Interview with Dr Ataf Ahmed, QInvest’s Head of Global Investment products, By Reuters
Doha-based investment bank QInvest, majority owned by
Qatar Islamic Bank, says it plans to launch at least 30
Islamic funds over the next three years on a managed
account platform which it introduced this week.
If they go ahead, the launches could play a significant
role in reviving the Islamic funds industry, which has
been hit by the global financial crisis. Launches of
Islamic funds globally fell to 54 last year from 60 in
2011, according to Lipper, a unit of Thomson Reuters; 88
funds have been liquidated around the world in the last
two years.
QInvest, which also has offices in Riyadh and Istanbul,
hopes to attract an investor base beyond the Gulf through
its Cayman-domiciled funds.
Four Islamic funds already exist on QInvest's platform;
they focus on international equities and include some
advised by U.S.-based Eagle Capital Management and
Edgewood Management.
"All of the funds are actively managed and the focus is on
delivering strong returns over the mid- to long term,
without focusing on a specific benchmark," said Ataf
Ahmed, head of investment solutions at QInvest Wealth
Management.
In the near term QInvest aims to launch fixed income and
regional equity funds, with commodity funds to follow in
the second half of this year, he told Reuters.
"This platform will have a focused approach towards adding
additional funds. Over the next 12 months we aim to add at
least seven to 10 more funds."
Managed accounts allow products to be customised; one of
the funds that has already been established is a fund of
funds which will invest in a mix of asset classes. It will
serve as a seeding vehicle for the other products, Ahmed
said.
Another of the funds already established is an Islamic
hedge fund.
"Some funds will have a long-only approach and will be
able to take a more defensive stance through movement into
cash, whilst others will incorporate a hedging process,"
Ahmed said.
The hedging process was developed with Nomura
International, which serves as prime broker. The
long-short strategy is advised by GAM, which is part of
GAM Holding, the former asset management arm of bank
Julius Baer and Switzerland's largest listed asset
manager.