BIMB Investment Wins The Best Islamic Asset & Fund Manager 2019 And The Best Esg Fund Manager 2019 Awards For Achievements In Esg And Sustainable Investment

BIMB Investment Management Berhad (BIMB Investment) has won the Best Islamic Asset & Fund Manager 2019 in Malaysia award for the third consecutive year and the first fund manager to win the Best Risk-Adjusted Returns for ESG Principle Investments Fund Manager 2019 award at the Alpha Southeast Asia Best Islamic Finance Awards 2019, held at Sofitel Kuala Lumpur, Damansara.

Alpha Southeast Asia’s Best Islamic Finance Awards recognizes leaders in Islamic Finance that have made significant contributions to the industry and has demonstrated growth and innovative capabilities and achievements in Islamic Finance.

From Left: Siddiq Bazarwala, CEO of Alpha Southeast Asia presenting the Best Islamic Asset & Fund Manager 2019 award to Najmuddin Mohd Lutfi, CEO of BIMB Investment Asset Management Berhad.

“We are deeply honoured and humbled to receive these two awards which reflect the continuous support and trust from our investors, business partners, the board of directors, regulators and all the hardworking men and women at BIMB Investment. With more than four years of track record in offering ESG and sustainable investments, we are committed to making ESG and sustainable investing available for all and making Malaysia as the World’s Islamic Finance marketplace,” said Najmuddin, Chief Executive Officer, BIMB Investment.

“It is very humbling for an Islamic Fund Manager to be recognised as the Best Risk-Adjusted Returns for ESG Principle Investments Fund Manager 2019 award as this distinguishes our investment outperformance against our conventional peers, a testament of our sound investment strategy and processes. This also demystifies the myth of Shariah investing,” he added.

BIMB Investment launched Malaysia’s first Global Shariah ESG Equity fund in 2015, the BIMB Arabesque iGlobal Dividend Fund 1 (BiGDF1) that integrates Shariah principles and ESG value with a systematic and rules-based quantitative investment approach that rebalance the fund’s portfolio daily between equity and cash for sustainable risk-adjusted investment returns.

As at 23 September, BiGDF1 is rated as Leader, scoring the highest rating in the Lipper Leaders Fund Ratings for Consistent Returns and Total Returns, ranking first in the 3-Year period category with total returns of 27.21 per cent. BiGDF1 is also rated the highest with 5 stars rating by Morningstar as at 31 August 2019. BiGDF1 is currently the largest global Shariah ESG equity fund in Malaysia with a total fund size of more than RM900 million.

BIMB Investment also launched the World’s First ESG Sukuk Fund in 2018 and now the largest Global ESG Sukuk fund in Malaysia with a total fund size of almost RM130 million. BIMB Investment also offers Asia Pacific Shariah ESG Equity Fund and Malaysia Shariah ESG Equity Fund, offering a total Shariah ESG investment Solutions to retail and institutional investors.

BIMB Investment is the only bank-backed Islamic Asset Manager in Southeast Asia to be the signatory of the United Nations-Supported Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI).