Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) has partnered with leading investment bank QInvest to launch a new range of innovative Shari’a compliant funds.

The “Shiraa Funds” are a range of innovative products investing into a selection of global Shari’a compliant funds, and spanning across international equity and sukuk markets with the objective to deliver sustainable and attractive long term performance to QIB clients.

QIB said the Shiraa Funds will be initially offered to its private Tamayuz and Wholesale banking clients. Shiraa funds’ main advantage is that clients can choose which fund to invest in depending on their preferred risk and return profile, it stated.

Each of the options offers a different type of potential return and hence carries a different level of associated risk:
*Shiraa Defensive Fund: focuses strongly on capital preservation with a low level of risk
*Shiraa Moderate Fund: achieves competitive returns by taking a moderate level of risk
*Shiraa Long-Term Fund: accomplishes higher returns by taking higher levels of risk

The investment process uses a top-down approach in which different asset classes are combined together to target different return ranges as well as a bottom-up approach in selecting talented investment managers who take advantage of market movements by paying close attention to fundamentals.

The Shiraa Funds will be managed by the asset management team of QInvest.

QIB Group CEO Bassel Gamal said: "The launch of Shiraa Funds marks yet another milestone in our growth, and the result of a fruitful collaboration with QInvest. The aim is to deliver sustainable and attractive long-term performance to QIB clients."

These funds signal the start of QIB’s offering of portfolio management to our clients, he noted.  

QInvest CEO Tamim Hamad Al-Kawari said these new products are very much in line with the new strategy for its asset management unit which was recently announced.

"This co-operation with our largest shareholder, QIB, is a testament of the benefits of the new strategy. I am confident that this will continue to deliver value for clients and shareholders in the months and we will continue to work more closely with QIB, the leader in Islamic banking solutions," he added.-TradeArabia News Service