Investing In Islamic Funds: A Practitioner's Perspective

CHAPTER 10

Shariah-Compliant UCITS Funds

Satisfying the Appetite of International Investors

He it is who hath made the earth subservient unto you, so walk in the paths thereof and eat of His providence.

(Al Mulk: 15)7

INTRODUCTION

Although Turkey introduced Islamic finance 30 years ago at the same time as Malaysia, Turkey has only been active since 2009 at the national level in offering Islamic solutions. The Malaysian International Islamic Finance Centre (MIFC) organized a road show in Istanbul in September 2011. As a panel speaker, I was asked by a senior-looking gentleman who was a participant, “I am interested to invest my excess money in Islamic equities outside Turkey. But such offshore Islamic funds are not available in Turkey. How do I progress?” This is an apt and timely question. I explained that he could invest in Islamic Equity Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) compliant funds, which were already available on global funds platform like Luxembourg and Ireland. I encouraged him to do a web search for the various global investment management companies that offer global strategies for Islamic UCITS funds approved by global fund platforms. He could then refer to respective prospectuses available online from these investment management companies. Each prospectus includes the names of the fund administrators (e.g., Bank New York Mellon). As an investor, I encouraged him to take guidance from the fund administrator for subscription