GERMANY - Malaysia's Relations With Germany Have A Great Future - Consul General - CIMB Principal eyes Germany

www.bernama.com - FRANKFURT, May 28 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's relations with Germany have a "great future" not only in trade and economic relations but also in other areas of interest, particularly education.

Malaysian consul-general here, John Samuel, said both sides had good fundamentals for forging a close cooperation in various areas of interest

"I believe there is great future in relations with Europe's economic powerhouse and Malaysia, a key member country of Asean," he told Bernama. (source)

IRELAND - UCITS tapped for Islamic funds distribution

Muller: Launching the three new UCITS Islamic funds is “revolutionary”

www.theasset.com - Acritical issue involving Islamic funds is that they are established with domestic investors in mind and are not sellable globally, thus limiting the investor base.

Their success is generally assessed on an individual market basis as they are more popular than conventional funds in markets with large Islamic populations such as Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.

While there have been attempts to market Islamic funds in non-Islamic markets such as Europe, these have been met with limited success partly because of the timing – the global economy is still struggling from the 2008 global financial crisis.

A trend however is emerging where some fund managers are seeing the potential for marketing Islamic funds cross-border in the Asia-Pacific and Asean using the UCITS (undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities) platform. While this vehicle has been used in the past for marketing Islamic funds to European investors, this marks the first time it is being done in this region. (source)

IRELAND - CIMB-Principal Islamic establishes three Islamic funds towards attracting global investors

theborneopost.com - KUCHING: CIMB-Principal Islamic Asset Management Sdn Bhd (CIMB-Principal Islamic), a joint-venture local Islamic global asset management company between CIMB Group Holdings Bhd (CIMB) and Principal Global Investors, has obtained the approval from the Central Bank of Ireland for the establishment of CIMB-Principal Islamic Asset Management (Ireland) Public Ltd. (source)

IRELAND - Ireland and Malaysia Building a Financial Services Partnership

mifc.com - Governors of OIC Central Banks Recommend Role of Islamic Finance in Promoting Growth and a Diversified Financial SectorThe Meeting of Central Banks and Monetary Authorities of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Member Countries was held at Sasana Kijang in Kuala Lumpur on 16 November 2011. 

 

The meeting, which was organised and hosted by Bank Negara Malaysia in collaboration with the Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) agreed that it was important to build a diversified, progressive and inclusive financial sector including exploring the role of Islamic Finance in achieving these objectives. ...

... Ireland is one of the major hubs for cross-border fund distribution. Irish funds are sold in 70 countries across Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. At the end of 2010, assets under administration by the industry in Ireland amounted to EUR 1.8 trillion. (source)