StanChart-Backed Vault22 Eyes UAE Move, Islamic Finance Platform

The Dubai International Financial Centre in Dubai. 

Photographer: Walaa Alshaer/Bloomberg

Vault22, a fintech company backed by Standard Chartered Plc’s innovation unit, plans to enter the Islamic finance market with Shariah-compliant personal-finance and wealth-management offering in the United Arab Emirates.

The company will roll out Hafiq, a new platform billed as a faith-driven approach to personal finance, in the Gulf state around mid-year. It will offer a Shariah asset-screening tool powered by artificial intelligence to help users make investment decisions, a real-time calculator for charitable donations known as zakat and a range of exchange-traded funds and thematic portfolios designed to appeal to millennial and Gen Z investors.