SALAMA ties up with Crédit Agricole Asset Management Group (CAAM Group) to provide a bouquet of Sharia compliant funds to its customers.

SALAMA ties up with Crédit Agricole Asset Management Group (CAAM Group) to provide a bouquet of Sharia compliant funds to its customers.

May 27, 2009 12:00 by Aarti Nagraj

SALAMA, the world’s largest Takaful and Re-Takaful Group ties up with Crédit Agricole Asset Management Group (CAAM Group), the 11^th world’s asset managers*, to offer the best of CAAM Group expertise in Sharia compliant investment management through 3 Islamic funds: BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) quantitative fund, an active Asian equities ex-Japan and a Global Equity fund of Islamic funds.

These funds based on CAAM Group’s know-how and investing exclusively in Sharia compliant instruments or products give investors the opportunity to diversify their equity asset allocation thanks to the different investment process (quantitative, active and multi-management) or country exposure (BRIC, Asia ex-Japan, Global Equities). In order to certify the Sharia compliance of the SICAV sub-funds, CAAM has set up a dedicated Sharia Supervisory Board. Composed of reputable Islamic scholars, its goal is to advise CAAM investment managers on Sharia matters and to ensure the products compliance with Sharia rules.

SALAMA is pleased to provide it’s customers with Sharia compliant insurance together with value added investment services that can cater to clients long term investment needs, which are compliant to the Sharia principles. SALAMA presents an assembly of diverse Sharia compliant unit linked insurance products to its clients and with CAAM Group’s asset management services it is possible to offer the best class of Sharia compliant investment opportunities.

In his commentary, Mr. Noel D’Mello, the Head of Family Takaful, SALAMA,said , “SALAMA has entered into several tactical tie ups with renowned Islamic Fund Investment companies and distributor alliances to spread Sharia compliant savings and insurance products within the UAE. We are particularly delighted to have entered into collaboration with CAAM Group to allow the public to have access to a globally recognized and award winning Islamic fund through our local presence.”

On the occasion also, Mr. Jean-Michel Bourgoin, Deputy Head of International Client Development at CAAM Group commented: “CAAM Group through a long-standing relationship with Middle-East investors has been managing for over 15 years Sharia compliant solutions. We are very pleased to cooperate with SALAMA, the largest Takaful and Re- Takaful player in the region. We believe that our strong commitment to the Sharia asset management combined with our product expertise will suit SALAMA clients’ needs of diversification and returns.”

SALAMA has a solid business profile in their traditional territories — Far East, Africa, Middle East and Central Asia, which is further improving with geographical expansion, business growth and introduction of new life lines. The company was nominated for the Best Takaful Operator and Best Banca Takaful Operator at the ‘Islamic Business & Finance Awards 2008 by CPI Financial. It has a paid-up capital of US $300 million and is listed at the Dubai Financial Market

* Source Global Investor, data as at June 2008, issued in September 2008

About SALAMA Islamic Arab Insurance Company

SALAMA, pioneers of Shari’ah compliant insurance enjoys both Arab and international presence. Established in 1979 in Dubai, SALAMA has become the largest Takaful & Re-Takaful group in the world with a paid up capital of USD300 million (AED 1.1 billion). It enjoys strong credit rating of ‘A-’ from A.M. Best and ‘BBB+’ from S&P. These ratings clearly reflect the Company’s growth, financial strength and investor confidence. SALAMA offers customized and high quality yet affordable Takaful solutions to individuals, families and companies.

About Crédit Agricole Asset Management Group (CAAM Group)

CAAM Group is the asset management arm of Crédit Agricole group. With €441.4 billion total assets under management as at 30 December 2008, CAAM Group is the 6th largest asset manager in Continental Europe ⁽¹⁾. It is also N°1 in Europe ⁽²⁾ and N°1 in France ⁽³⁾ in mutual funds.

It has over 2 265 employees including 554 investment professionals dedicated to portfolio management.

CAAM Group’s subsidiaries offer a complete line of investment products for:

- the regional banking networks of Crédit Agricole, LCL and the international retail banking subsidiaries of Crédit Agricole group and,

- institutional investors, large corporate accounts and third-party distributors in France and abroad.

CAAM Group is active in more than 20 countries (Europe, Asia-Pacific, North America, the Middle East and North Africa).

(1) IPE – Top 400 European Asset Management Leaders, data as at December 2007, issued in July 2008

(2) Lipper – Mutual Funds registered in Europe – December 2008

(3) Europerformance, Mutual funds – December 2008

Issued by Landmark PR & Event Management. For press information please contact:

Nasry Abou Zaki Shadi Abou Assi

General Manager, Middle East Account Manager

Tel.: +971 4 3912141 Tel.: +971 4 3912547