Rizq Bank - thoughts?

Everyday Islamic Finance Islamic Finance Companies/Products
#1

Salaam,

Has anyone issued a card with Rizq or is considering it? What do you guys think about it?

1 Like
#2

Salaams

Just my opinions based on my research -

  1. It great that such companies are now emerging to serve the Muslim community. It is a good thing.

But

  1. There are a number of these Islamic fintech companies and to me they are all too similar.

For example see also -

www.getinsha.com/en/


(Monee Mint is at an early stage, features are unclear at present but the descriptions make it seem like existing apps).

and

www.myahmed.com

Mainly, they offer interest free banking with a debit card, a quick signing up process and a means of managing your money via an app, with minor other differentiating features.

Rizq say that you can earn cashback for purchases, which is quite useful and unique but at this point it is not actually live yet.

  1. These apps are not actually banks so there is a bit of a risk there. I personally would not be transferring all savings into these apps. For now, for the majority of cash savings, I would stick to a conventional bank (giving away the interest) or a full Shariah compliant bank like Al Rayan.

  2. It could be worthwhile transferring a small amount of cash into one or more apps to try them out to see which one you like (and to support them). Hopefully over time more differentiating features will then be added to meet the needs of different customers.

It would be useful to find out what everyone else thinks.

#3

Salaam, thank you for sharing your thoughts!

I agree, more and more Islamic digital banks are coming to the market now - but I think it’s good to have some sort of competition.

I believe the traditional Islamic banking products have been relatively expensive, so I’m happy a number of Islamic players are entering this space while it’s emerging. Their pricing has to be competitive for them to survive.
They will also be forced to differentiate their offerings this way. As you’ve mentioned, Rizq offers cashbacks, and Niyah says on their website they’ll offer SME financing. Curious to see what else will be offered.

I hope to see these Islamic digital banks expanding to other markets as well. That would be really interesting.