From left: UOB Islamic Asset Management Sdn Bhd CEO Suhazi Reza Selamat, UOB Asset Management (M) Bhd CEO Lim Suet Ling and UOB Islamic Asset Management Sdn Bhd chief investment officer Muhammad Zulfadzlie Zulkifli.
KUALA LUMPUR: UOB Asset Management (Malaysia) Bhd (UOBAM) is targeting RM100 million in asset under management (AUM) for its newly launched United-i Global Balanced Fund in two months’ time.
Executive director/chief executive officer Lim Suet Ling said as at Jan 31, 2019, UOBAM has RM6.86 billion AUM and hoped to achieve its RM7 billion mark this year.
She said the newly-launched fund, which is the company’s first Shariah global fund, seeks to help Malaysian investors achieve stable income with lower volatility by investing in a diversified global portfolio of Shariah asset classes.
“The focus stocks would be those which would grow in long term with the volatility in the market, and mostly diversified in the US, the European stocks and a few top Asian stocks as well, “ she told the media at the United-i Global Balanced Fund product launch here today.
Lim said the fund initial minimum investment is RM1,000 and is available in the US dollar, Australian dollar, British pound, Singapore dollar and Renminbi share classes.
The fund would generally adopt a balanced portfolio between Shariah-compliant equities and sukuk in the ratio 50:50, she said, adding that the sukuk portion would provide stability to the fund, while the equity portion would provide the added return in the rising market.
“Historically, the blend of this 50:50 balanced fund return was between 6.0 and 9.0 per cent. We are targeting for a return of about 7.0 per cent or better over the medium term for this fund,” she said.
She said the United-i Global Balanced Fund is also expected to have lower investments volatility due to its asset diversification aided by the global diversity and Shariah screening.
Shariah screening would filter out non-Shariah sectors such as gambling, weapon and tobacco companies, as well as those that are over-leveraged or have unproductive cash piles, she said.
“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 added. - Bernama
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