Mubasher: Securities & Investment Company (SICO) announced on Monday the delisting of two of its funds, SICO Arab Financial Fund (SAFF) and SICO Money Market Fund (SMMF), from the Bahrain Bourse (BHB), according to a bourse statement.

This announcement follows a delisting request that has been sent by the conventional wholesale bank, SICO, to BHB earlier in the month.

SAFF was launched in August 2007, and achieved returns of 26.5% compared with -32.0% by its benchmark.

The statement said that “During the five-year post-financial crisis period of April 2008 to March 2013, the fund’s return was -9.9% versus -46.2% by the benchmark, making it one of the best performing funds in the region during this period.”

The planned closure of the fund was due to the fact that its size had become too small compared with its expense ratio.

Meanwhile, SMMF was launched in May 2010, achieving returns of 4.95% (1.12% annualised) compared with its benchmark – 2 Months LIBOR – of 1.25% (0.29% annualised).

“Fund managers deciding to reduce their cash holdings, and given the expected interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve later this year, this objective was considered no longer feasible; hence the decision was made to close the fund in September 2014,” said the statement

“We are currently planning to launch a new Sharia-compliant fund focused on the MENA markets. This fund will not only be SICO’s first Islamic fund, but also its first MENA-dedicated fund; and will help us in expanding the Bank’s product offering from the GCC to the wider MENA region,” said Shakeel Sarwar, SICO’s head of asset management.