KUALA LUMPUR, July 14: Malaysia has given Islamic fund management licences to three financial institutions as part of a drive to develop its sharia-compliant capital market, the country’s market regulator said on Monday.

The three are Kuwait Finance House, DBS Asset Management, a subsidiary of Singapore’s DBS Group, and CIMB-Principal Islamic Asset Management, a joint venture between Malaysian lender CIMB Group and the Principal Financial Group, the Securities Commission (SC) said.

“The approval of these three companies will play a catalytic role in the internationalisation of our Islamic capital market,” SC Chairman Zarinah Anwar said in a statement.

Islamic finance is based on the sharia which forbids investments involving interest payments, speculation, contractual uncertainty, gambling and weapons.

Islamic assets are growing at annual pace of around 20pc and are set to hit $2 trillion in 2010 from $900bn now.—Reuters