UOBAM Malaysia launches first Shariah-compliant global balanced fund

UOB Asset Management (Malaysia) Bhd CEO Lim Suet Ling: "the fund

KUALA LUMPUR: UOB Asset Management (Malaysia) Bhd (UOBAM (Malaysia)) had on Wednesday launched the United-i Global Balanced Fund, its first Shariah-compliant global balanced fund. 

The fund seeks to help Malaysian investors achieve stable income with lower volatility by investing in a diversified, global portfolio of Shariah-compliant asset classes. 

Importantly, the fund applies Shariah filters to selected Shariah-compliant global equities and Sukuk to generate income and capital appreciation. 

The fund is suitable for investors with a moderate risk appetite and a medium- to long-term investment horizon.

UOBAM (Malaysia) CEO Lim Suet Ling said the fund’s objective is to reduce investment volatility through Shariah screening which filters out non-Shariah sectors such as gambling, weapons and tobacco companies as well as those companies that are overleveraged or have unproductive cash piles. 

“This ensures that only companies with low debt ratios and strong fundamentals are included for selection, providing investors with potentially lower investment risk and competitive returns,” she said. 

Lim said the fund manager draws upon UOBAM (Malaysia)’s multi-asset expertise to decide its asset allocation strategy and to manage volatility and returns across the portfolio.

“The United-i Global Balanced Fund’s investments are diversified across Asia, Europe, Middle East and the United States. 

"Further diversification is achieved through asset class allocation which  ensures that the source of the fund’s returns are not concentrated in one asset class but spread across different classes that exhibit little correlation with each other," she said. 

The fund is managed by UOBAM (Malaysia) with UOB Islamic Asset Management Sdn Bhd (UOBIAM) acting as the sub-manager, responsible for making asset allocation and investment decisions.

UOBIAM will manage about 50% of the fund’s net asset value, which will be invested in sukuk and Islamic money market instruments and Islamic deposits with financial institutions.