Halal-focused ethical investing platform Wahed Invest has launched its services in the UK, the first of its kind in the country.
The platform is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority and enables investors to create a globally diverse portfolio of ethically responsible stocks, Islamic bonds and gold.
According to a survey conducted by Wahed, more than half of British Muslims feel excluded from the mainstream financial service providers. This new platform aims to solve this and make investing more accessible to everyone, regardless of financial knowledge or income.
New York-based Wahed is a Halal-focused investment platform to ensure the users capital is used to invest in companies which comply with their values. The platform is a robo-advisor supported automated investment platform.
There is a minimum investment size of £100 to ensure investing is available to everyone residing in the US. Users are allocated an optimal portfolio, based on their risk tolerance and ideal investment strategy.
Mohammed Ibrahim Morshed, Head of UK at Wahed Invest, said: “Our mission is to make Halal investing an accessible and affordable means of long-term saving for the millions of UK Muslims who currently feel excluded from mainstream financial services. For too long, the needs of the community have been overlooked, with many Muslims finding it impossible to build nest eggs that are in line with their faith.
“By providing access to a low-cost, accessible investment platform that is advised by our full-time Ethical Review Board, Muslim and non-Muslim investors alike can now be completely confident that they are creating portfolios that are ethically sound.”
To ensure that all returns are Sharia compliant, Wahed has a full-time ethical review board which screens all potential investments on the platform.
Late last year, the company raised a $7m seed round from Cue Ball Capital, and BECO Capital to support the launch of its services in the UK. The funding came just months after a $5m funding round from unnamed strategic investors.
UK-based InsurHalal’s chairman Salman Badr Al-Hasan recently told FinTech Global, technology offers an ‘interesting nexus’ for Sharia compliance and can fuel the adoption of Islamic Finance.
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