Islamic Money Home Finance (Ijarah) - PRE-LAUNCH WAITLIST
Islamic Home Financing in Victoria
NOT YET AVAILABLE - waitlist only. Islamic Money (formerly Islamic Bank Australia; not a bank, not an ADI, no APRA licence since voluntarily returning it 1 March 2024) plans Ijarah home finance as its first launch under its existing AFSL/ACL 534355: buy your home progressively by purchasing shares of the property while paying rent (not interest) on the remainder. The page now publishes planned parameters: finance $50,000 to $5,000,000 over 5-30 years at a variable rental rate, initially capped at 80% of property value (20% deposit) with expansion flagged, for purchase or refinance of established residential property, owner-occupied or investment. No rates, fees, eligibility criteria, or applications exist yet.
Islamic Money's Ijarah home finance is the most plausible near-term piece of its roadmap: it doesn't require the banking licence, the structure matches what MCCA, ICFAL, and Hejaz already run successfully, and the company says it might launch in 2026. If it arrives priced 'comparable to big banks' as promised, it would be genuinely good news - competition on rental rates is what the Australian halal home finance market most lacks. But promise is all it is: no rates, no fatwa document, no track record, and a launch gated by a $40M raise. Buyers with a purchase in view should proceed with today's live providers and simply keep this waitlist entry as a future refinancing option to watch.
Pros
- Sound Ijarah/progressive-ownership design matching the structure of Australia's established halal home finance providers
- First product in the launch sequence (2026 target) because it fits under the existing credit licence - more achievable than the bank itself
- Named world-tier Shariah Committee with pre-launch fatwa process
- Stated ambition to price competitively with big-bank mortgages would pressure incumbent halal providers' premiums
Cons
- DOES NOT EXIST YET: no rates, fees, eligibility criteria, or applications - waitlist only
- Launch depends on a $40M capital raise that has been open for years; the 2026 target is aspirational
- The company has never written a home finance deal - zero operating track record
- Live alternatives exist today (MCCA, ICFAL, Hejaz) - there is no reason to delay a purchase waiting for this product
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Product Details
Structure
Ijarah
Features
Planned: finance $50,000-$5,000,000 over 5-30 year terms, variable rental rate, Planned: initially up to 80% of property value (20% deposit), with expansion flagged, Planned: purchase or refinance of established residential property, live-in or investment, Planned: weekly, fortnightly or monthly instalments with penalty-free extra payments, Today: waitlist signup only
Max Amount
$5,000,000 planned (minimum $50,000); product not yet available
Down Payment
20% planned (initial finance cap of 80% of property value)
Term Options
5-30 years (planned; product not yet available)
Islamic Money in Victoria
Islamic Money's Ijarah structure offers Victoria buyers a halal path to homeownership: instead of an interest-bearing loan, the contract is built on shared ownership or leasing of the property itself. Before paying any application fee, confirm with Islamic Money that it finances property in your part of Victoria, and ask how the structure is treated under Victoria duty rules, since lease-based and co-ownership contracts can move title differently from a standard mortgage. Islamic Money operates across Australia, so Victoria 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 Ijarah with progressive ownership - you buy shares of your property over time while paying rent on the share you don't yet own, so the provider's return is rental income from a real asset rather than interest on a loan (functionally the diminishing-musharaka-with-ijarah model used by Australia's established providers: MCCA, ICFAL, and Hejaz). Oversight comes from Islamic Money's named Shariah Committee - Dr Elgari (Dow Jones Islamic Index Shariah board), Dr Hashim (Central Bank of Malaysia Shariah Advisory Council), and Dr Raashed - which issues product-level fatwas before launch, with screening that excludes haram industries including fossil fuels. Home finance is sequenced first (2026 target) because it can operate under the company's existing credit licence without an ADI authorisation. The critical caveats: the product does not exist yet - no rental rates, no fee schedule, no eligibility criteria, no fatwa document published - and the launch depends on completing a $40M capital raise. Muslims who need home finance now have live, Shariah-governed alternatives (MCCA, ICFAL, Hejaz); this row exists so they can also track the potential entry of a full-service Islamic institution into that market.
Regional Availability
Islamic Money serves all of Australia
✓ Available nationwide including Victoria
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Full CalculatorFrequently Asked Questions
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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.