Wahed Invest (“Wahed”), the first fully digital Halal-focused ethical investing platform, today announced the launch of its “Halal Stock Screener,” a first-of-its-kind, free app that allows investors to determine if a company in which they are considering investing is “Halal.”
Currently, faith-based investors are limited to investing in mutual funds or paying institutional rates for Shari’ah certifications. The Halal Stock Screener aims to democratize Halal investing, and is available as a free app on both Google Play and the Apple App store.
With Wahed’s Halal Stock Screener, users can search from over 50,000 stocks globally and request an analysis to see if they are AAOIFI compliant and ethical in nature. The analysis uses real-time data supplied by Thomson Reuters, and provides free information, including a company overview, stock pricing, financial ratios, company size, price per share data and estimates, as well as an automated halal quantitative analysis from leading financial organizations.
The Halal investing principles are confirmed by screening stocks for tobacco, alcohol, firearms, gambling, adult entertainment, impure food stock, usurious institutions, excess debt, excess interest, and other concerning financial ratios. Stocks are also screened by Wahed’s experts for the presence of interest, or Riba, and all other impermissible sources of income.
The app also includes a Zakat calculator, allowing users to accurately determine their Zakat annual contribution, which entails donating a portion of one’s wealth to those in need. Zakat is one of the Five Pillars of Islam.
“With thousands of potential stocks available, it can be daunting for people to know if they are investing ethically,” said Kareem Tabbaa, CPO, Wahed. “The new Wahed Halal Stock Screener delivers an easy and fast way to determine if a stock meets a users’ ethical standards. This is an important tool for anyone who wishes to invest ethically, especially Muslims who seek to ensure that their investments are Halal.”
Additionally, the Halal Stock Screener app can provide users an official qualitative Shari’ah certification, and a Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) review of the ethical policies on any stock selected, for $9.99 per stock. The qualitative screening determines compliance based on The Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) methodology.
Wahed is the only Halal-focused investing platform that is overseen by an Ethical Review Board, preventing concerned Muslims and others from investing in companies that do not agree with their values (e.g., companies involved in any aspect of the liquor, firearms, gambling and tobacco industries). The platform also screens investments that generate profit from interest and those that do not comply with certain debt ratios.