Islamic Money Term Deposits (Wakala) - PRE-LAUNCH WAITLIST
Islamic Bank Accounts in Queensland
NOT YET AVAILABLE - waitlist only. Islamic Money is not open, is not a bank, and holds no banking (ADI) licence (voluntarily returned to APRA 1 March 2024); it has never taken a deposit. The planned product would be 'Australia's first non-interest deposits': Wakala (agency) term deposits over 1-12 month terms paying profit share instead of interest, with expected profit rates estimated at the start and funds never invested in haram industries. Requires the company to regain an ADI licence - targeted 2027, contingent on a $40M capital raise.
Halal term deposits are arguably the biggest missing product in Australian Islamic finance - savers currently choose between conventional interest (impermissible), zero-return accounts, or market-risk investments. Islamic Money's planned Wakala deposits with 1-12 month terms and upfront expected profit rates would fill that gap with the same structure UK Islamic banks (Gatehouse, Al Rayan) have run successfully for years. The design is credible and the Shariah bench is world-class; what's absent is the product, the licence, and the capital. Nothing can launch until the $40M raise completes and APRA re-licenses the company - both genuinely uncertain. Waitlist-worthy for the day it exists; until then, this is a bookmark, not a banking option.
Pros
- Would be Australia's first non-interest term deposit if launched - a real market gap
- Wakala with upfront expected profit rates is the internationally proven halal deposit structure
- Named world-tier Shariah Committee with product-level fatwa process
- Company transparency about capital position and licensing is exemplary
Cons
- DOES NOT EXIST: taking deposits requires an ADI licence the company returned in March 2024 and has not regained; zero deposits ever held
- No expected profit rates, terms, or conditions exist to evaluate
- 2027 launch target is contingent on a $40M raise; the timeline has already slipped once (original restricted-ADI path ended without launch)
- No FCS deposit protection until ADI status is regained - and none of the marketing addresses what happens to the waitlist if the raise fails
Open Account
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Product Details
Term Options
1-12 months (planned)
Islamic Money in Queensland
Islamic Money's account is relevant to customers in Queensland. Islamic accounts avoid interest entirely: safekeeping (Wadiah) accounts pay no return, and agency (Wakala) deposits invest in screened assets for an expected profit. Deposit protection under the Financial Claims Scheme applies only to APRA-licensed institutions; confirm the licensing arrangement before depositing. Islamic Money operates across Australia, so Queensland residents have full access to this product.
Our Take on Islamic Money
Islamic Money is Australia's most consequential Islamic finance venture and its most instructive cautionary tale - simultaneously. The team raised $20M, won the country's first restricted Islamic banking licence, built 70% of a bank (BSB and SWIFT code included), then handed the licence back rather than breach APRA capital rules when the $40M launch raise stalled. That decision was honourable and fully disclosed - the company's transparency about its own failure is genuinely exemplary - but the consumer facts are stark: nothing has ever launched, nobody has ever held an account, and every product is a waitlist entry gated by a capital raise of uncertain outcome. Track it; don't plan around it.
How Islamic Money Works
Today: join the waitlist
The only available action - name, email, mobile, postcode, age range. The company commits to notifying the waitlist 'the moment we're ready to launch.'
Next: the $40M raise
Launch is gated on completing a $40M capital raise (of the original $60M plan, $20M was raised and spent on the build). An investor-relations page serves potential investors.
2026 target: Ijarah home finance
Home finance can launch under the existing AFSL/ACL without a banking licence - buy shares of your home progressively while paying rent, aiming for big-bank-comparable cost.
2027 target: the bank
Once capital is raised, the company will reapply to APRA for an ADI licence and, if granted, launch Wadiah everyday accounts and Wakala term deposits as Australia's first Islamic bank.
Financing Structure
Islamic Money Australia Pty Ltd (ABN 37 609 971 280) currently holds an AFSL/Australian Credit Licence (534355) and AFCA membership (76324) - financial services and credit licensing, not banking authorisation. Its planned structures: Everyday Accounts on Wadiah (safekeeping - deposits guarded, not lent at interest), Term Deposits on Wakala (the institution invests as your agent in Shariah-compliant assets and shares actual profits, with expected rates estimated upfront), and Home Finance on Ijarah (progressive purchase of property shares while paying rent on the unowned portion). The deposit products require regaining an APRA ADI licence (2027 target); home finance can operate under the existing credit licence (2026 target). All structures are subject to product-level fatwas from the named Shariah Committee before launch.
In-Depth Analysis
Islamic Money's history is the defining case study of Australian Islamic banking ambition. As Islamic Bank Australia (IBA Group), it received the country's first restricted ADI licence from APRA in July 2022 - the restricted pathway that gives startup banks a limited window to launch. The plan needed $60M: $20M to build (raised and spent - systems are '70%' complete, a BSB and SWIFT code exist, and the company says it was 'almost on the verge of testing with real customers') and $40M to launch. The second raise stalled in the post-2022 funding winter, and rather than breach APRA's capital requirements, the company notified the regulator and voluntarily requested revocation of its licence, effective 1 March 2024. It then renamed to Islamic Money - because Australian law reserves the word 'bank' for licensed ADIs - and continued building under its AFSL/ACL 534355.
The February 2026 progress update, signed by CEO Dean Gillespie (a career banker), maintains the plan: raise the $40M, reapply for the licence ('we have already told the regulator that we intend to do this'), launch Ijarah home finance possibly in 2026 under the existing credit licence, and open the full bank in 2027. Every date is explicitly contingent on capital. The company's disclosure discipline through this saga deserves note: the not-a-bank banner sits on every page, the footer states 'as of 1 March 2024, we are not an ADI and are not an entity conducting banking business in Australia,' and the FAQ answers the breach question directly ('No, we did not... we voluntarily requested revocation'). This is how a pre-launch financial venture should communicate.
The planned product suite is coherent and structurally sound: an Everyday Account on Wadiah (safekeeping - the classical non-interest transaction structure), term deposits on Wakala (agency investment with expected profit rates disclosed upfront, the structure UK Islamic banks operate successfully), and home finance on Ijarah with progressive share purchase - functionally the diminishing-musharaka model of Australia's established providers. Screening excludes pork, alcohol, gambling, arms, and - unusually - fossil fuels, an ESG-inflected position few Islamic institutions take explicitly. The Shariah Committee is the strongest named bench in Australian Islamic finance: Dr Elgari (the Dow Jones Islamic Index board - consistent with Dr Mohamed Ali Elgari, among the world's most respected Shariah scholars), Dr Hashim (Central Bank of Malaysia's Shariah Advisory Council), and Dr Raashed (PhD in Islamic law), with product-level fatwas required before launch. No fatwa documents are published - though with no products live, there is as yet nothing for them to govern.
The consumer-protection reading is unambiguous. Deposits with Australian ADIs carry Financial Claims Scheme protection to $250,000; Islamic Money holds no deposits, offers no protection, and legally cannot take a deposit until re-licensed. The home finance product can launch first precisely because credit doesn't require an ADI licence - which is why 2026 is the nearer target. Until something launches, the only live artefacts are the waitlist form, an insurance survey (gauging takaful demand), prayer-time pages, and an investor-relations page for the $40M raise. One professionalism blemish: the live site retains website-template leftovers - 'Cyberbank' testimonials from fictional-sounding users and UK-banking copy ('fee-free UK bank transfers') - sitting alongside real product pages, which a venture courting $40M should have cleaned up.
For HalalWallet's audience the guidance is precise: join the waitlist if you want this to exist (community demand is literally an input to the capital raise); do not defer any real financial decision waiting for it. Home finance is live today at MCCA, ICFAL, and Hejaz; halal term deposits genuinely do not exist in Australia yet, making the Wakala product the roadmap item most worth watching; and everyday transaction banking has no halal onshore option today - the gap this venture exists to fill. If the raise completes and APRA re-licenses, Islamic Money would be Australia's first Islamic bank; both conditions remain genuinely uncertain.
Shariah Compliance Details
- Named Shariah Committee: Dr Elgari (Shariah board, Dow Jones Islamic Index), Dr Hashim (Shariah Advisory Council, Central Bank of Malaysia), Dr Raashed (PhD Islamic law). Product-level fatwas required before any product launches; no fatwa documents published yet.
- Screening excludes pork, alcohol, gambling, arms trading, and fossil fuels - an ESG-style commitment beyond classical prohibitions.
- Regulatory status: NOT an ADI since 1 March 2024 (restricted ADI licence voluntarily returned to APRA; company states no breach occurred). Holds AFSL/ACL 534355; AFCA member 76324; TMDs published on the site.
- No Financial Claims Scheme protection exists or can exist for anything Islamic Money offers until it regains ADI status.
- History: as Islamic Bank Australia, received Australia's first restricted ADI licence in July 2022; renamed because unlicensed entities cannot use the word 'bank.'
How Islamic Money Compares
Islamic Money competes today only for attention - every product is pre-launch. On its 2026 home finance target, it would enter against live, proven providers: MCCA (operating since 1989), ICFAL (community co-op), and Hejaz (full wealth ecosystem) - all writing Ijarah/musharaka-family finance now; Islamic Money's pitch would be big-bank-comparable pricing and eventual banking integration, against their operating track records. On deposits, it has no live competitor because no halal term deposit exists onshore - the strongest reason to want this venture to succeed. On transaction accounts, Australian Muslims currently use conventional banks under necessity; a launched Wadiah account would be the first onshore alternative. The honest comparison against all incumbents is: they exist, it doesn't - yet.
Hejaz offers live halal home finance, super, and investments today - the operating full-stack alternative while Islamic Money remains pre-launch.
MCCA has written Islamic home finance since 1989 - the track-record choice for buyers who can't wait for Islamic Money's 2026 target.
ICFAL's community co-operative model offers member-owned Islamic finance now, including home and car finance.
Bottom Line
Join Islamic Money's waitlist to vote for an Australian Islamic bank - but make every actual financial decision with providers that exist: its products are unbuilt, its launch dates are capital-contingent, and its own banner says it best: 'We're not open, and we're not a bank yet.'
Read full Islamic Money reviewShariah Compliance & Oversight
Standing Shariah Committee: Dr Elgari (Dow Jones Islamic Index Shariah board), Dr Hashim (Shariah Advisory Council, Central Bank of Malaysia), Dr Raashed (PhD Islamic law); product-level fatwas issued pre-launch (fatwa documents not published)
2026-08-05
Why It's Halal
The planned structure is Wakala (agency): instead of an interest-bearing deposit, you appoint the institution as your investment agent, it invests your funds in Shariah-compliant assets, and you earn a share of actual profits - with an expected (not guaranteed) profit rate estimated at the start, which is the standard structure used by Islamic banks in the UK and Gulf. Screening excludes pork, alcohol, gambling, arms, and fossil fuels. Oversight comes from the named Shariah Committee (Dr Elgari of the Dow Jones Islamic Index board, Dr Hashim of the Central Bank of Malaysia's Shariah Advisory Council, and Dr Raashed), which issues product-level fatwas. Every part of that is currently theoretical: taking deposits legally requires an ADI licence that Islamic Money does not hold, no expected profit rates or terms exist, no fatwa is published, and the company has never held a customer dollar. If launched as designed, this would be a genuine Australian first - halal term deposits do not currently exist onshore - but today it is a waitlist entry, and any funds you need to keep safe should stay in FCS-protected accounts elsewhere in the meantime.
Regional Availability
Islamic Money serves all of Australia
✓ Available nationwide including Queensland
Open Account: Islamic Money
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Compare With Other Options in Queensland
1 other bank accounts product available to Queensland residents
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Islamic Money Term Deposits (Wakala) - PRE-LAUNCH WAITLIST?
Why is Islamic Money Term Deposits (Wakala) - PRE-LAUNCH WAITLIST considered halal?
Is Islamic Money Term Deposits (Wakala) - PRE-LAUNCH WAITLIST available in Queensland?
What Shariah oversight does Islamic Money have?
What financing structure does Islamic Money Term Deposits (Wakala) - PRE-LAUNCH WAITLIST use?
How do I apply for Islamic Money Term Deposits (Wakala) - PRE-LAUNCH WAITLIST in Queensland?
Can Queensland residents access Islamic home finance?
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Important: HalalWallet provides educational information and comparisons to help you explore halal financial options. We do not provide financial, legal, or religious advice. Product structures and Shariah compliance oversight vary by provider. Always verify halal compliance directly with providers and consult with qualified Islamic finance advisors or scholars for guidance on specific products and your individual circumstances.