KARACHI, March 5: The Pak Oman Asset Management Company Limited (POAMCL) and Meezan Bank have entered into a technical services and support agreement.According to the agreement, Meezan Bank will facilitate POAMCL in the Shariah-compliant product development and structuring, research and training, conceptualisation, documentation and financial structuring advisory services for their two upcoming Islamic funds.

Ms Hina Ghazanfar, managing director and chief executive officer POAMCL and Irfan Siddiqui, president and chief executive officer of Meezan Bank signed the agreement.

Dr Imran Ashraf Usmani, head of the Shariah advisory division of Meezan Bank was also present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion Irfan Siddiqui said the agreement showed the immense growth and potential exist in the Islamic mutual fund industry.

He hoped that the upcoming Shariah-compliant funds of POAMCL would provide good investment opportunity for earning returns free of interest.

Ms Hina Ghazanfar said that the agreement would help to tap the potential gap in Islamic mutual fund industry.

The collaboration of Meezan Bank and POAMCL with its strong roots in GCC countries and expertise in fund management will cater to the needs of both emerging Pakistani and the developed GCC countries Islamic funds market.

Although the Islamic mutual fund industry has shown tremendous growth in the last couple of years, only six per cent of total mutual funds are Shariah-compliant, she added.

POAMCL is about to launch two Islamic and one asset allocation open-end mutual funds.

This includes Shariah compliant asset allocation fund, Shariah-compliant income fund and a conventional asset allocation fund.—APP