Islamic Finance Daily Brief — Thursday, October 29, 2026
Assalamu alaikum! Today's Islamic finance stories — and what to learn from them.
Today's stories
🇺🇸 1. A US halal wealth group passes $5 billion in client money
SP Wealth Group announced on October 29 that the money it manages has passed $5 billion, measured as of October 6. That is up from $3 billion in December 2025. The group brings together ShariaPortfolio, SP Funds Management, SP Zero Finance, and ShariaPortfolio Canada, and it says growth came from continued use of its SP Funds ETFs and from expanding its wealth management business in the United States and Canada.
What to learn: Assets under management is the total value of client money a firm looks after. A rise from $3 billion to more than $5 billion in about ten months shows more investors putting money into screened products through this group. The group works in two layers. One layer is ETFs, which are baskets of screened stocks and income products that trade on an exchange. The other layer is wealth management, where advisers manage a portfolio for a client directly. Both layers use Shariah screening. Screening was covered as a concept in the Oct 6 edition. The screen checks what a company does and then checks its finances against debt, cash, and impermissible income limits. The US firms in the group are registered investment advisers with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Canadian firm is registered as a portfolio manager in six provinces. A person who wants a screened portfolio can buy an ETF and hold it, or hand the portfolio to a managed service. Other US options work the same way in broad terms. Wahed runs managed halal portfolios, and Zoya screens stocks for investors who pick their own.
🔗 Source: GlobeNewswire via The News Headliner
🌍 2. A new Shariah portfolio mixes stocks, sukuk, and commodities in one holding
Victoria Capital Management has launched Perennial, a Shariah-compliant portfolio that invests across equities, sukuk, and commodities. It sits inside the Cayman Islands-based Skye Investment Fund SPC as a segregated portfolio, with its own share classes, fee arrangements, and Shariah governance. Allocation decisions combine an internally developed algorithmic model with the judgement of the investment team. Amanie Advisors acts as Shariah adviser, checking each instrument at purchase and on an ongoing basis, with annual certification. AlphaInvest serves as investment adviser, and Victoria Capital Management serves as investment manager.
What to learn: A segregated portfolio company is one legal company divided into separate compartments. Each compartment holds its own assets, and the assets of one compartment are kept apart from the assets of the others. A manager uses this structure to launch a new portfolio faster than setting up a standalone fund, while still giving that portfolio its own share classes and fees. The allocation model proposes how much goes into stocks, sukuk, and commodities. The investment team then adjusts that mix using its own judgement. Every instrument must pass the Shariah check when it is bought, and it is checked again over time, because a company that passes today can fail later if its business or finances change. For an investor, the result is one holding that covers three asset types, instead of buying stocks, sukuk, and commodities separately. In the USA, an investor in the same position usually buys a balanced mutual fund or an ETF for the mix, and then checks Shariah compliance separately.
🔗 Source: ConvergentAssets
🌍 3. Two in three new portfolio investors in the UAE chose the halal version
CUSP Wealth has marked its first year with figures showing how first-time investors used its platform in the UAE. The app has been installed more than 70,000 times, and new client onboarding grew sevenfold between the first and third quarters of 2026. Six in ten users had never invested before joining. Emiratis make up 29% of its investors, alongside investors from 68 nationalities. Two in three investors in its personalised portfolios chose the Shariah-compliant version. Seven in ten investors bought technology stocks, and Nvidia was the most-bought stock, bought by four in ten investors.
What to learn: A personalised portfolio is built around one investor's goals and risk appetite, rather than sold as a fixed basket. CUSP Wealth splits the work between software and people. Software helps investors research options and monitor holdings across thousands of securities. The investment team designs the portfolios. Human advisers speak to clients at the moments that matter, such as the first call after onboarding. Halal robo-advisors were covered as a concept in the Oct 9 edition. The platform is regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority, its screening is powered by Zoya, and its Shariah framework carries a fatwa certificate from Amanie Advisors. Personalised portfolios start from $25 for self-directed investing and carry a 0.75% annual advisory fee. For a first-time investor, the practical point is the starting point. A person with no investing history can open an account in an app, pick a halal portfolio, and get an adviser call. In the USA, the closest equivalents are Wahed for a fully Islamic managed platform and Zoya for screening stocks an investor picks alone.
🔗 Source: TechBullion
🌍 4. A Singapore gold fund adds Shariah classes that retirement savings can buy
Lion Global Investors has created three new unlisted classes of its Singapore Physical Gold Fund, effective October 28. Two of those classes, in Singapore dollars and US dollars, are intended to be endorsed as Shariah-compliant by the Shariah Advisory Body of BIBD Securities, which acts as Shariah adviser. The Shariah pronouncement has not been issued yet. The Singapore-dollar Islamic class can be paid for with Supplementary Retirement Scheme money. The management fee for the Islamic classes is currently 0.40% a year. The fund must hold at least 90% of its net asset value in physical gold, with cash, cash equivalents, and gold ETF units capped at 10% in total.
What to learn: A physical gold fund owns gold bars, rather than shares in gold mining companies. Gold fits Islamic rules because it is a real asset held in custody, and its return comes from the price of the metal, rather than from interest on a loan. The 90% rule keeps the fund close to that idea. Most of the money stays in physical gold, so a unit in the fund tracks the metal itself. The Supplementary Retirement Scheme is Singapore's voluntary retirement savings scheme. A saver puts money aside for retirement and gets tax relief on contributions. Opening that scheme to the Islamic class means a Singapore saver can use retirement savings for a Shariah class of a gold fund. In the USA, a saver in the same position usually uses an individual retirement account and a gold ETF, and then checks the product's compliance separately. The pending pronouncement matters for the reader. The classes are set up and the adviser is appointed, and the formal Shariah endorsement still has to arrive.
🔗 Source: Minichart
Learn
Gold as a Shariah-compliant investment
Gold is a metal with a market price. A person who buys gold owns a real asset. The value of that holding rises or falls with the price of gold. No interest is paid or received on the metal itself. That is why physical gold fits Islamic rules in a direct way.
A physical gold fund works by pooling money from many savers and using it to buy gold bars. The bars are held by a custodian, which is a firm that stores assets for investors. Each saver owns units in the fund. The value of a unit moves with the price of the gold the fund holds. A saver who sells units receives money based on that price.
Gold mining shares are a different holding. A saver who buys shares in a mining company owns part of a business. That business must then pass the usual Shariah screen. Its main activity must be permissible, and its debt, cash, and impermissible income must stay within the limits. A physical gold fund avoids that company screen, because it holds the metal, rather than shares in a company.
Purification still applies where income is not fully compliant. A fund that earns a small amount of impermissible income passes that amount to charity, so the saver keeps only the compliant part. The Singapore fund in today's fourth story shows the structure in practice. It must hold at least 90% of its value in physical gold, and its Islamic classes carry a 0.40% annual management fee.
A simple example shows the whole path. A saver in Singapore puts retirement savings into the Islamic class of the gold fund. The fund buys gold bars and stores them with its custodian. The saver holds units. Years later, the saver sells the units at the gold price on that day. The return came from the metal, and no interest was involved at any step.
All sources
- GlobeNewswire via The News Headliner — SP Wealth Group Surpasses $5 Billion in Assets Under Management (Oct 29, 2026)
- ConvergentAssets — Victoria Capital Management launches Shariah-compliant hybrid multi-asset portfolio
- TechBullion — CUSP Wealth Marks First Year with 29% Emirati Investor Base and Two-Thirds of Portfolio Investors Choosing Halal
- Minichart — LionGlobal Gold Fund Adds Shariah Classes and SRS Access for Seven Unlisted Classes (Oct 28, 2026)