GLOBAL: Q1 2025 saw a significant drop in new Islamic equity funds launches, as tracked by the IFN Investor Funds Database. As many of such Islamic funds are typically heavily invested in US-listed equities, the launch delays could have been influenced by uncertainties brought about by the Trump administration from January 2025. US stock market uncertainties also played a big part in why global Islamic equity funds underperformed in Q1 2025 – recording an average three-month return of -2.91% with total AuM falling 4.31% from US$57.61 billion to US$55.12 billion.
Meanwhile, the other asset classes of fixed income, mixed assets and money market segments saw a noticeable increase in fund launches. Q1 2025 recorded four new Islamic fixed income funds, eight mixed asset funds and another eight money market funds, reflecting a broader flight to safety amid ongoing economic uncertainties.
Table 1: Islamic fund launches by asset class (Q1 2024 to Q1 2025)
| Equities | Fixed income | Mixed assets | Money market | Sukuk | |
| Q1 2024 | 18 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 6 |
| Q2 2024 | 11 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 15 |
| Q3 2024 | 17 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 3 |
| Q4 2024 | 15 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| Q1 2025 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 0 |
Source: IFN Investor Funds Database
