Capital Trust launches Shariah compliant trading platform in CSE

Gaurdian Investment House (GIH) through their collaboration with Capital Trust Securities (Pvt) Ltd. (CTS), the leading stock brokering firm in Sri Lanka in terms of transaction turnover, Brokerage turnover and trades, has designed a public trading platform that adheres to Shariah values.

The platform named ‘The Islamic Securities Account’ (ISA) has received the full support of the GIH’s Shariah Advisory & Supervisory Board, whose eminent group of internationally respected scholars such as Dr. Mohamed Ali Elgari, Dr. Daud Baker, Dr. Muhammad Amin Ali Qattan and Dr. Osama Al Dereai who have fully endorsed the ISA Platform and have approved the shares screening methodology of the GIH and identified Shariah compliant businesses for Muslim investors.

Since the end of the nation’s civil war in 2009, the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) has seen phenomenal growth. However, members of Sri Lanka’s Islamic community were unable to take advantage of this growth due to the lack of Shariah based guidance on the permissibility of investing in respective companies. The ISA’s significance lies in its ability to allow these investors to enter the market and take advantage of the CSE’s future growth, going forward.

CTS Chairman Moksevi Prelis, commented on the assessment methods of the ISA, “The qualitative assessments will look to identify companies involved in non-permissible activities such as riba (interest), gambling, gaming, non-halal food, liquor related activities, etc. and eliminate them from the list. The quantitative analysis on the other hand will use a set of financial parameters to set a minimum threshold that a business must satisfy to make the list.

We are proud to be able to bring share trading to the Muslim community this way, and our lists will be updated every quarter.”

GIH General Manager Firzaan Abdul-Azeez said: “The uniqueness of the ISA Platform is that unlike many brokers who merely provide a ‘white list’ to clients, the ISA platform is comprehensive and eliminates all interests related elements while scrutinizing, supervising and monitoring their trading activities to ensure that the entire process from the opening of an account to its close are carried out within Shariah principles. It performs the functions of all other leading brokerage accounts while not charging any extra premium for being Shariah compliant.”

Speaking of the CTS collaboration Firzaan added “when selecting a suitable brokerage company to design, develop and execute this sensitive and vital product, we needed to find the right partner who has not only excelled in business but also respects the rights of Muslims investors. We found CTS to be very professional and hence our decision to go with CTS was easy and unanimous.”