Frenkel Topping Group, a specialist independent financial advisor and asset manager focused on asset protection for vulnerable clients who have suffered a serious accident or personal injury, has launched Ascencia Islamic Portfolio, a Sharia Law compliant investment portfolio which will be managed by Ascencia Investment Management, the Company’s discretionary fund manager business.

The requisites of Islamic Finance and Shariah compliant investment portfolios lend themselves well to the suite of investment portfolios provided by Ascencia Investment Management. The portfolio of Sharia Compliance Solutions is essentially multi-asset and consists of a blend of Shariah compliant equity focused exchange traded funds, managed fixed income solutions, together with an element of physically backed gold exposure.

The product’s asset allocation closely follows Distribution Technology’s Dynamic Planner’s guidelines for each modelled risk level with a view to ensuring a suitable degree of diversification and element of volatility management. At the primary level the portfolio of Islamic investment solutions consists of over 1,000 underlying holdings.

These holdings have been negatively screened to exclude business models that include activities involved in any non halal items: alcohol, tobacco, gambling, weapons, pork, the adult entertainment industry and conventional banks. Interestingly, Ascencia Investment Management has found that the exclusions have a degree of overlap with their existing ESG offering enabling a level of experience to be built up, albeit through a different portfolio.

Mark Holt, Managing Director of Frenkel Topping says: “We are pleased to launch the Ascencia Islamic Portfolio which has been created as a result of increasing client demand. Islamic finance requires a deep understanding of its principles of risk-sharing (‘riba’) and ethical investments and with an established Muslim client base, we have garnered significant expertise and knowledge of this niche sector. Islamic finance is not as mature as the conventional finance industry and we believe the similarities between Sharia Law compliant investments and ESG investing principles, together with the rise of Fintech, will drive significant growth in this sector.”