohd Hasyudeen Yusoff, Chairman of BIMB Invest.
According to Najmuddin Mohd Lutfi, CEO of BIMB Invest, the fund’s investment process uses Big Data analytics to process more than 100 billions of data points in evaluating and analysing 7,500 listed stocks in the Asia-Pacific region to identify the best 140 stocks on a quarterly basis, making it the first Islamic Asia-Pacific equity fund in Malaysia that uses ESG information with Big Data analytics capabilities.
The Fund is offered for subscription in the Malaysian Ringgit and US Dollar at RM0.25 and US$0.25 per unit respectively, for 21 calendar days during the initial offer period, from 19 January 2018 until 8 February 2018. The minimum initial investment required for the Fund is RM500 or USD500, with the target fund size expected to hit RM100 million over a one-year period.
