(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Doha: UK-based Islamic securitisation and issuance platform Al Waseelah is planning to enter Qatari market. Al Waseelah is in talks to list on Qatar stock exchange and register on Qatar financial Centre (QFC), said a top official of the company.
“We established Al Waseelah in 2019 which is an Islamic issuance platform which uses English law as jurisdiction. It has the capability to issue sukuk and we have listing on Frankfurt Stock Exchange and Al Waseelah can issue notes in any major currency. We currently have three sukuks and we are in conversation with QFC to bring Al Waseelah offering to QFC and list on the Qatar Stock Exchange,” said Asim Khan, CEO, Khalij Group in UK while speaking during a webinar on Islamic Fintech Practices.
Al Waseelah is an award-winning leader in the origination and structuring of Sukuk. It is the first independent UK-based Islamic securitisation and issuance platform.
“Al Waseelah has been established to facilitate Islamic capital markets, to help them issue sukuk and to enable them to access the Islamic capital markets in a time effective and cost-effective manner. So, we are trying to bring in the efficiency from both cost and time perspective into the Islamic capital markets and we would appreciate if the Islamic fintech companies would like to use Al Waseelah as a tool to access as an Islamic capital market” Khan added.
Bait Al Mashura in association with QFC, Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), Khalij Group, Wethaq and Refinitiv organised a webinar entitled 'Islamic Fintech Practices and Prospects for the Capital Markets', recently. The experts discussed about enabling ecosystems in fintech developments and innovations in the capital markets.
Henk J Hoogendoorn, Chief Financial Sector Officer, QFC shared experiences of QFC to promote and enable framework for fintech startups in Qatar. He said, there are opportunities and prospects for fintech solutions in the capital markets. Responding to a query about support and mentorship provided to fintechs and when can we see some of the solutions of the first cohort, he said“Qatar Fintech Hub is an initiative by Qatar Central Bank (QCB) and QFC and Qatar Development Bank are the business developers. QDB has an accelerator incubator program and some the fintechs are also part of cohorts. QCB deals mostly with companies that like to go to the sandbox and when retail is involved fintech companies have to do the sandbox."
“QFC has a separate regulator which looks to the B2B requirement for investors,” he added.
“Qatar has strong regulations and solid Islamic banking regulations and there is also access to investors. We will support and provide incentives to setup and also provide access to regulators, banks and investors and our stock exchange is very much interested to host Khalij which is Al Waseelah platform. I am excited to welcome Al Waseelah and Wethaq in Qatar,” he said.
Dr. Dalal Assouli, Associate Dean College of Islamic Studies, HBKU said,“Globally fintech driven innovations are impacting and influencing various segments of financial industry including banking, capital markets, social finance and insurance. They are functioning through the capital markets for example automation, data analytics intelligence and customer satisfaction. Along that there are several technology enabled trends that support these innovations such as AI, smart contracts, robotics, blockchain, digital transformation and advanced analytics.”
“Looking at the fintech in the context of Islamic financial industry despite the growth of Islamic fintech which is estimated at about $49bn in OIC countries according to the Global Islamic Fintech report we see that there are still limited solutions when it comes to the capital markets with the main focus being on the banking segment. QFC has implemented various initiatives including the Fintech Hub to support fintechs develop their activities in Qatar. Promoting fintech solutions in the Islamic capital markets require regulatory led conducive environment and QFC hosts the Qatar Fintech Hub where fintechs have the opportunities to develop their business activities and launch their solutions to the markets.
Dr. Alaa Alaabed, General Manager, Wethaq, KSA discussed the Wethaq journey, and the key challenges faced in developing business. She said, we are providing a common open digital infrastructure and basically, it is an open platform that allows all the sukuk transaction parties to transact and be able to issue the sukuks and provide a secondary market facility and also provide security services to participants. The Islamic capital market is highly regulated and heavily intermediated, and we are having that supportive enabling ecosystem in Saudi, Qatar and UAE which is a key driver.
Tayyab Ahmed, Senior Research Analyst, Refinitiv responding to a query about why the number of fintechs limited in the Islamic capital markets as compared to the other segments he said, although the capital markets is nascent in the Islamic finetech, it is still emerging like other markets and there is plenty room for growth.
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