The US market, which currently only has Fair as its lone challenger bank catering to Muslims in the country, can expect to welcome a new player by December 2021 as Islamic neobank Fardows finalizes its launch.
The bank, which will be offering deposit-taking, payments and robo-advisory services, had opened its waitlist late last month, which has seen thousands of sign-ups so far. Fardows told IFN that it also plans to eventually offer Halal financing and business banking, which is something new for Islamic digital banks.
“Unlike most existing Islamic neobanks, Fardows has a special focus on serving Muslim business owners in the US — a segment that has not been receptive to Islamic digital banking so far,” a representative from the bank said, further explaining that Fardows’s offerings focus on this segment’s needs.
This narrowed focus has also attracted investors’ interest in Fardows, a pool which consists of GCC investors, Islamic banks that have been looking to set up digital arms, US venture capital firms and individual investors, the source noted.
California-based Fardows has already started establishing partnerships with other financial institutions to offer its customers Islamic financial products, including debit cards and other payment systems.
IFN has previously reported on the launch of Texas-based Fair, the only other Islamic neobank in the US, at the end of June 2021.