Islamic Equity Benchmark Index Planned
DATE: 15/6/1998, PUBLICATION: GULF DAILY NEWS, DESCRIPTION: English Daily, Tabloid Size, Bahrain CIRCULATION: 15,000
MANAMA: A universally accepted Islamic equity benchmark index is to be established. This is the major development for the Islamic (equity) investment market, said a senior investment banker on Wall Street.
“There are at least 35 Islamic equity funds as well as numerous Islamic asset management and private banking portfolios” said Mr A Rushdie Siddique, vice-president of Klein Maus and Shire, a division of United States Financial Group (USFG).
“However, they measure performance by an in-house derived version of the S&P 500, FT 100, Russell 1000/2000, or MSCI World Index. The lack of an Islamic benchmark index prevents universal performance comparison and does not allow the developments of Islamic index funds.”
KMS will shortly introduce the Socially Aware Muslim Investment (SAMI 500) with a large and established US financial institution that has world class research capabilities. It will comprise of the 500 most liquid market value weighted securities.
“After examining portfolios of Islamic funds, we recognized an index was needed that would complete the work of RHB Islamic Index, the national Islamic index of Malaysia,” said Mr. Muhammad Ali Khan, chairman of USFG.
“We have established the SAMI 500 with a critic’s eye by addressing issues relating to updating time periods, criteria for removing companies, purification of income, monitoring organic changes, and others,” said Mr. Siddiqui. We have received supportive response from a small survey of bankers, fund managers, financial media, conference organizers, and academics,” stated Mr. Siddiqui.
Klein Maus and Shire became the first full-service Muslim-owned bank in the United States in 1996, serving more than 3000 institutional and high net worth investors around the world.
