Maznah Mahbob on investment solutions | AmInvest

Transcript

AmInvest is a global asset management house that provides investment solutions for global investors across a full spectrum of asset classes, in both the conventional and Islamic space. Maznah Mahbob, CEO of AmInvest, discusses the company’s expansion plans, and its strategies for success.

World Finance: First, how is AmInvest positioning itself in the global market?

Maznah Mahbob: What we are offering is actively managed Asian equities, actively managed Asian bonds particularly local currency, and Islamic investments across both Sukuks and equities globally.

World Finance: This is the second year in a row that World Finance has recognised AmInvest as the Best Investment Management Company in Malaysia, what sets AmInvest apart from its competitors?

Maznah Mahbob: Primarily its investment performance, and a lot of the awards that we have been getting are based on that. Traditionally we have been largely a fixed income house, where we win the awards every year for the Best Bond Fund, the Best Bond Group, but increasingly our equities funds across the board have had a very healthy performance. Not just our fixed income bond funds, but our equities funds were consistently in the first and second quarter across all the asset classes, Islamic, conventional, fixed income, equities, so that is also encouraging.

World Finance: What do you think were the key achievements for AmInvest last year?

What drives our innovation is actually our customers

Maznah Mahbob: From the business point of view, ending last year on a three-year basis, we have grown faster than the industry, we have grown faster in equities from a lower base, faster in foreign assets, faster in Islamic assets, and faster in institutional assets. As a result, our asset mix and our client mix is increasingly becoming more balanced than before, and we like that because it means more stability in income growth and profitability. We are expanding our team, we are expanding our capacities, so it’s all these things perhaps.

World Finance: Tell us more about your innovation, what are you offering to your potential investors today?

Maznah Mahbob: What drives our innovation is actually our customers, whether it’s institutional or retail. We always pay attention to their needs, and over the last few years, the years have been challenged by a low interest-rate environment. Many of our investors, they want cash flow and income, so many of our strategies, our mandates, and our products try to deliver this to them. For example, Asia pac ex Japan REITS Fund, a fund we launched two years ago which has done very well in Malaysia. It performs, it has income, and it’s pretty smooth, it raised about 300 million USD and it returned over these two years over 42%, so we try and give them these kinds of solutions.

World Finance: How do you see AmInvest growing over the coming years?

Maznah Mahbob: Well, we hope to have a higher profile among international investors as well- beginning with institutional and sovereign funds, pension funds, also Takaful companies, family offices- who are looking for exposure to Asia, exposure to local currency bonds- this is our speciality- and looking for the same risk/return they have enjoyed in the conventional investments, in the form of Shariah compliant investments. So you know, those are the kinds of investors that we want to add value to.

Datin, thank you very much for your time.

Thank you very much