Japan’s Daiwa Asset Management says it will list what will be the first shariah compliant product on the Singapore Exchange as the city-state steps up efforts to attract Islamic investors.
The Daiwa FTSE Shariah Japan 100 exchange traded fund (ETF) will track Japanese-listed companies that comply with Islamic legal principles.
The launch of the Islamic ETF marks Daiwa Asset’s initial foray into Singapore’s retail market, said a spokesman for the fund management unit of Daiwa Securities.
Singapore and neighbouring Malaysia are both vying to become Islamic financial hubs. Singapore dwarfs Kuala Lumpur as a conventional financial centre, but Malaysia has taken the lead globally in developing a regulatory system for Islamic finance.