The Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs (MERA), the state-owned Oman National Investments Development Company (Tanmia) and fully-fledged Islamic institution Bank Nizwa have signed an MoU to establish the first endowment investment fund in the Sultanate.
Under the MoU, all three parties will be working closely on the framework of the first-of-its-kind fund, with Tanmia acting as the investment manager and Bank Nizwa as the Shariah advisor for the fund.
The Shariah compliant endowment investment fund will be listed on the Muscat Stock Exchange, allowing the investor community to place their endowment investments into well-established Shariah compliant instruments, local reports said.
The tripartite agreement was signed on the sidelines of the Investment and Development of Endowments Forum held on the 1st August 2023 in Salalah and organized by the ministry, themed ‘Endowment Sustainability and Development’.
The forum saw discussions surrounding investments in and the development of the endowments sector of the Sultanate, with dignitaries, academics, researchers, market players and other stakeholders in attendance.
Presentations were given by participants, including one on Tanmia’s Shariah compliant investment fund, the Al-Kawthar Fund, by Talal Al-Qadhi, a research and portfolio manager at Tanmia, and a paper titled ‘Investment Tools in the Endowment Sector’, delivered by Muzn Islamic Banking’s Salim Al Yahyai.
There had been talks, since the beginning of this year, of the establishment of the first Omani endowment investment fund before the end of 2023, as confirmed by IFN sources.
In May 2023, the Imam Jabir bin Zaid Waqf Foundation, in partnership with MERA, had also announced that it was in the final stages of launching the Ghiras Fund, the first listed endowment investment fund in the Sultanate. The fund had reportedly been registered with the Capital Market Authority and was planned for launch in partnership with Ubhar Capital, Muscat Daily reported