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Best Islamic Fund Family
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Acknowledged internationally as a pioneer and innovator in Shariah-compliant mutual funds, in 2005 NCB had 25 Shariah-compliant fund products, whose consistent returns across a wide-range of asset classes surpassed those of other nominees. Their achievements have also been noted by Euromoney, who awarded NCB Best Islamic Asset Management House for two consecutive years in 2003 and 2004.
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Best Islamic Fund Manager
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Aiming for long-term capital growth, the consistently high-earning Amana Growth Fund did just that last year, while boasting a very competitive 1.44% expense ratio. The $138 million Amana Growth Fund returned 20.20% in 2005.
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Best Islamic Real Estate Fund
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In 2005, Noriba successfully exited from two of its real estate investments - Noriba US Commercial Properties I and Noriba's UK Commercial properties, bringing strong rewards to their investors and besting the other nominees to win last year's award for Best Islamic Real Estate Fund.
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Best Islamic Global Equity Fund
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Launched in 1998, the Oasis Crescent Equity Fund has consistently exceeded their benchmark, often by wide margins. As a pioneer in Shariah-compliant asset management in South Africa, and indeed the world, Oasis put in another stellar performance last year. With over 100 million U.S. dollars in assets, the Oasis Crescent Equity Fund returned 11.5% in 2005.
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Best Islamic GCC Equity Fund
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The Amanah Saudi Equity Fund, managed by their Asset Management Division SABB, achieved lofty results in 2005 by adding value through their manager's vast experience and access to fundamental research, which they combine with a disciplined quantitative valuation model. While many Saudi equity funds boasted returns of greater than 100% in 2005, the Saudi British Bank bested them all, returning an incredible 160.3%.
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Best Islamic European Equity Fund
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Launching at a difficult time for world equity markets, AlAhli's European fund has nonetheless exceed its benchmark by returning 4.2% since inception versus its benchmark of 3.7% over the same period. In 2005, the AlAhli European Trading Equity Fund posted a return of 21.4%.
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Best Islamic US Equity Fund
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Using their own in-house index as the basis, it was the AlMadar US Index Equity Fund that won the best US Equity Fund category, returning 14.41% in an equity environment that was essentially flat.
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Most Innovative Islamic Fund in 2005
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Last year, the managers of NCB's Al-Ahli Saudi Dynamic Trading Equity Fund gave the marketplace an open-ended Shariah-compliant fund that offers exposure to the dynamic Saudi stock market while using defensive portfolio management techniques to limit the downside. Allowing for twice-weekly liquidity, the fund protects at least 75% of the investor's capital and grants 100% performance participation with no cap. Selecting from only the most liquid blue-chip equities, the innovative, actively managed fund proved an effective and more cautious way for investors to benefit from the high-flying Saudi market. In 2005, the fund returned 28.60%.
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Best Contribution to Growth & Development of Islamic Funds
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The creation of the Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes in 1999 marked a key turning point in the field of Islamically compliant fund management. In 2005, with over 44 separate indices covering every major economic zone across the globe, the Dow Jones Islamic Indexes not only provided a reliable and standardized performance measure, but also continued to give credibility and enormous amounts of publicity to the field of Shariah-compliant asset management
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Best Islamic Capital Protected Fund
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Last year, Deutsche Bank's four Islamic Equity Builder Certificates performed exceptionally well and qualified to win this category. Their U.S. equity certificate returned 8.38%, their global equity certificate returned 11.51%, their European equity certificate returned 26.64%, and their Asian equity certificate returned 23.32%.
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Honorary Award of Excellence in Supporting the Islamic Finance Industry
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The BMA has been responsible for the regulation of all banking and related financial institutions from its founding in 1973 and has established a close working relationship with international institutions on a variety of supervisory and corporate governance practices. These relationships have allowed the BMA to develop a world-class regulatory system that ensures that Bahrain's financial institutions operate on equal standards to those in place at other major international financial centres. The BMA's support and encouragement of the Islamic Banking sector is evidenced by the number of institutions who have made the decision to establish an office and prosper within the country
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