Islamic Commercial Finance Australia 2026: Providers

Seven providers in our registry offer Shariah-compliant finance for business premises and commercial property in Australia in 2026, and not one of them publishes a rate. MCCA writes lease-to-own facilities from $100,000 to $50,000,000 at up to 75% of value, funded from its own Shariah-certified Income Fund. NAB is the only major bank in the market and starts at $3 million. Amanah Islamic Finance, Crestmount Money, Riyadh FS and Sharia Finance arrange Ijarah-based commercial facilities with published entry contributions between 10% and 25%, and Insaaf covers small-ticket equipment under murabaha or ijara. The conventional benchmark they price against is public: the Reserve Bank's lenders' rates table for August 2026 shows new small business loans at 7.23%, medium business at 6.18% and large business at 5.54%. This guide compares every provider's structure, published terms and Shariah oversight, explains why commercial finance sits outside the consumer credit law, and sets out how an SMSF can own its members' business premises halal.

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What Islamic commercial finance is, and why it is lightly regulated

Every provider in this market replaces a commercial mortgage with an asset contract. Under Ijarah Muntahia Bittamleek, the form MCCA, Amanah and Riyadh describe, the financier acquires the premises and the business pays rent to occupy them, with ownership passing at the end of the term or on early buyout. Under murabaha, which Insaaf and Crestmount offer for equipment, the financier buys the asset and resells it at a disclosed markup paid in instalments. Under musharaka, used in the SMSF products, the fund and the financier co-own the property and the fund buys out the financier's share over time while paying a profit share on it. Development finance is written as staged draws against work completed. Our explainer on Ijarah versus diminishing musharaka covers the contractual differences.

The regulatory difference from home finance is the one most business owners miss. ASIC's Information Sheet 101 states that a loan is only consumer credit under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act if it is predominantly, meaning more than 50%, for personal, domestic or household purposes, and that loans to companies are not caught at all. ASIC's Regulatory Guide 209 adds that the responsible lending obligations do not apply to business-purpose credit or to any loan to a company, including a small proprietary company, even where the owner's home is security. So there is no statutory suitability assessment and no National Credit Code hardship regime. What remains is the ASIC Act's conduct provisions and, where the provider is a member, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, whose approach to small business lending explains how it judges whether unregulated credit was appropriately provided. Riyadh FS, Sharia Finance and Insaaf state AFCA membership; check it for any provider before you sign.

The seven providers compared

Provider	Structure	Published range and entry	Term	Shariah oversight	Pricing
MCCA	Ijarah Muntahia Bittamleek, funded via MCCA Income Fund	$100,000 to $50,000,000; up to 75% of value	Up to 30 years; redraw; weekly, fortnightly or monthly	Named four-scholar panel including the Grand Mufti of Australia; Amanie Advisors; Income Fund has its own fatwa	Quote only
NAB	Not disclosed	Minimum $3,000,000; option without property security	Not published	Unnamed advisers described as members of AAOIFI and IFSB; no certificate	"Comparable" to conventional; not published
Amanah Islamic Finance	Ijarah (commercial lease-to-own); progressive draws for development	No range or LVR published	Not published	Sheikh Dr Zaid Alsalami supervising; monthly independent audits	Quote only
Crestmount Money	Ijarah, murabaha or musharaka; progress draws for construction	No range published; comparison-rate example uses $150,000 over 25 years	Tailored	Attributed to Amanie Advisors (Datuk Dr Mohd Daud Bakar); no certificate published	Quote only
Riyadh FS	Ijarah with variable rental; SMSF variant is musharaka	From 20% contribution plus costs; up to 80% of value	30 years; refinance after 12 months of good conduct	"Certified" with no named authority or certificate	Quote only
Sharia Finance (broker)	Rent-based facilities via unnamed Islamic funders	Properties up to $25 million; deposits from 10% plus costs; full and low doc	Not published	Funders' certificates claimed, none published	Quote only; no fee for pre-approval
Insaaf (co-operative)	Murabaha or ijara for equipment, vehicles, machinery	20% minimum member contribution; ABN with one year GST registration	About three to five years	Named four-mufti Sharia Supervisory Team	Markup unpublished; application fee $550 to $1,500 plus 2.5% facility fee

MCCA: the only provider with a published size range

MCCA's finance products page is the most specific in the market. Commercial finance covers purchase, refinance from another institution, debt consolidation and development, for a maximum of 30 years, at up to 75% of the property's value and from $100,000 to $50,000,000. Instalments can be weekly, fortnightly or monthly with no limit on extra payments, and redraw is available. The FAQ states that commercial properties are financed through the MCCA Income Fund, which matters religiously: the money comes from investor capital in a registered Shariah-certified mortgage fund rather than an interest-based warehouse line. Our MCCA Income Fund guide explains that fund. MCCA has operated since 1989 and reports $3.6 billion originated across its range. What it does not publish is any rental rate, facility fee or indicative pricing.

NAB: major-bank scale from $3 million, with an undisclosed structure

NAB's Islamic finance page offers a minimum of $3 million for the purchase or construction of commercial property and land, business acquisitions, and equipment or livestock, through 90 accredited bankers, with an option for customers without property security. It describes the product as "a compliant alternative with comparable pricing" that "changes the structure, not the economics", signed off by advisers "who are a part of industry leading bodies such as AAOIFI and the IFSB". The page never names those advisers, publishes no certificate and never says which contract it uses. Financing for alcohol, gaming, arms and weaponry is excluded. For a business needing $3 million or more, NAB brings execution certainty no Islamic financier can match; below that it is not available. Our analysis of NAB and the big four covers what the bank has and has not disclosed since 2021.

Amanah, Crestmount, Riyadh FS and Sharia Finance: the Ijarah arrangers

Amanah's commercial page describes funder partnerships serving small businesses to large corporates, and our registry records the widest asset appetite in the market: development, retail and office premises, warehouses, apartment blocks, land banking, childcare centres, boarding houses, NDIS property and SMSF commercial purchases, under the same monthly-audit governance as its home product. Crestmount's commercial page lists offices, retail, medical suites, childcare centres, warehouses and light industrial, with an option to elect fixed rental payments, for trusts, companies, sole traders and partnerships; it attributes compliance to Amanie Advisors but publishes no certificate and names no funder. Riyadh's Ijaar Commercial Finance page publishes a 20% contribution plus purchasing costs, up to 80% finance to value, a 30-year term with no early payment penalty, a variable rental rate, refinance after 12 months of good conduct and availability inside an SMSF; its compliance block says the product "has been certified" without naming by whom. Sharia Finance's commercial page is a brokerage pitch: properties up to $25 million, deposits from 10% plus costs, full and low doc, medical, warehouse, agricultural, retail, office and industrial security, and the candid admission that "only a few" Islamic funders write commercial finance at all.

What it costs: the RBA benchmark and the fees that are published

Because no provider prints a rental rate, the practical way to judge a quote is against what a conventional lender would charge the same business. The Reserve Bank's lenders' interest rates table, compiled from APRA data for August 2026, gives the market-wide averages below. NAB says its pricing is comparable to conventional business lending, Riyadh describes rental linked to a variable rate, and MCCA describes its pricing as competitive. A quoted rental rate or murabaha markup that converts to materially more than the relevant RBA figure is a quote to negotiate, not accept.

Loan purpose, August 2026	Outstanding loans (% a year)	New loans (% a year)
Small business	7.47	7.23
Medium business	6.21	6.18
Large business	5.75	5.54
Housing, owner-occupier (for comparison)	6.21	6.24
Housing, investment (for comparison)	6.44	6.40

The fee lines that are published come from the co-operative end of the market. Insaaf's business equipment finance carries a $100 membership fee plus $500 refundable security, a non-refundable application fee of $550 to $1,500 excluding GST, a facility fee of 2.5% of the approved amount payable before settlement, and a pre-settlement legal fee, with a minimum 20% member contribution. On a $200,000 facility that is $5,000 in facility fee alone, which is why our guide to halal business vehicle and equipment finance treats it as a small-ticket option. Every other provider's fees are disclosed only in the quote, so ask for the application, valuation, facility, legal and any "risk fee" in writing before you commit.

Business premises inside an SMSF: the halal use case the tax law supports

The most distinctive commercial product in this market lets a business owner's self-managed super fund own the shop, clinic or warehouse the business operates from. The ATO's SMSF investment restrictions generally forbid a fund from borrowing, acquiring assets from related parties or holding in-house assets above 5% of fund value, but business real property, meaning land and buildings used wholly and exclusively in a business, is an exception to both the related-party acquisition rule and the in-house asset rule. A fund can therefore buy premises from a member and lease them back to the member's business, provided the lease is at market rent on arm's length terms; if it is not, the ATO can tax the income as non-arm's length income at the highest marginal rate. Rent then flows into the owner's own retirement savings instead of to a landlord.

Riyadh FS publishes the fullest terms for the Islamic version: a bare-trust musharaka in which the fund's corporate trustee contributes the deposit, the financier funds the balance, the fund receives all rental rights, and the financier earns a variable dividend on its remaining share until the fund buys it out, at up to 80% finance to value over 30 years with principal-plus-dividend or dividend-only payments. Its page states that SMSF refinance is not available, so exit options are limited once inside. MCCA offers SMSF property finance on its Ijarah structure, Amanah lists SMSF commercial purchases, Sharia Finance brokers commercial SMSF finance, and Meezan Wealth sells a commercial variant of the same Al-Mustaqbal product Riyadh distributes. The structural risk is the layering of a bare trust, a related-party lease and a dividend formula with no named certifier published for the commercial SMSF line. Our guide to Islamic SMSF property finance compares every provider and the ATO rules that apply.

Shariah governance: who actually signs off, provider by provider

Commercial deals are bespoke, and bespoke contracts are where non-compliant terms creep in, so oversight matters more here than in cookie-cutter home finance. On the published record the market splits into three tiers. MCCA and Amanah name their scholars: MCCA's panel includes the Grand Mufti of Australia with Amanie Advisors internationally, and its commercial deals draw on an Income Fund with its own published fatwa, although the displayed Amanie certificate still covers the 2020-21 financial year; Amanah names Sheikh Dr Zaid Alsalami as supervising scholar with monthly independent audits, while its funding platform is conventionally owned through Origin MMS and Columbus Capital, which the audit regime mitigates but does not remove. Insaaf's named four-mufti team sits in this tier for equipment. Crestmount attributes compliance to Amanie Advisors under Datuk Dr Mohd Daud Bakar but publishes no certificate, fatwa text or review date. NAB, Riyadh FS and Sharia Finance make certification claims with no named authority and no published document. Our checklist for verifying a provider's Shariah governance explains what to ask for; for a business the answer should be the certificate for the specific facility, not the brand.

No certificate for the specific facility, no deal. A rent-based label on a facility priced and secured like private lending needs a real certificate behind it.

Two products deserve extra scrutiny. Sharia Finance's "Islamic Private Finance" line is an asset-based facility with no income assessment, available for cash-out, purchase, refinance and subdivision, described religiously as "a form of rent based agreement that does not involve Riba" and nothing more; its advertised cap reads $25 million in one place and $100 million in another on the same page. And Afiyah's brokered development finance publishes a typical 20% to 30% equity contribution and an ADL Advisory certification gate under Dr Mufti Yousuf Sultan, but names neither the funding lines nor the contract form for each stage. Development finance is the hardest product to keep halal, and our halal construction finance guide sets out the questions to put to any staged-draw facility.

How to apply, and what to have ready

Every provider runs an enquiry-first process, and the absence of responsible lending rules means the diligence burden sits with you. Riyadh's published eligibility gives a sense of what is asked: company and trust applicants accepted, two years of tax returns and notices of assessment for full doc, an accountant's letter for low doc, a clean credit file, and a signed contract of sale for purchases. Sharia Finance accepts bank statements or BAS for low doc. NAB routes through its accredited bankers. Before the first meeting, prepare the following.

Two years of business financials and tax returns, current BAS, and a 12-month cash flow forecast showing the rental or instalment is serviceable.
The property details: contract of sale or valuation, zoning, and the intended use, which must not be a prohibited activity such as alcohol retail, gambling or pork processing.
A written request for the contract structure (Ijarah, murabaha or musharaka), the funder's legal name, and the Shariah certificate covering that facility.
A written fee schedule and the rental rate or markup, including how and when it resets.
For SMSF purchases: the fund's trust deed, a custodian or bare trust deed, two years of audited fund accounts, and an independent market rent appraisal for any lease to a related business.
A separate quote from a conventional lender, so the halal rental rate can be judged against the RBA's 7.23% small business and 6.18% medium business benchmarks.

Arrange the business's banking alongside the finance. Most providers settle through a conventional transaction account, and the interest a business account earns is the most common avoidable riba exposure in small business; our guide to halal business banking in Australia covers the workarounds.

Our view

For a Muslim business owner buying premises in 2026, the realistic shortlist is short. MCCA is the default for anything from $100,000 to $50 million: published terms, a named scholar panel, and funding from a certified fund rather than a bank line. Amanah is the choice for asset types nobody else will touch, with the strongest audit regime, at the price of a conventionally owned funding platform. NAB is the only option at major-bank scale, makes sense only at $3 million and above, and only if you can live with a contract structure the bank will not describe publicly. Riyadh FS, Crestmount and Sharia Finance are credible routes to Ijarah facilities with lower published entry contributions, but each rests its halal case on a certificate you have not seen, so make seeing it a condition of proceeding. Insaaf is for equipment where a published fee schedule and named muftis outweigh a 2.5% facility fee. Across all seven, the absence of any published rate is the market's weakest feature, and the RBA table is the only public yardstick you have. Get the rental rate, the fees, the funder and the certificate in writing, compare the rate with the conventional benchmark, and walk away from any facility whose Shariah sign-off cannot be produced. Facts checked against mcca.com.au, nab.com.au, amanah.com.au, crestmountcapital.com, riyadhfs.com.au, shariafinance.com.au, rba.gov.au, asic.gov.au and ato.gov.au on 20 October 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Who offers Islamic commercial finance in Australia?

MCCA, NAB, Amanah Islamic Finance, Crestmount Money, Riyadh FS and Sharia Finance offer or arrange Shariah-compliant finance for commercial property, and Insaaf finances business equipment through a co-operative. MCCA publishes a range of $100,000 to $50,000,000 at up to 75% of value; NAB starts at $3 million. The others publish entry contributions of 10% to 20% but no size range or rate.

Does NAB offer Islamic business loans?

Yes, for businesses needing $3 million or more. NAB's Islamic finance covers commercial property and land purchase or construction, business acquisitions, and equipment or livestock, through 90 accredited bankers, with an option for customers without property security. The bank says pricing is comparable to conventional lending but does not publish the rate, the contract structure or the names of its Shariah advisers.

What rate does Islamic commercial finance charge?

No Australian Islamic provider publishes a commercial rental rate or markup; every deal is quoted individually. The public benchmark is the Reserve Bank's lenders' rates table, which for August 2026 shows new small business loans averaging 7.23% a year, medium business 6.18% and large business 5.54%. Compare any quoted rental rate against the figure for your business size.

Is business finance covered by the National Credit Code?

Generally not. ASIC's Information Sheet 101 states that credit is only regulated under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act if it is predominantly for personal, domestic or household purposes, and that loans to companies are not caught. Responsible lending obligations therefore do not apply to business-purpose finance. The ASIC Act's conduct rules still apply, and AFCA can hear complaints against providers that are members.

Can my SMSF buy my business premises with Islamic finance?

Yes. The ATO treats business real property as an exception to the related-party acquisition and in-house asset rules, so a fund can own premises and lease them to a member's business at market rent on arm's length terms. Riyadh FS publishes a bare-trust musharaka for this at up to 80% of value over 30 years; MCCA, Amanah, Sharia Finance and Meezan Wealth also offer SMSF commercial options. Engage an SMSF adviser before committing.

What deposit do I need for Islamic commercial property finance?

Published minimums range from 10% plus purchasing costs through Sharia Finance's brokered funders, to 20% plus costs at Riyadh FS, to 25% at MCCA, whose finance is capped at 75% of value. Afiyah's development finance asks for 20% to 30% of project value in equity and Insaaf requires a 20% member contribution for equipment. Amanah, Crestmount and NAB publish no deposit or LVR figures.