PETALING JAYA: Bursa Malaysia Bhd and FTSE Russell have launched the FTSE4Good Bursa Malaysia Shariah (F4GBMS) index to meet the financial community’s sustainable and syariah-compliant investment needs.

       According to the Securities Commission’s Shariah Advisory Council (SAC) screening methodology, this new environmental, social and governance (ESG)-themed index is designed to track constituents in the FTSE4Good Bursa Malaysia Index that are syariah-compliant.

       The composition of the index, which comprises 54 constituents as of June 2021, is reviewed semi-annually in June and December.

       “The F4GBMS index will serve as a basis for fund managers to develop new investment products comprising a portfolio of syariah-compliant equities guided by sustainable investing principles.

       “Such investment solutions include the ESG Mustadamah Fund created by MIDF Asset Management launched in June 2021, ” said Bursa Malaysia in a statement.

       Bursa Malaysia chief executive officer Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift said the F4GBMS index caters to the growing demand for syariah-compliant investment tools.

       With the convergence between ESG and Islamic investing, this new index seeks to introduce a new dimension for local fund managers by embedding syariah principles into an ESG index, he added.

       “It also highlights Bursa Malaysia’s commitment in meeting the market’s indexing needs, as we focus to diversify and expand our index offerings to include more thematic and style indices, ” said Muhamad Umar.