BIMB Investment to revitalize its Shariah funds 

Islamic fund manager BIMB Investment, wholly-owned by Bank Islam Malaysia, has begun looking at ways to foster revitalization of some assets in its range of 15 fund offerings, new CEO Amran Zaki Mohd Nasir shared with IFN Investor. 

Incorporated on the 14^th September 1993, this firm began operations in June 1994 with the launch of its first offering – the BIMB i Growth Equity Fund. Its newest fund is the BIMB MYR Sukuk Income Fund launched in July 2024. 

The firm’s investment strategy is predicated on a strong foundation in ESG and Shariah aspects, which Amran described as: “Imagine a funnel where we would have an investment universe that is Shariah. Then we would layer that with ESG principles.” 

This strategy saw the firm garner two recent recognitions – getting the ‘IFN Investor Best Sukuk Fund in Malaysia - USD 2025’ award for the BIMB ESG Sukuk Fund - Class B – USD and the ‘IFN Investor Best ESG Fund in Malaysia - USD 2025’ award for the BIMB ESG Sukuk Fund - Class B – USD. 

Appointed to the CEO role on the 24^th September 2025, Amran is keen to leverage on these achievements to grow BIMB Investment’s role in the Shariah investment landscape within Malaysia. “We are one of the smaller, nimble boys and we understand our niche market. That will be our focus, we do not aspire to be one of the bigger boys with over 100 products.” 

Among the immediate initiatives would be to enhance the five funds in which the firm has partnered with Arabesque Asset Management since 2015 – given the rapid advances in AI-related investment opportunities that have emerged in recent times. 

Amran said several meetings had taken place with Arabesque. “We are discussing on how to improve the funds because AI has gone through a few iterations. We need to look at the existing assets and composition, to generate better returns and make the funds more appealing to investors.” 

BIMB Investment is also open to explore more partnerships, even via the feeder fund approach – because there will be knowledge and expertise transfers that will further strengthen the capabilities of its in-house asset management team, added Amran. 

“We need to deepen and diversify our product offerings. That will be the next step once we revitalize our existing funds and gain more confidence from investors. Only then will we be looking at new fund launches, which will focus on the ESG and Shariah principles.”