The principles of Shariah are often considered slightly differently by the various Shariah Fund Managers and, indeed, by clients themselves. The interpretation of the principles of Shariah reflects either modern or more classical thinking and, within a narrow field, reflect some mildly different acceptable investments.

IOAM has conducted research into the market of Shariah Funds to offer a number of Shariah compliant discretionarily managed portfolios. By only using Collective Funds and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) that are compliant with the principles of Islam, we believe we can meet the expectations of Shariah clients and provide a useful service that is currently not widely available in the marketplace.

All the Collective Funds and ETFs chosen by our Investment Managers have a stated aim to respect the Shariah. However given the fact that interpretations can vary we have outlined below the main guidelines which we will adhere to in our Fund choice.

Any Collective Fund or ETF in the Shariah portfolio cannot hold shares of a company that:-

• Provides non-Islamic financial services and any other related interest services.
• Manufactures/sells products or services not approved by the Shariah (i.e.liqueur, tobacco, gambling, pornography etc).
• Have interest revenue exceeding a certain percentage of total revenue(usually 5%)-unless it is given to charity.
• Do not have a certain percentage of non-liquid assets.

In IOAM’s endeavour to ensure a Fund’s continued compliance with the principles of Islam, we will continually monitor the position of underlying investments. However, TAM cannot be held responsible if any Collective Fund or ETF fails to maintain its compliance. The responsibility ultimately lies with the Third Party Managers.

If you are interested in knowing more about this type of investing and what IOAM can offer, please contact us for further information.