Dec 04 2010
Crescent Funds Management Australia has announced its newest retail and wholesale license that is in accordance with the Shariah (Islamic Law). The licence covers industry super funds and is said to be the closest to halal thus far.
Crescent Funds Management (Aust) Limited a wholly owned subsidiary of Crescent Investments Australasia is proud to be awarded an Australian Financial Services License number 365260 to operate financial products in both Wholesale and Retail offerings.
The global Islamic Funds Industry is estimated to be worth approximately $US52 Billion. Australia’s conventional equity market is worth approximately $AUD1 trillion and up until this point no investments have been made in Shariah Compliant managed Funds.
“I am delighted to announce the awarding of Crescent’s license to operate in both retail and the wholesale in Australia. A great team effort went into the requirements for this license by lawyers, compliance officers, responsible managers and management staff” Mr Yassine said. “Special thanks to our CEO Mr Chaaban Omran, for his dedication and professional management of the team to get us to this point.”
Crescent Funds Management (Aust) Limited has now registered The Crescent Shariah Compliant Australian equity Fund (ARSN 147 384 263). “We have appointed Ernest & Young as our tax adviser & our auditor and JP Morgan as our Custodian to appeal to the offshore as well as the domestic market.” Mr Omran said. Further Mr Omran said “we are aiming for a launch of this fund in Q1 2011.”
“Shariah Compliance investment management favours listed companies who promote participation in risk sharing in their product range as well as do not engage in the manufacturing or selling in certain non-permissible segments such as alcohol, debt markets or pork products to name but a few” said Mr Omran. Further Mr Omran said “Australia’s resource and smaller companies profile correlates well with Shariah compliance investing.”
“We have received interest from industry super funds who are exploring Shariah Funds as an alternative asset class for their members and now with this license we are able to take these discussions to the next step” said Mr Yassine. Further Mr Yassine said “there is potential for approximately $AUD6 Billion for funds to transfer from conventional equity funds to Shariah funds from the Australian Muslim community alone and Crescent is uniquely positioned to manage these fund inflows.”
