MEDIA CENTER

Jump-starting Islamic innovation for Mulkia

Mulkia Investment announced today the signing agreement with Shariyah Review Bureau (SRB) to handle and supervise its Shari’a compliant investments and to support Mulkia’s broader Islamic funds transformation strategy.

Licensed by the Capital Market Authority (CMA), and headquartered in Riyadh, Mulkia operates Shari’a compliant asset management, corporate finance, and investment services tailored to suit the needs of individual and institutional investors. SRB is expected to support the Shari’a compliance requirements of Mulkia within regulated industries under the CMA. The service will pair the functionality of reviewing sophisticated contracts, certifying funds and corporate transactions, and monitoring all activities with annual Shari’a audits.

Commenting on the outsourcing of Shari’a Supervisory Board functions to SRB, Ahmed S. Almuzaini, CEO of Mulkia said “We are proud to have found a partner with an international track record of handling Shari’a consultation and certification services for businesses seeking to tap the Islamic market. We believe their support will help us offer greater scale investments and growth opportunities, whilst allowing us to dynamically push ahead with our own unique goals.” He also stated “SRB fits our criteria for outsourcing Shari’a review services – they are themselves regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain; we expect from SRB to provide Shari’a consulting services solving complex industry-specific structures. They also have a fantastic international clientele base, and it’s a very strong local establishment in the Middle East – particularly in the KSA.”

The Chief Executive Officer of SRB, Yasser Dahlawi, added: “Our latest assignment as a Shari’a Advisor to Mulkia reinforces our business approach by continuously strengthening our range of outsourcing Shari’a certification and Shari’a audit services to meet challenging market requirements. We believe that speed in fund approvals and direct access to Shari’a advisors are important factors in the Shari’a compliant market space.” “If Islamic financial institutes want to use innovative products and superior investment experience as a competitive differentiator and means of attracting new clients, they cannot be slow with their Shari’a structuring and certification processes,” said Mr. Dahlawi.

Mansoor Ahmed, Assistant General Manager added, “The outsourcing of Shari’a advisory functions has become a “commanding business” for us. Our success can be gauged from the continuous assignments of clients and new projects we have been receiving.” Commenting on the powerful model of SRB, he explained, “Our goal is to help Islamic clients and new entrants balance the demands of Shari’a regulatory compliance while allowing clients to effectively focus and commercially manage their business agendas. The traditional model of hiring individuals to run Shari’a advisory functions is gradually losing ground to the paradigm of outsourcing Shari’a compliance for efficiency. And we have practically seen that this arrangement allows clients to focus more on client investment mandates and cultivating new business leads.”

About Mulkia Investment

Mulkia Investment is a Saudi closed joint-stock investment company. Headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Mulkia operates under the rules and regulations of the Capital Market Authority (CMA) in Saudi Arabia.

Mulkia has been licenced to carry out investment funds management, portfolios management, dealing as principal, and securities underwriting, as well as arranging, advisory, and custodial services.

Mulkia provides diversified and integrated financial and investment services tailored to suit the goals of individuals and institutions of different types and sizes. Mulkia operates in the field of asset management, arraigning & corporate finance, financial advisory and research. Investments and financial services provided by Mulkia are compliant to Islamic law (Sharia Principles) as well as being subject to the supervision and compliance review of an independent Sharia Committee.

To learn more about Mulkia visit www.mulkia.com.sa