R3 partners with Wethaq to digitise Islamic capital markets
Dubai-based platform-as-a-service fintech, Wethaq, has signed a strategic partnership with enterprise blockchain software firm, R3 to build the next generation of financial market infrastructure to enable issuers, investors, central banks and regulators to seamlessly transact in Islamic capital markets.
Wethaq’s platform – built on R3’s Corda Enterprise – is aimed at improving the market infrastructure supporting the issuance and trading of Sukuk securities. There is currently substantial unmet demand for Sukuk, the global market for which is worth over $120 billion annually. The platform will make Sukuk more accessible by digitising the costly and lengthy issuance process, which is at present manual, non-standardised and fragmented. 
R3’s Corda Enterprise platform is specifically designed for practical business usage and includes additional security protocols that make it ideally suited to the heavily regulated and complex Sukuk capital market.
David E. Rutter, CEO of R3, comments: “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 modernise the economy and our partnership with Wethaq is a step towards achieving that.”
Wethaq has been working alongside regulators in several jurisdictions to ensure the platform will be fully compliant both from financial and Shariah perspectives.
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.”
The Wethaq platform will simplify the Sukuk lifecycle, being solely accountable for performing functions that would otherwise be performed by a number of banks, clearing and trustee entities.
