Camissa Asset Management Review (2026): The Best Value in SA Halal Investing

If you rank South Africa's halal fund managers by what they charge for what they deliver, one name keeps winning: Camissa. Its flagship Islamic Equity and Islamic Balanced funds carry a 1.04% TER on their B classes, roughly half the Oasis equivalent, and its Islamic High Yield Fund is, at 0.58%, the cheapest actively managed halal fund in the country and arguably its most sophisticated. The franchise has grown past R11 billion across four funds. Here is the full picture, including the one thing Camissa does not do well.

Who Camissa is

The firm began in 2001 as Kagiso Asset Management and was renamed Camissa in February 2022 when management and staff acquired 74% ownership, with Sinayo Capital, a black-women-owned investor, holding 26%. The Islamic franchise dates to 13 July 2009, when the Islamic Equity Fund launched under the Kagiso banner. The investment process is genuinely differentiated: Camissa is a contrarian, valuation-driven house that sizes positions where it sees mispricing rather than hugging the benchmark's shape. Inside Shariah screens, that produces meaningful deviation from the FTSE/JSE Shari'ah indices and from peers, which cuts both ways in any given year and rewards patience over cycles.

The range

• Camissa Islamic Equity Fund (2009, R3.45 billion, 1.04% B class TER): SA equity screened to AAOIFI standards, benchmarked ambitiously against the mean of all general equity funds rather than only Shariah peers. Minimums R5,000 lump sum or R500 monthly.
• Camissa Islamic Balanced Fund (2011, about R5.3 billion, 1.04% B class): the second-largest Shariah fund in the country and, unlike its bigger rival at Old Mutual Albaraka, a high-equity Regulation 28 mandate, giving younger retirement savers more growth headroom. Holds SA government rand sukuk in the defensive sleeve.
• Camissa Islamic High Yield Fund (2019, R2.73 billion, 0.58%): the standout. A sukuk-biased income fund, historically over 80% in sukuk, that bought longer-dated government rand sukuk at profit rates around 13.5% before the 2024 election, a trade its managers discussed publicly. STeFI benchmark, R5,000 minimum.
• Camissa Islamic Global Equity Feeder: the offshore route, smaller and less distinctive than the local trio.

Governance: named board, unpublished paperwork

Every Camissa fund document names the Shariah advisory and supervisory board: Mufti Zubair Bayat, Mufti Ahmed Suliman and Maulana Muhammed Carr, senior figures who also serve across other SA Islamic finance boards. The mandates require AAOIFI-prescribed compliance and prohibit any interest-bearing instrument. What Camissa does not do, and where it clearly trails Old Mutual Albaraka, is publish the assurance paperwork: no signed annual Shariah certificate on the public site, no disclosed external Shariah audit, and purification amounts not itemised on the fact sheets we reviewed. Nothing in our research suggests a compliance problem; the gap is disclosure depth. Strict investors should request the current Shariah certificate directly from Camissa before investing, and it says something that this is the harshest criticism the franchise attracts.

How it stacks up

Against Oasis: roughly half the ongoing cost on comparable mandates, without the wrappers, feeders, REIT or the 1998-vintage record. Against Old Mutual Albaraka: cheaper on every comparable class (1.04% versus 1.19% balanced B classes, 1.04% versus 1.29% equity) and stronger on sukuk, but behind on published assurance and platform ubiquity. Against the Satrix ETF: 64 basis points more for active management, sukuk access and a named board, all things the ETF lacks. For most new halal money, the practical shortlist comes down to Camissa for value and income versus Albaraka for documented assurance, with the ETF as the passive floor.

Verdict

Rated A on our Halal Money Index. For a 30- or 40-something Muslim compounding retirement money, the Islamic Balanced Fund is probably the single best default fund in South Africa; for anyone needing halal income, the High Yield Fund is first on the shortlist. Publish the annual certificates, and this franchise would be near-unimpeachable. Full details on the Camissa provider page and the investing page.

Quick answers

What do the funds cost?

The Islamic Equity and Islamic Balanced funds carry 1.04% TERs on their B classes, roughly half the Oasis equivalents, and the Islamic High Yield Fund charges 0.58%, the cheapest actively managed halal fund in the country. There are no performance fees inflating those numbers in strong years.

What are the minimums?

R5,000 lump sum or R500 monthly debit orders on the flagship funds, which puts the whole range within reach of first-time investors. The funds also appear on major platform menus, including the Sygnia RA fund list for retirement money.

Who certifies the funds?

A named Shariah advisory and supervisory board: Mufti Zubair Bayat, Mufti Ahmed Suliman and Maulana Muhammed Carr, with mandates requiring AAOIFI-prescribed compliance and prohibiting any interest-bearing instrument. What Camissa does not do is publish the signed annual certificates or itemise purification on fact sheets, so strict investors should request both directly.

Which Camissa fund should I start with?

For retirement-horizon compounding, the Islamic Balanced Fund: a high-equity Regulation 28 mandate at 1.04%, which we rate the strongest single default in the market. For income needs, the High Yield Fund is first on the shortlist. The equity fund suits investors who already hold their defensive assets elsewhere.