Malaysia And Saudi Arabia Account For 62 Pct Of Global Islamic AUM

KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 (Bernama) -- Malaysia and Saudi Arabia together held 62 per cent of global Islamic asset under management (AUM) which stood at US$73 billion in 2014. In Malaysia, Islamic AUM registered a 24 per cent annual growth in the last five years which reflected the growing preference for Shariah-compliant investments among both retail and institutional investors. Looking ahead, the development of Islamic wealth management industry globally is expected to catalyse further growth of Islamic fund management activities, according to the Securities Commission (SC) in its 2014 annual report released Thursday. It said global private financial wealth was projected to increase from US$152 trillion in 2013 to US$198 trillion in 2018, an annual growth of 5.4 per cent, over the five years. Asia Pacific, excluding Japan, home to a majority Muslim population, would be the main driver as the size of wealth in the region was expected to expand by US$24 trillion, accounting for 52 per cent of total projected global increase. "Hence Malaysia, with its well-developed Islamic fund management industry, is poised to capitalise on the opportunities arising from the projected growth in private wealth and strengthen its competitive positioning in the global Islamic fund and wealth management space," SC said. There are currently 20 licensed Islamic fund management companies operating in the country, of which, 10 were foreign-owned, eight locally-owned and two local-foreign joint ventures. -- BERNAMA