Saturna: Best Sustainable Fund Manager Malaysia 2021
After a meeting with Islamic scholars in 1984, Saturna founder Nick Kaiser began to build a long-term, values-based, socially responsible and shariah-compliant investment portfolio in Washington State, USA. The Amana Income Fund became operational in 1986, Sextant Growth Fund followed the next year and Saturna Capital was incorporated in 1989 — making the group responsible for some of the earliest Islamic funds in the world. Amana has a track record of double-digit growth. Saturna started its operation in Kuala Lumpur in 2010. Saturna Sustainable Funds launched in 2015, and the Clean Shares scheme was introduced in 2017. Saturna’s sustainable equity and bond funds target larger, more established, worldwide issuers with stable profits and low ESG risks. Shariah principles and ESG considerations are some of the most important filters applied by Saturna asset managers. They conduct due diligence on all investment opportunities, with in-depth research into geopolitical developments, industry and technology trends, market conditions and leadership teams. It bets on companies with strong ESG performance, with the conviction that this correlates with more proactive risk management, higher resilience and greater contributions to the global economy. Saturna is proud to operate on a profit-sharing system, where clients pay no up-front fees, and everyone earns when performance is up. The team is now helping to accelerate Shariah and ESG investing throughout the region and in GCC countries. It has launched the first global Shariah ESG equity fund in Jakarta. The CFI.co judging panel declares Saturna as Best Sustainable Fund Manager (Malaysia) 2021.