RIYADH, 24 May — Al-Rajhi Banking and Investment Corporation has launched the Kingdom’s first investment fund for women, targeting some 215,000 businesswomen in the country. The move reflects the trend of 10 Saudi commercial banks to increase their services for women whose interest in business and investment has increased considerably in recent years.
Al-Rajhi said the new fund named “Al-Jowhara” was a scientific solution to the problems faced by women investors as the fund would help promote their assets “in a way that suits their expectations, in complete privacy offered by our women-only branches.”
Subscription to the fund will be kept open and unlimited, Al-Hayat newspaper quoted a bank statement as saying. The minimum subscription will be $2,000 initially and members will be able to deposit $200 every month or at a time frame fixed by them. It is expected that other banks will also come out with similar projects.
“The fund will be managed by a group of experts to guarantee high returns at minimum risk,” the statement said. Al-Rajhi launched the fund to meet the growing banking needs of Saudi women. The fund, supervised by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, will conform to Shariah in its transactions.
Abdul Rahman Al-Eidan, manager of banking services at the company, said the new fund would be a mix of existing funds that cover various business sectors such as trading in goods and currencies, and investments in stocks.
A study advised the bank to reduce the fund’s minimum subscription sealing to attract the largest number of investors. The fund will be reviewed every month. It will continue to accept new subscriptions while subscribers will have the option to withdraw their money whenever they want.
Sixty-three branches of Al-Rajhi out of a total of 160 across the Kingdom are women’s only — the largest for any commercial bank in the Kingdom.
The number of female workers in the Kingdom rose from 550,000 in 1993 to 215,000 in 1999. The figure represents only 5.8 percent of total Saudi women in the working age whose number has reached 4.7 million. Women accounts for 49 percent of the country’s population and contributes three percent of the gross domestic product.
There are 130 investment funds in the Kingdom which invest in various businesses including trade, stocks, bonds, and currencies.
A total of 91,000 people have so far invested in these funds. The total assets of these funds jumped from SR12 billion in 1994 to SR38 billion, which is eight percent of total bank assets in the country.
