Islamic Finance and Blockchain in Malta

During the Delta Summit organised in Malta between the 3rd and 5th October, 2018 various organisations launched Islamic Finance Projects that are to be launched in Malta. Amongst these there was the Islamic Microfinance project launched by the Malta Islamic Finance Association and Assaif Italy.

There were other projects that were launched and/or discussed including two Islamic virtual financial assets exchanges that are expected to initiate the application process shortly after the 1 November 2018, the day when the Malta Financial Services Authority will start to accept applications.

During the discussion there were other projects mentioned that are to seek Shariah compliance including a project for the generation of funds for the building of schools in Africa. There was also a project that looks at other healthcare matters as well as humanitarian issues. This include blood donation and the avoidance of human organ trafficking. All projects presented are in principle laudable projects. Now one will need to see whether these will pass the strin- gent and strict process of the Malta Financial Services Authority.

The days following the Delta Summit resulted in an inundation of queries for Islamic finance projects which at the date of writing of this article are still being analysed. I seriously encourage Islamic Fintech companies to look to Malta in order to register their initial coin offerings or tokens and to benefit from this unique opportunity in the world.

During the summit important aspects of Waqf were discussed and how this can be managed on blockchain as well as Zakat. The Virtual Financial Assets Act combined with the Trust and Trustees Act in Malta are a unique instrument that can assist all Islamic Finance Practitioners in achieving certain goals which were otherwise prohibitive in terms of costs.

Malta is now about to launch tax guidelines which will assist even more in ensuring cost efficient structures. It is expected that these guidelines will clarify certain interpretative matters of what is capital and what is income in terms of Maltese Law when it comes to Digital Assets.