I’ve been working abroad for the last ten years and have some money that I’d like to invest in Pakistan. I was wondering: What are the top investment companies in Pakistan? and as a Muslim, I want to avoid interest as well, so my main question is: What are the top halal investment companies in Pakistan? What other halal investment opportunities are available to me? I did some research, and I am sharing it here as there are many other Pakistanis who are wondering where we can invest in Pakistan besides the real state.
According to my research, Pakistan has three types of investment companies that deal in Halal Islamic opportunities.
- Islamic Mutual funds or Other Funds Companies
- Meezan Bank – Provides 18 Shariah compliant Mutual Funds. Meezan Funds report available.
- Habib Bank Limited – Provides multiple Mutual funds in which atleast 10 are shariah compliant. Funds Report.
- Lakson Islamic Tactical Fund – Lakson investments has one fund which is shariah compliant
- Securities Companies – These companies deal in Stock Market. you can Purchase Stocks through their accounts
- Foundation Securities – This is Fauji Foundation group company. which provides opprtunity in Stock Market
- JS Global
- Shajar Capital
- Zafar Securities
- Full details on How to open Account in PSX and stock selection is available
- Takaful Companies – Takaful is you can say shariah complaint Insurance
- Efu hemayyah Takaful – They have Investment plans, saving plans and Takaful Plans available.
- SPI Window Takaful – they have only insurance plans
- United Insurance Company – Tameem Program – they also only have insurance planse
How many types of investment companies in Pakistan?
My research indicates that Pakistan has three different kinds of investment firms that focus on Halal Islamic opportunities. Banks like Meezan Bank Limited, and HBL are first type. Securities and Stock Brokers are second type. Takaful Companies are third Type. we will discuss all these type in details.
Mutual Funds in Banks or Other Investment Firms
Meezan bank
Now Let’s Discuss above points in Details, as i have already mentioned that islamic Mutual funds are usually provided by banks, Alomost all banks provide islamic mutual funds. Meezan bank is the leader in islamic banking so it has the most islamic funds. you can trust Meezan bank that all functions are shariah compliant. Meezan Bank has its own index in Pakistan stock market that consists of shariah compliant stocks. below are its funds and their risk Profile
Fund Name | Symbol | Funds Category | Risk Profile | Risk of Principal Erosion |
Meezan Islamic Fund | MIF | Islamic Equity | High | High |
Al Meezan Mutual Fund | AMMF | Islamic Equity | High | High |
Meezan Dedicated Equity Fund | MDEF | Islamic Equity | High | High |
Meezan Energy Fund | MEF | Islamic Equity | High | High |
KSE Meezan Index Fund | KMIF | Islamic Index Tracker | High | High |
Meezan Pakistan Exchange Traded Fund | MP-ETF | Exchange Traded Fund | High | High |
Meezan Asset Allocation Fund | MAAF | Islamic Asset Allocation | High | High |
Meezan Balanced Fund | MBF | Islamic Balanced | Medium | Medium |
Meezan Islamic Income Fund | MIIF | Islamic Income | Medium | Medium |
Meezan Sovereign Fund | MSF | Islamic Income | Low | Low |
Meezan Daily Income Fund | MDIF | Islamic Income | Plan Specific (Low to Moderate) | Plan Specific (Low to Moderate) |
Meezan Cash Fund | MCF | Islamic Money Market | Low | Low |
Meezan Rozana Amdani Fund | MRAF | Islamic Money Market | Low | Low |
Meezan Fixed Term Fund | MFTF | Open End Islamic CIS as per SECP’sCircular No.3 of 2022 | Very Low | Very Low |
Meezan Gold Fund | MGF | Islamic Commodity | High | High |
Meezan Financial Planning Fund of Fund | MFPF | Islamic Fund of Funds | Plan Specific (Medium to High) | Plan Specific (Medium to High) |
Meezan Strategic Allocation Fund | MSAF | Islamic Fund of Funds | Plan Specific (Medium to High) | Plan Specific (Medium to High) |
Meezan Strategic Allocation Fund – II | MSAF-II | Islamic Fund of Funds | Medium | Medium |
Meezan Strategic Allocation Fund – III | MSAF-III | Islamic Fund of Funds | Medium | Medium |
Habib Bank Limited
Habib Bank also deals in multiple funds and it also has islamic mutual funds. some of them are islamic. below is the list
- HBL islamic Money market Fund (Low)
- HBL Islamic Income Fund (Medium)
- HBl Islamic Financial planning Fund- conservative allocation Plan
- HBL Islamic Asset Allocation Fund (High)
- HBL Islamic Allocation Fund – Plan I
- HBL Islamic Allocation Fund – Plan II
- HBL Islamic Stock Fund
- HBL Islamic Equity Fund
- HBl Islamic Dedicated Fund
- HBl Islamic Financial planning Fund- Active allocation Plan
Lakson Investments
Lakson Investments provide one fund that is Islamic. it is Lakson islamic Tactical Fund. it is 4 star Rated, Open End Fund comprses of Net Assets 489M PKR, with NAV 94.28 PKR. it has Management Fee as 10% of the Gross Earnings of the Scheme, calculated on a daily basis. its Benchmark is weighted average daily return of KMI 30 index, 6m deposit rates of three. A rated Islamic Banks or Islamic wondows of convertional Banks and MSCI Emerging markets Islamic Index based on the schemes actual proportion in the equity, debt and emerging market.
Other Mutual Funds
Almost every bank has its own islamic mutual funds that makes this mutual Fund topic requirung a fully detailed post that includes its performance as well. i have written a Post about Mutual funds in Pakistan . on this blog. you can visit and see all funds along with their performances. However MUFAP has complete performance summary of every mutual fund in pakistan.
Securities Companies
Security Companies deals in stock market. there are many SECP approved companies in Pakistan. You can invest in stocks, ETFs and REITs through these security companies. However keep in Mind that Stock market is a risky place. you need to learn it before investment in Stock Market.There are three type of equities in Stock market. Stocks, Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs).
Stocks are publically listed company shares that are traded on stock market. if you want to open account in any of these security companies see the detailed procedure on How to open account in stock Market. For Selection of Stocks you can visit How to Select Stocks on this blog.
Second type of equity in Stock Markets is Exchange traded Funds. Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are the collection of stocks mixed and registered as one Equity. investment in ETF means you are puchsing chunks of all stocks that are included in ETF. For more details visit Exchange Traded Funds
Third type is REIT that is Real Estate Investment Trust, this is fund specifically created for investment in Real estate and in my opinion it is better alternative of Real state. a company founded as REIT collects the funds from Stock market and invest in property. Income from this property is divided as dividends to the shareholder. for full Details visit the article REIT – A New Way to Invest in Property
Below is the list of Major securities companies in Pakistan with their Links
- AKD Securities Limited
- Alpha Capital (Private) Limited
- BMA Capital Management Limited
- Arif Habib Limited
- Zafar Securities (Private) Limited
- Bawany Securities (Private) Limited
- Mohammad Munir Mohammad Ahmed Khanani Securities Limited
- Darson Securities Limited
- Standard Capital Securities (Private) Limited
- Alfalah CLSA Securities (Private) Limited
- Adam Securities Limited
- Lakhani Securities (Private) Limited
Takaful Companies
Takaful Companies provides Shariah Complaint Insurance facilities. There are many companies in pakistan Providing Takaful. below are some details
- United Insuranace Company (Tameem)
- You can find their Forms and opening account Documents on Downloads – UIC Window Takaful
- There Shariah Complaint Programs can be seen on Shariah Compliance – UIC Window Takaful
- Their Shariah Compliance Certificate is also available on site
- Their Takaful Servicesa are as below
- Fire Takaful – In case of fire they provide the services
- Motor Car Takaful – Takaful for your CAR
- Marine cargo takaful – takaful for your marie Cargo – in case of lost of cargo they will provide their services
- Engineering Takaful – This policy is for your engineering equipements like macines and other items. in case of breakdown they will provide you the services
- Misc takaful
- SPI Window Takaful
- SPI provides the Takaful on below items
- Classes of business For the purpose of General Takaful Business (Non-life business) shall be as follows:
- -For direct insurance and facultative reinsurance business:
- (i) Class 1 being fire and property damage business;
- (ii) Class 2 being marine, aviation and transport business;
- (iii) Class 3 being motor third party compulsory business;
- (iv) Class 4 being liability business;
- (v) Class 5 being worker’s compensation business;
- (vi) Class 6 being credit and suretyship business;
- (vii) Class 7 being accident and health business
- (viii) Class 8 being agriculture insurance including crop insurance;
- (ix) Class 9 being miscellaneous business;
- – For treaty reinsurance business:
- (i) Class 10 being proportional treaty business; and
- (ii) Class 11 being non-proportional treaty business.
- SPI provides the Takaful on below items
- Efu Hemayyah
- shariah certificates – EFU Hemayah Takaful
- EFU Hemaya has below Plans for Savings and Takaful
- Individual Family Takaful – it contains many takaful policies some of them are as below
- Emarald Plan
- Savings Plan
- Child Savings Plan
- Khushali Plan
- Bancatakaful
- Group family takaful
- Inclusive takaful
- Individual Family Takaful – it contains many takaful policies some of them are as below
Which company is best for investment in Pakistan?
the answer of this question really lies in your financial goals, there are two parts of this question. what type of investment you should do? and which comapny you should select. Type is totally depends on your risk profile and your returns expectations. Higher returns are intertwind with higher Risks. You can invest in Money market funds for low risk and low returns. and you can invest in Stocks for higher returns but with higher risk. Selecting Company on the other hand depends on your convinence. if banks are easier for you then go to banks. if you want someone else to control the investment and give you returns than go for takaful companies.
Which is the biggest investment company in Pakistan?
In Banks Catagorey: Meezan Bank is the largest islamic bank in Pakistan and it has its own index in pakistan Stok Exchange. and for Takaful Companies, State life is biggest and it also provides the shariah complaiint policies.but my personal favourite in efu hemaya takaful. and in the list of securitues companies you can select anyone.
Conclusion
in this post i tried to give you some of the basic investment opprtunities in Pakistan. My focus was on shariah complaint. For investments in pakistan you can invest in Mutual Funds, Securities and Takaful. if you have any other suggestions, please do comement and i will add it for you.