Nessreen Tamano

Iraq Islamic Bank (IIB), the country's first Islamic bank established in 1992, has partnered with global investment company MSA Novo to support Iraqi start-ups and contribute to the development of Iraq's digital landscape.

The IsDB has joined a consortium of multilateral and development agencies to launch a program aimed at funding the digital and creative sectors of Nigeria.

Sheikh Bandar Mohammed Saoud Al-Thani, the governor of the Qatar Central Bank (QCB), has launched the National FinTech Strategy of the Sultanate for the year 2023, which is expected to boost the country's wider fintech sector.

The Labuan International Business and Financial Centre (Labuan IBFC), a special economic zone in Malaysia's Labuan, plans to issue Shariah compliant digital security tokens this year, through its newly launched Islamic Digital Asset Centre (IDAC).

Over a year after the Pakistani regulator released draft guidelines in support of digital-only insurers, an insurtech company's Takaful window has partnered with a local bank to expand its reach, taking a step forward in the sector's development.

Shariah compliant fintech platform Ethis Indonesia has finalized its partnership with two Indonesian Islamic rural banks, or Bank Pembiayaan Rakyat Syariah (BPRS) as they are locally known.

In a bid to position itself as a strong player in the digital Islamic...

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) and fully-fledged Islamic bank Meezan Bank have collaborated to establish a new, dedicated trading platform catering to Islamic banks' clients that hold Roshan Digital Accounts (RDAs) — an investment solution for non-resident Pakistanis.

Fintech and digital commerce solutions provider IOUpay has become the newest player in the thriving Shariah compliant buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) market in Malaysia — the first step in its plan to expand into Southeast Asian countries with large Muslim populations.

During an official visit by Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri to Turkey to meet his counterpart President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and discuss bilateral cooperation, two entities signed an agreement to establish Turkey's first Islamic digital bank.

UAE-based digital banking app YAP has raised US$41 million to back its growth and expansion plans, through an investment round led by Shariah compliant Saudi firm Aljazira Capital.

Warba Bank has announced its entry into two metaverses, making it the first Islamic bank in the world and the first bank in Kuwait and the region to have a presence in the virtual world.

intech start-ups in Iran have received a boost of support with the Central Bank of Iran (CBI)’s recent launch of its regulatory sandbox — a major part of the regulator’s plans to reform the country’s banking sector, which is currently the only fully-fledged Islamic banking system in the world.

Cashew Payments Holding, a fintech start-up headquartered in the UAE, has attracted more support for the imminent launch of Cashew KSA, its operations in Saudi Arabia, with Saudi wholesale and retail trade company Al Hassan Ghazi Ibrahim Shaker Co (Shaker) looking into a possible investment into the former.

Rafiza Ghazali, who has announced her departure from Malaysian tech start-up funding agency Cradle...

Singapore-based Bankograph, a digital banking solutions provider, has partnered with Cambodia Asia Bank (CAB), a commercial bank with its headquarters in Phnom Penh, to offer Shariah compliant products to Cambodian customers.

Singapore’s ZA Tech Global, a digital insurance solutions provider, is the latest strategic business partner and investor of Bank Aladin, an Indonesian Islamic digital bank, to collaborate on insurtech offerings for Indonesian consumers.

Albania can expect to welcome its first digitalized Murabahah platform in less than three months, Amel Kovacevic, CEO of United Bank of Albania (UBA), told IFN, the sister publication of IFN Fintech.

Gulf African Bank (GAB), one of Kenya's three fully-fledged Islamic banks, has partnered with telecoms company Safaricom to launch Halal Pesa, a Shariah compliant mobile financing solution.

High-growth technology companies across the GCC region can expect a boost in capital funding with the launch of SHUAA Capital’s latest Shariah compliant fund, SHUAA Venture Partners.

BBS Invest, a Senegalese payment and digital solutions company, is currently working on what it says is the first SMART Tawarruq platform developed in West Africa.

The thriving Saudi Shariah compliant financing sector can expect to welcome a new player: Funding Souq, a homegrown digital lending platform that has recently closed a successful seed round, which is hoped to support its transition to more Islamic financial transactions.

Islamic fintech start-up IMAN, headquartered in Muslim-majority Uzbekistan, has successfully closed a US$1 million seed round led by institutional investors based in Singapore and the US.

In line with its commitment to developing and supporting innovation in the local banking sector, the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) has granted a license to a new Shariah compliant digital bank — the third neobank to be established in the Kingdom.