Vineeta Tan

Qatar Central Bank (QCB) is receiving positive feedback on its buy-now-pay-later efforts, attracting over 25 requests in just 48 hours after it opened the application for BNPL licenses.

Qist Bazaar has secured a certificate from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) verifying the Shariah compliance of its buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) offering, becoming the first non-banking finance company in the Republic to officially offer Muslim-friendly BNPL services.

Malaysia’s Maybank Investment Bank (Maybank IB) has partnered with New York-listed Broadridge Financial Solutions to launch a Shariah compliant securities borrowing and lending (SBL) offering.

London-based P2P lender Loanpad is seeking to make its platform more inclusive by potentially including Shariah compliant products in a bid to appeal to Muslim investors and borrowers.  

Pakistan’s Salaam Takaful has partnered with food security start-up Digital Dera to provide parametric-based crop Takaful coverage to smallholder farmers.

Saudi regulators have licensed two fintech companies, growing the Kingdom’s Shariah fintech service providers.

Shariah compliant blockchain platform HAQQ has partnered with decentralized artificial intelligence (AI) network SingularityNET to streamline its integration and provide users as well as developers with ethical, AI-driven Islamic financial tools.

Halogen Capital has officially launched its Halogen Shariah Bitcoin Fund, becoming Malaysia’s first licensed digital asset fund manager to provide investors exposure to crypto assets in a Shariah compliant manner.

Kuala Lumpur-based digital financier Orpheus Capital has partnered with SOLV Malaysia to offer Shariah compliant SME financing solutions via the latter’s platform.

New York-headquartered Wahed has named Mohsin Siddiqui as chief operating officer (COO) to oversee the Islamic fintech company’s global operations as well as regional expansion.

Technology firm Azentio Software is working on several new use cases to enhance the Islamic banking experience on the back of a rising generative artificial intelligence (AI) wave.

Riyadh-based Afaq Capital Company has secured a Financial Technology Experimental Permit from the Saudi...

Malaysia’s insurtech start-up Ouch! has formally entered the Islamic insurance market as the first digital Takaful operator in Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM)’s regulatory sandbox with its first Takaful product.

Four companies in the UAE will be adopting and integrating solutions from Islamic Coin...

National Savings, a department under the Finance Division of Pakistan, has signed a partnership with payment system 1LINK to expand the former’s network, a LinkedIn post from Hamid Raza, the director-general of National Savings, read.

Saudi edtech start-up YaSchools, which entered the Shariah compliant microfinancing space this year, has raised US$600,000 in seed funding from angel investors to shore up its growth strategy including expanding into Jordan.

Cairo-based agri-fintech start-up Dajin has introduced Shariah compliant financial solutions, widening the circle of Egyptian start-ups providing Halal digital finance services.

Almost a year since it sought feedback on its proposed guidelines on technology risk management, the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has issued the guidelines which are expected to come into force by the third quarter of 2024.

Pan-Asian venture capital (VC) firm Gobi Partners has signed an MoU with HSBC to support, among others, tech start-ups focusing on serving the Muslim community and Islamic economy.

Saudi Arabia, one of the largest Takaful markets in the world, has finalized rules governing insurance technology as part of the Kingdom’s efforts to bolster its insurance sector.

The Capital Market Authority (CMA) of Oman is gathering feedback on a consultation paper for its Virtual Assets Regulatory Framework as it prepares to license virtual asset service providers (VASPs) and regulate crypto activities.

Jirnexu, a fintech company part of one of the two licensed Islamic digital bank consortiums in Malaysia, has soft launched Halogen Capital, a crypto fund management company which offers Shariah compliant investment opportunities.

Islamic buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) company Tabby has secured a license from the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) to operate in the Kingdom, in line with its MENA growth strategy.

HAQQ, the Islamic blockchain solutions provider behind Islamic Coin, has partnered with Brighty App, a mobile money platform integrating traditional finance and cryptocurrency to expand its European reach.