By leveraging R3 Corda’s blockchain solutions, the Wethaq platform aims to improve the market infrastructure used for issuing and trading the Sukuk securities.
Enterprise software company R3 has entered into a strategic partnership with Dubai-based fintech firm Wethaq to develop a blockchain-based framework for Islamic capital markets. According to the press release on Wednesday, August 28, Wethaq’s new blockchain platform will be compliant with the Shariah law and built on R3’s Corda, an open-source enterprise blockchain platform.
The Wethaq platform basically aims to improve the market infrastructure used for issuing and trading the Sukuk securities. The $120 billion Sukuk market is largely regulated at present and takes substantial time for issuance. By leveraging the power of blockchain, Wethaq plans to completely automate and streamline the process.
The announcement reads:
“The platform will make Sukuk more accessible by digitizing the costly and lengthy issuance process, which is at present manual, non-standardised and fragmented.”
Speaking on this development, R3 CEO David E. Rutter said:
“Blockchain is driving an unprecedented period of innovation across capital markets, with more assets moving towards complete digitization. As such, there is no better time to seize the advantages of blockchain to transform global financial systems. Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East region are areas where we see huge potential for Corda to modernize the economy and our partnership with Wethaq is a step towards achieving that.”
Wethaq is said to be working with regulatory authorities from different jurisdictions thereby making sure that the platform stays absolutely compliant to the Shariah and financial perspectives. The Wethaq platform aims to completely simplify the Sukuk lifecycle. Sukuk is basically a financial certificate similar to a bond and complies with the Shariah law.
While traditional bonds are completely a debt obligation, Sukuk partially differs from them as they donate the partial ownership in an asset. The Wethaq platform aims to be a one-stop solution for all the activities performed by banks, clearing and trustee entities.
Besides, for providing wider distribution for investors and issuers, the Wethaq platform shall be completely interoperable with the global Financial Market Infrastructure. Mohammed Alsehli, CEO at Wethaq said:
“In building the next generation of financial market infrastructure for Sukuks we have found a valuable and trusted partner in R3 and its Corda Enterprise software. Our joint focus is on building world-class financial infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, in alignment with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, and the UAE, pursuant to their ambitious fintech agenda, before we expand to the entire Middle East and Southeast Asia.
We invite the wider Sukuk community to join the platform to ease access to capital markets, source new products for investors internationally and more closely integrate Sukuk markets with their global counterparts.”
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