BLME confirms launch of first Shari’ah-compliant money market fund

Bank of London and The Middle East plc ("BLME") has confirmed the launch of the Shari’ah Dollar Income Fund

This is the first fund launched by BLME and the first and largest Shari’ah-compliant money market fund in Europe. The fund is currently over $50,000,000 and is managed by Jason Kabel. It is available to institutional and professional investors in the UK, Europe and Middle East.

The Fund is structured as a Luxembourg domiciled SICAV-SIF and aims to provide a competitive level of income together with a high degree of security of capital. The fund seeks to achieve this by investing in a diversified portfolio of high quality Islamic money market instruments, Sukuk (an Islamic 'bond') and Ijara (the leasing of assets).

Nigel Denison, Head of Asset Management at BLME, said, "The BLME Shari’ah Dollar Income Fund has been launched in response to the demand we have seen in the marketplace for a Shari’ah-compliant product which can provide investors with a consistent income stream, while maintaining a strong focus on liquidity, capital preservation and robust risk management.

"In the current economic climate, we are aware that both in Europe and across the Middle East investors have suffered large scale losses, which have led to a diminished appetite for risk and an increased desire for portfolio diversification. We believe that transparency, fairness and integrity, the guiding principles of Islamic finance, will now become the watchwords for the asset management industry."

To ensure that the fund is run in a manner that is Shari’ah-compliant, the fund has a dedicated Shari’ah Supervisory Board. The board's role is to review contracts and agreements relating to all of BLME's transactions and to ensure they are consistent with the principles of Islamic jurisprudence.

The fund has been run on a seed portfolio basis since 17 March 2009, during which time it has delivered the following performance. Jason Kabel, manager of the BLME Dollar Income Fund, commented, "The launch of this fund is a major opportunity to respond to the demands of the growing Islamic investment market. We believe that this fund is a positive initial step in innovating Shari’ah-compliant investing in Europe and we are confident that it will offer a unique opportunity for investors in the Middle East, who are already familiar with Islamic finance products and are aware of the benefits."

Jason Kabel joined BLME in 2008 from F&C, where he was a Fund Manager of Money Markets within the Credit team. There he managed approximately £6 billion of funds which included OEICs, SICAVs, Collateral funds and segregated client mandates. From 2002-2008 Jason was rated Number One for money market funds by Lipper Hindsight.

Link: http://www.cpifinancial.net/v2/News.aspx?v=1&aid=2982&sec=Islamic%20Finance