Sedania As Salam Capital launches Islamic online marketplace Assidq.com in Malaysia

• The platform has been adopted by more than 50 financial institutions in the country
• Gives banks the freedom to optimise their online presence and reach a bigger audience

SEDANIA As Salam Capital Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sedania Innovator Bhd, has officially announced Assidq.com, the first Islamic online marketplace in Malaysia.

The marketplace facilitates the customers’ Islamic financial needs through a personalised profile check with fast approval and disbursements.

Assidq.com’s partners offer a wide variety of Islamic finance products such as personal financing and credit cards to help customers find the best Islamic finance solution for them.

The platform works with banking players in Malaysia to offer their Syariah-compliant products to consumers, who are currently able to apply for personal financing and credit cards from a list of registered Islamic financial institutions.

Its partners include Alliance Bank & Alliance Islamic Bank, Standard Chartered & Standard Chartered Saadiq and MBSB.

Commenting on its operations, Sedania As Salam Capital Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Nisa Ismail, said, “We have a unique offering in Malaysia. There is a growing demand for Islamic financial products in the strictest sense of the term. The financing has to be completely free from unethical elements including riba (usury), gharar (deceit), maysir (gambling) and zulm (immoral practices).

“What the country needs is a dedicated financial technology platform that could offer Islamic financial products to meet the demands of the population. The matching platform is powered by Sedania As Salam Capital’s proprietary Tawarruq digital commodity trading technology, As-sidq, which allows it to disburse loans within a day. This is evident by existing banks and credit cooperatives that are already using this platform.”

The platform has been adopted by more than 50 financial institutions in the country. The platform uses telecommunications airtime credit as a digital trading commodity, which enables trades to be more accurate, function in real time and independent of commodity market trading hours.

As-Sidq is also in compliance with the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) International Standards in Bahrain.

“We see fintech as a means to enhance competition, increase productivity and fundamentally change the way institutions provide financial services. Ultimately, fintech and especially Islamic fintech in Malaysia should be harnessed to offer inclusive, sustainable and relevant financial products and services to serve the needs of all. We’re proud to say we are at the forefront of those efforts, added Nisa.

Speaking about the partnership with financial institutions, Nisa said, “We believe that in today’s world, it is impossible for businesses to survive without a strong online presence, especially Islamic financial institutions.

“Assidq.com gives banks the freedom to optimise their online presence and make their products available to a bigger audience with the least amount of worry over technological and process integration.

“With Assdiq.com doing all the heavy lifting, armed with the As-Sidq Tawarruq Commodity Trading Platform and As-Sidq Althiqa, banks can concentrate on their core competencies and still receive all the technology advantages with much smaller investment in terms of both time and money.”

With over 26.3 million active internet users, coupled with the Malaysian Government’s commitment to digitise the financial ecosystem, there has been a huge adoption of advanced financial technologies to equip customers for the shift towards digital transactions.

Through the Assdiq.com platform, banks can gain access to customers who are shopping around and enable a seamless end-to-end customer journey from search to approval, all under one roof.

Assidq.com processes and vets each user application thoroughly before providing the pertinent information to its banking partners. For banks, this means lower operating costs as the applicants have been vetted. For consumers, this translates to a faster application process and approval.

Once the user has been matched with a particular Islamic financial product through the information provided, Assidq.com will submit the completed form to the bank. Typically banks take up to two weeks to approve a personal financing application but with Assidq.com’s comprehensive vetting process, an application can be approved within 24 hours