Sustainability And Innovation In Türkiye, And Globally

DDCAP Group™ (DDCAP) is a market intermediary and financial technology solutions provider that responsibly connects the global Islamic financial market. Working with conventional and Islamic banks, as well as financial microcredit organisations, family offices and SMEs, DDCAP facilitates over 300 clients worldwide across a diverse range of Sharia’a compliant products, asset classes and instruments in both the primary and secondary markets.

Whether it is an Islamic interbank trade, capital market issue or consumer financing, our company is an important link in the transactional chain, with our online trading platform ETHOS Asset Facilitation Platform™ (ETHOS AFP™) automating requisite processes. Today, ETHOS AFP™ is a multi-award-winning systems technology that helps our clients book trades efficiently, benefit from 24/7 post-trade services and meet Sharia’a audit and compliance requirements.

Islamic finance continues to expand notwithstanding the COVID-19 pandemic, with Standard & Poor’s expecting a growth of 10% to 12% between 2021 and 2022, with a correlated increased demand for innovative liquidity management solutions. Commodity Murabaha or Tawarruq, subject to the close scrutiny of Sharia’a scholars and regulators, remains among the most commonly used structures to provide liquidity in Islamic money and capital markets. DDCAP has extensive experience in this area, and we will continue to enhance the quality and robustness  of our services as well as contribute relevant thought leadership, not least through our proactive membership of industry infrastructure organisations, including IIFM and AAOIFI.

A developing aspect of the Islamic finance ecosystem and the global financial system generally is sustainable finance

A developing aspect of the Islamic finance ecosystem and the global financial system is generally sustainable finance. Integrating SRI and ESG considerations, it is a cknowledged to overlap with Islamic finance and wider Sharia’a’principles, resonating not only with sustainability but also religious and ethical values. DDCAP is committed to supporting these global sustainability endeavours and accordingly has developed a Sustainable and Responsible Actions (SRA) programme covering business activities, client relationships, and crucially, internal workplace practices and aspirations. We are proud to be the first Islamic financial services intermediary to have signed the UN Principles for Responsible Investment, whilst we are also a Stakeholder Endorser of the UNEP FI Principles for Responsible Banking. We have additionally supported many notable landmark sustainable finance transactions, including working with Citibank to facilitate Majid Al Futtaim’s Green Sukuk, which was an important milestone in developing awareness of ESG factors in MENA.

We are also proud to be a long-standing partner of choice for institutional clients in Turkey. DDCAP has established long-term relationships with all 6 participation banks as well as those conventional banks offering Islamic financial products, and our clients are constantly aiming to improve product range and product standardisation, developing the capital markets, and expanding financial inclusion.

Financial technology is now playing its part in these improvements and one of our key tenets is to improve functional efficiency and reduce operational risk through the use of innovative and enabling ‘FinTech’. DDCAP is active in exploring the potential in FinTech collaboration between Turkey and the UK and was a joint chair of the working group on FinTech development recently established by TheCityUK and Borsa Istanbul. The group’s wide-ranging report, covering subjects from cross-border Sharia’a compliant FinTech transactions to FinTech  regulation (UK_Turkey Islamic Fintech Working Group – Case Studies and Insights).

In addition, we have recently begun to invest in earlystage third party Islamic FinTech that is also ethically responsible. To date, our investment has been in UK businesses, but we are keen to extend that and welcome approaches from Turkish Islamic FinTech companies that match our criteria.

DDCAP continues to invest in its technology and clientfocused business solutions to ensure transactional compliance with Sharia’a stipulations. ETHOS AFP™ has received industry-recognised accreditation validating the platform’s cybersecurity and the consistently high standards required to ensure its effective oversight and management, whilst DDCAP’s Sharia’a Supervisory Board, chaired by esteemed Saudi scholar Sheikh Abdullah Bin Suleiman Almaneea, has since its inception been closely involved with the development and oversight of ETHOS AFP™. As part of its ongoing, recurrent Sharia’a diligence procedures, the Board undertakes regular reviews of ETHOS AFP™, the transactions concluded across it, and the trade documentation originated by it. The Board is also closely engaged with our SRA programme, with Dr Akram Laldin leading as our Sharia’a ‘SRA Champion’. We believe these ‘best-in-class’ technological, ethical and supervisory practices are critical as we continue to strive to provide world-class service to our clients in Turkey and globally.

We are keen to extend that and welcome approaches from Turkish Islamic FinTech companies that match our criteria

DDCAP