ASB Capital, the newly set-up asset management arm of Bahrain’s Al Salam Bank – which charted a landmark year in 2024 following its purchase of Kuwait Finance House-Bahrain – is planning to roll out a series of new products with the first four funds in Q1 2025.
“Al Salam Bank, which has grown at about a 30% compounded annual growth rate over the past six years, made the decision to launch ASB Capital at this juncture due to rapid developments in the financial and wealth management sector, where the company is planning to create partnerships and have its investment solutions on their platform,” Hichem Djouhri, ASB Capital’s senior executive officer, shared in an interview with IFN Investor.
The group’s record net profit – up 39.8% to US$156.5 million for the year ended the 31st December 2024, from US$112.0 million in 2023 – saw its total assets grow 37.2% to US$18.73 billion in 2024, from US$13.65 billion in 2023.
To continue driving the parent group’s growth potential and expansion of offerings to clients, ASB Capital will manage US$4.5 billion of assets and aims to roll out 10 fund offerings in 2025 to provide a more diverse Islamic investment product range, said Hichem.
This asset management arm, headquartered in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), intends to build this portfolio for its immediately addressable target clientele of the banking group’s various business units – to better serve the clientele of the private banking arm and also institutional and retail investors – before expanding to the broader market.
Hichem said ASB Capital will be looking at a range of asset classes covering public markets – such as equities, fixed income and money market liquidity solutions – and explore the alternative space of private equity, private credit, real estate and infrastructure offerings.
“Since our fund issuance vehicle has been approved by the (DIFC) regulator in early February 2025, we will be launching global Sukuk, global and regional equity, and money market funds within the first quarter of this year.”
Stating these funds will be actively managed, Hichem explained these will be pitched to high-net-worth individuals, family offices and institutional investors throughout the Middle East and Africa for access to GCC markets and to gain exposure to international opportunities.
Acknowledging the need to also serve the retail market with lower entry points, Hichem said: “We’re launching a series of passive strategies, such as a Sukuk exchange-traded fund that will be listed on the London Stock Exchange.”
While ASB Capital will depend on its in-house experts to craft these bespoke fund offerings, Hichem said partnerships will be forged to capitalize on mutual strengths – citing the firm’s deal with State Street Global Advisors for its ASB Capital Global Equity Fund.
