UPDATE 1-Reuters Summit-Japan SBI plans Islamic fund, India firm

(For other news from the Reuters Global Wealth Management Summit, click here ID=500) * CEO: plans to launch Islamic fund as early as next year * Aims to set up online brokerage firm in India * Shares up 2.2 pct vs 0.2 pct fall in the Nikkei .N225 (Updates with more details, background; adds byline)

By Mariko Katsumura and Emi Emoto

TOKYO Oct 6 (Reuters) - Japan's SBI Holdings Inc (8473.T) plans to launch an Islamic investment fund worth $112 million as early as next year and to set up an online brokerage firm in India, the financial services conglomerate's CEO said.

SBI, which generates about half of its revenues from asset management as well as from its brokerage and investment banking business, plans to shore up these core segments by accelerating investment in Asia's emerging countries.

Speaking to reporters at the Reuters Wealth Management Summit in Tokyo, SBI CEO Yoshitaka Kitao said the company is keen to expand its presence in Islamic financial markets such as Indonesia, Malaysia and the Middle East.

"The Islamic financial industry will likely keep growing, and we would like to play a part in that," Kitao said.

Islamic financial products are designed to adhere to sharia law, Muslim rules that prohibit paying out interest and involvement in sectors such as alcohol, gambling and pork. They have soared in popularity in the last few years with a large number of international financial companies seeking to tap large Muslim populations in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

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SBI's Islamic fund, expected to be held equally with another partner, would initially be formed with about 10 billion yen ($112 million).

"Islamic funds with their portfolios carefully chosen by Sharia experts are highly appreciated by pious Muslim investors. By forming such a fund, we would like to attract money in and around the Middle East," Kitao said

"We would like to invite other investors once the fund is up and running," he added.

SBI, which is also planning to set up a fund in South Korea and is interested in buying companies there, had a total of 500 billion yen in assets under its asset management business as of June.

In China, its New Horizon Fund has generated a total 8.8 billion yen profit since the fund's launch in May 2005 with a series of public listings, helping SBI ride out tough times caused by a downturn in Japan's capital and stock markets.

Tokyo-based SBI, which owns Japan's biggest online brokerage firm SBI Securities, has been stepping up its global expansion to achieve a group operating profit of 100 billion yen in the financial year to March 2013 -- from 4.4 billion yen profit it had last year.

By 2013, SBI also aims to generate half of its profits in overseas markets.

To bolster expansion, Kitao said the company plans to "entirely export" its internet-focused financial business models to other Asian markets.

Shares of SBI Holdings, held 44.2 percent by foreign investors, gained 2.2 percent to 17,030 yen by 0430 GMT while the benchmark Nikkei 225 average .N225 shed 0.2 percent. (For summit blog: blogs.reuters.com/summits/) (Editing by Joseph Radford and Muralikumar Anantharaman)