CIMB, the Malaysian-based banking and Islamic finance group, has announced that it is launching 14 new funds. They will be operational by the end of this year and the bulk will be Islamic structured funds. CIMB-Principal Asset Management chief executive Noripah Kamso said: “We are looking to launch 14 more funds for both the Malaysian and overseas market, particularly in Singapore and Indonesia. Around ten funds will be Islamic structured funds," she said after launching the company's first Islamic structured fund with principal protection. Ms Kamso said the new funds would increase its total asset under management by 27 per cent to about RM19 billion ($5.6 billion) by year-end from about RM15.85 billion currently. On this week's new Islamic structured fund, Ms Kamso said the fund offered conservative investors protection on the principal while giving them the opportunity for capital gains over a three-year period. The fund invests in a three-year best performer Islamic structured product to be issued by CIMB Investment Bank. For the Shariah-compliant equity basket, the performance of the Dow Jones Islamic Market Titans 100 Index on a series of quarterly observation dates over three years will be tracked. The commodities basket will track the performance of WTI light sweet crude oil, zinc and copper. Finally, the property basket will track the performance of REITs from Singapore and Hong Kong, as well as the world's largest public property company, the Westfield Group in Australia. "This is the latest addition to our suite of 15 Islamic funds, out of a total of 53 funds managed under the CIMB Group. At least 90 per cent of the fund's net asset value would be invested into three-year Islamic structured products, while up to 10 per cent would be invested in liquid assets.” The fund will close for new investments on 6 July or earlier if the fund is fully subscribed. The initial selling price per unit is 50 sen, and the approved fund size is 400 million nits, Ms Kamso said.