Here are the top Islamic fintech stories in September.
New players
- Saudi’s Capital Market Authority granted Trh Capital Company and Alhulul AlMubassatah Financial Company with Financial Technology Experimental Permit.
- The Saudi Central Bank awarded Al-Tizam for Electronic Insurance Brokerage and Altheqa Insurance Brokers with insurance aggregators license and Intelligent Solutions with finance aggregation license.
- This is in line with Saudi Arabia’s target to increase the number of fintech companies in the Kingdom to 525 by 2030.
Digital banking
- Malaysia’s Maybank Investment Bank partnered with New York-listed Broadridge Financial Solutions to launch a Shariah compliant securities borrowing and lending offering.
Alternative finance
- Tabby confirmed it will relocate its headquarters to Saudi Arabia from Dubai as it prepares to list on Saudi Exchange.
- Qatar Central Bank received over 25 requests for buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) license applications within 48 hours of opening.
- Pakistani BNPL start-up Qist Bazaar secured Shariah compliant certificate from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan.
- Saudi Arabia’s Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair & Company also partnered with BNPL Tabby to offer payment solutions.
Blockchain and cryptocurrency
- CAIZcoin is preparing to go public again by securing listings on over 30 exchanges globally.
- Digital services company MY EG Services issued RM300 million (US$64.12 million)-worth of sustainability Sukuk in August 2023 to fund Layer-1 public blockchain platform Zetrix.
- Islamic Coin signed an MoU with CoinDesk Indices to explore developing Shariah compliant crypto benchmarks for the MENA region.
P2P financing
- Jewsih-law compliant P2P Loanpad might include Shariah compliant products in its offerings to cater to the Muslim market
TakaTech
- Salaam Takaful partnered with food security start-up Digital Dera to provide parametric-based crop Takaful coverage to smallholder farmers.
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IFN Fintech Landscape Updated
We added three fintech start-ups in September, bringing the total to 387.
Verticals: Trade and investment included two entrants (Enricher and Fundo Indonesia) while blockchain and cryptocurrency included one company (Coinerr).
Countries: Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkiye all welcomed one start-up each (Fundo Indonesia, Enricher, Coinerr).