KUALA LUMPUR: PNB'S unit trust fund schemes have now received the Harus fatwa from all state religious councils, announced PNB Group chairman Tan Sri Abdul Wahid Omar.
This follows the Harus fatwa received from Selangor and Penang state Islamic councils recently.
"PNB itself has taken steps to intensify our efforts towards greater Syariah compliance," he said, speaking at the launch of PNB-USIM Syariah Governance and Assurance Conference 2017.
Its first unit trust scheme including the Sekim Amanah Saham Nasional (ASN) launched in 1981 and Amanah Saham Bumiputera 2 (ASB 2) through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd.
Wahid described the recent decisions by both the state religious councils as encouraging for the investment institution in its journey towards meeting syariah compliance, and more Malaysians should come should come forward.
“We have continued, in our journey towards syariah compliance and we shared our status with all the state fatwa councils and fortunately, now both Penang and Selangor have given the positive fatwa.”
Selangor and the Federal Territory combined, have the largest number of unitholders in the country.
On the funds, Wahid assured that PNB focuses more on financial services stocks and avoids gambling, alcohol or tobacco stocks.
“However the Islamic banking counters are limited, as BIMB Holdings and Syarikat Takaful only represent only 2 per cent of total mart capitalisation.”
Wahid was confident that Malayan Banking Bhd , CIMB Bank and RHB Bank’s sizeable Islamic banking business and the first strategy to push for syariah-compliant business would lead to more Islamic entities in the local bourse.