Wahed Inc. (“Wahed”), the parent company of Wahed Invest LLC, the first
halal robo advisor in the United States, today announces it is expanding
its operations globally. The platform, which was previously available
only to US and UK communities, now provides access to Islamic
value-based investing to residents of over 130 countries including key
markets across Nigeria, India, Pakistan and the MENA region.
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Wahed team (from left to right): Yasser Aboudkhil, CTO – Junaid Wahedna, Founder and CEO – Kareem Tabbaa, CPO (Photo: Business Wire)
Wahed looks to change how the Muslim community participates in global
financial markets by making investing accessible and ethically compliant
for the 1.8 billion Muslims globally. For many Muslims, investing in
line with their faith is more complex due to the exclusion of companies
that obtain the bulk of their profits from interest, lending, gambling,
hedging in silver or gold, insurance, pork, alcohol, tobacco, firearms
and other activities deemed harmful or impermissible in Islam.
The platform, which was launched in the US in 2017 and expanded into UK
markets in 2018, has found that 84% of its users are new to or only
somewhat familiar with investing. The launch has been highly anticipated
globally with over 40,000 interested users already on the waitlist for
the international platform. Once signed-up, users can securely create an
investment account within minutes with the help of facial recognition
technology. Wahed will automatically suggest a portfolio for each user
based on their risk profile, taking into account liquidity needs,
investment goals and other criteria. The portfolio models are overseen
by Wahed’s portfolio management professionals. Users can begin investing
with as little as $100 while paying a fraction of traditional advisory
fees. By utilizing fractional share trading, Wahed ensures that
investors always have a diversified portfolio, regardless of their
account size, thereby making investing efficient for investors from all
walks of life.
Current portfolio allocation options include investments into:
- Global stocks (Wahed S&P Shariah Fund for US clients)
- Emerging market stocks (Wahed S&P Dividend Growth Fund for US clients)
- Sukuk (Islamic bonds)
- Commodities (Gold)
Junaid Wahedna, CEO and founder of Wahed Invest said:
“Our
mission from day one has been to give access to ethical and efficient
returns to the underserved investor. We are very proud to say that
today, no matter where geographically an ethical investor is located, or
what income demographic they fall under, they will have access to an
investment portfolio that is free from usury, or any unethical
constituent.
“This is an incredibly exciting time for Wahed. Since launching in the
US and UK, our international waitlist just keeps on growing and we’re
extremely pleased to finally on-board users from all over the world
providing a much-needed solution. Our new international mobile app
allows users to open their account in minutes, invest in low-cost
diversified portfolios, and monitor their performance anytime and
anywhere.”
In the trailing 12 months, the S&P 500® Shariah Index (which includes
all Shariah-compliant constituents of the S&P 500) outperformed the S&P
500 Index by a fifth (16.3% vs 13.5%). *
In order to ensure all returns are halal, Wahed has a full-time Ethical
Review Board, which undertakes a rigorous screening process and produces
annual purification reports. As a result, Muslim and non-Muslim
investors alike can now be completely confident that their portfolios
are ethically sound. Wahed has also successfully received associate
membership with the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic
Financial Institutions (“AAOIFI”), a not-for-profit organization that
regulates and standardizes accounting, auditing and governance practices
for the Islamic finance industry in line with international standards
that comply with Islamic rules.
The Wahed Invest platform is available immediately and can be accessed
by downloading the mobile application available on the Android and IOS
app stores or by visiting www.wahedinvest.com.
*Source: SPICE, S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Ends
Notes to Editors:
About Wahed Invest
Wahed is the world’s first automated
investing service designed for Shariah and ethical investing. The Wahed
approach to ethical investing in the digital age utilizes a human review
panel to screen certain stocks, commodities and other investment types
that are not socially responsible or Shariah compliant, before
automating algorithm-based investments. Clients will receive a
recommended optimized and diversified portfolio based on their own risk
tolerance. Using Wahed, retail investors can now digitally automate
long-term investments and halal portfolio management at a low-cost.
Disclaimer:
Please keep in mind that past performance is not a guarantee of future
gains and that investments are subject to potential losses. Please refer
to www.wahedinvest.com
for more details of specific risks.
The list of countries which can access the Wahed platform can be found
on the Wahed
Invest website.
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