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AIA Singapore has launched the AIA Shariah Global Diversified Fund which will be made available to customers through a variety of investment-linked plans.

The plans are AIA Pro Achiever, AIA Pro Achiever 2.0, AIA Pro Lifetime Protector, AIA Pro Lifetime Protector (II) and AIA Invest Easy (Cash/Supplementary Retirement Scheme) (SRS). Existing customers of these plans may perform a fund switch or a top-up into this fund, AIA Singapore said in a statement. 

The firm said it is Singapore’s first insurer to launch the Shariah Balanced ILP [investment-linked plan] fund.

“The overlap between Shariah-compliant finance and environmental, social and governance principles will also see non-Muslim consumers interested in the fund to maximise capital growth while investing responsibly,” Liu Chun Yen, chief investment officer, AIA Singapore, said.

Shariah-compliant funds don’t invest in areas such as gambling, alcohol, tobacco, pork and adult entertainment. Also, they don’t invest in interest-bearing instruments, preferring Shariah-compliant structures known as Sukuk, instead. Sukuk bear some resemblance to bonds, except that their structure is more akin to equity than debt as a way of handling the ban on interest.