28 May, 2008

A PROMINENT Middle East bank has listed nine investment funds on the Channel Islands Stock Exchange.

Arab Bank, through its subsidiary Arab Bank Fund Managers (Guernsey) Limited, has a number of investment products domiciled in Guernsey.

The new funds, structured within Protected Cell Companies, have been listed to attract investment from institutional clients in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region who have a requirement for a recognised stock exchange.

The IIAB Sukuk and Murabaha MENA Fund and the IIAB MENA Feeder Fund, are Islamic, or sharia’a compliant funds and are both part of IIAB PCC Limited. The investment adviser for these funds is AB Invest in Jordan, a leading asset manager in the MENA region.

Within the AB International Fund PCC Limited, are the AB Defensive Fund, AB Conservative Fund, AB Balanced Fund, AB Growth Fund and AB Dynamic Fund, referred to collectively as “profile funds” with different risk profiles. They are the first funds in the world to consist of all seven investable asset classes, to cater for investors’ different risk and return requirements.

Allianz Global Investors is the investment adviser to the profile funds.
Allianz Global Investors is a wholly owned subsidiary of Allianz SE and is responsible for all asset management activities within the group as well as for 3rd party clients. Allianz Group’s total assets under management were EUR 1.28trillion as at December 31, 2007, ranking it among the largest asset managers worldwide.

The other two funds listed are the new AB MENA Feeder Fund, also within AB International Fund PCC Limited, and an existing fund, AB Alternative Arbitrage Fund, within the AB Alternative Strategies Fund PCC Limited.

All of the funds are US dollar denominated and open-ended, with monthly valuation and dealing.

The Guernsey fund management company recently held a board meeting in the island, attended by Ramez Sawabini, Global Chief Investment Officer, Private & Investment Banking, Arab Bank plc, based in Bahrain.

“We are grateful to the Guernsey Financial Services Commission and have also been very pleased with the way in which the Channel Islands Stock Exchange has approached our request and with their quick turnaround. Once we provided all the information they required we got these funds up and running in a fairly short space of time,” said Mr Sawabini.

Tamara Menteshvilli, the Chief Executive of the Channel Islands Stock Exchange, said: “The CISX has become the exchange of choice for an ever-increasing number of international issuers. The Market Authority is very pleased to welcome such a prestigious issuer and their innovative investment products to the CISX Official List.”

Peter Niven, Chief Executive of GuernseyFinance, said: “The Middle East is a booming business region. For a financial institution of the size and scale of Arab Bank to choose Guernsey as a fund domicile seriously endorses our capabilities in the fund sector.”

The Guernsey administrator for all the funds is Legis Fund Services Limited.

Notes to editors: Arab Bank Group was established in 1930 and has the largest Arab banking branch network world-wide, with over 400 branches in 30 countries, spanning 5 continents.