Launch Partners

Launch Partners

IFN Investor Weekly Round-up: 14th – 20th January 2025

Several firsts were charted in Ethiopia, Kazakhstan and Malaysia over the past week to expand the Islamic investment landscape.

The Ethiopian Securities Exchange (ESX) was launched on the 10th January 2025 as the African nation’s first organized securities exchange. The ESX, which also welcomes Shariah compliant securities, is a partnership between the country’s sovereign wealth fund, Ethiopia Investment Holdings, and the Ministry of Finance, with support from organizations such as Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Africa and FSD Ethiopia.

The first Shariah compliant exchange-traded fund in Central Asia and the Caucasus, issued by IPS Capital, was launched by trading platform ITS on the AIX exchange at the Astana International Financial Centre on the 13th January 2025.

The Securities Commission Malaysia unveiled the Social Exchange pilot with five NGOs ahead of this initiative’s full operations in 2026. With its association to the Maqasid Al-Shariah Guidance for Islamic Capital Market, this exchange is to a structured platform for fundraising dedicated to projects with positive social outcomes through mobilisation of private sector funding of philanthropic capital.

Deals-wise, Bahrain’s GFH Financial Group invested in Invenergy – a privately-held developer, owner and operator of clean energy solutions and projects headquartered in the US. The investment was made through vehicles managed by Blackstone’s infrastructure group.

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is buying a minority stake of up to 10% in Innocap Investment Management, a Canadian platform which facilitates capital allocations to multiple hedge funds.

Kuwait’s Warba Bank closed subscriptions for its Warba Islamic Income Fund – a five-year fund that deploys first lien, senior unsecured financing arrangements to medium-sized private companies in the US and Europe, balancing high returns with controlled risk. The bank partnered with global asset manager Carlyle Group to manage the US$200 million fund’s investments.

Investment app Bibit has over one million users investing exclusively in Shariah compliant instruments. More than half of Bibit’s users are holding Shariah investment products in their portfolios.

On the regulatory front, the Indonesian Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency (Bappebti) transferred the duties of regulation and supervision of digital financial assets to the Financial Services Authority, or Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK), and Bank Indonesia. OJK will also accept the transfer of regulatory and supervisory duties for financial derivative instruments with underlying securities including stock indices and foreign single stocks.

The Philippine Stock Exchange released its updated list of Shariah compliant securities following the quarterly screening with IdealRatings for the period ending the 25th December 2024. Malaysia’s Employees Provident Fund will allow immediate self-registration to select the Shariah compliant savings option Simpanan Shariah starting from the 1st April 2025.

Separately, UAE-based Emirates REIT appointed Sheikh Mohammed Moeen as its new fund manager by Equitativa, manager of the REIT, to replace Michael Davis.

Several firsts were charted in Ethiopia, Kazakhstan and Malaysia over the past week to expand the Islamic investment landscape. The Ethiopian Securities Exchange (ESX) was launched on the 10th January 2025 as the African nation’s first organized securities exchange. The ESX, which also welcomes Shariah compliant securities, is a partnership between the country’s sovereign wealth fund,...

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