This article was first published in IFN Volume 20 Issue 28 dated the 12th July 2023. In April 2023 we at FairFin initiated a study to determine what it takes to create an Islamic venture capital hub. We asked 42 Islamic finance professionals to rank 10 centers of Shariah finance…

This article was first published in IFN Volume 20 Issue 27 dated the 5th July 2023. Investing in shares of companies is permissible in Islam as long as those invested shares are Shariah compliant. A Shariah compliant investment should not involve any of the activities prohibited by Islam, such as…

Driven by favourable market dynamics in the GCC, Malaysia and Indonesia, the global Islamic finance industry is poised to finally reach the $3.0 trillion mark this year, growing by around 10 per cent after expanding at a similar pace in 2022 (S&P Global Ratings). 92% of Islamic banking assets were…

Actively managed certificates have been around for a while — they became quite popular in Switzerland in the early 2000s. This investment instrument grew strong due to its cost and time efficiency, as well flexibility and application possibilities. Bank Julius Bär defines AMCs as “structured products offering participation in an…

Islamic finance is based on universally accepted concepts — the sharing of risk and reward, operating partnerships and conducting financial transactions that are based on real assets. Thus, venture capital is inherently Shariah compliant, and itself is rooted on a Mudarabah contract. According to the GlobeNewsWire, the global Venture Capital…

The year 2023 is just starting but the expectations of a booming year for Islamic venture capital are almost tangible. SVC — Saudi Venture Capital, a government investment company that was set up in 2018 to provide financing for startups (from pre-seed to pre-IPO) via investing in venture capital…

When will hydrogen replace oil as a source of prosperity for the Gulf? The key word here is “when”, not “whether” or “can it”. In 2021 seven countries in the Gulf region (GCC + Iran + Iraq) produced about 30% of total world crude oil, and they held about 48%…

According to the US Central Intelligence Agency’s The World Fact book, Thailand has the 20th largest population in the world — 69,648,000 people. Muslims represent 4.3% of the grand total, or 2,995,000 people — almost 3 million. This number, though, does not include guest workers from Indonesia and Bangladesh. The…

This is a straightforward question that does not have a straightforward answer. Let’s analyze this issue from two different played out roles — the one of an investor, and the one of an investee. The investee (the target company) needs money to grow, mature and deliver value to its shareholders…