Shariah-compliant lending is becoming a proving ground for a new wave of UK challenger banks, and Ayan Capital just took the funding step that usually precedes a banking licence application. The halal car finance fintech secured a £75 million ($100 million) senior facility to fund its next growth phase and prepare for a UK banking licence bid.
The facility, structured as Shariah-compliant debt, was originated by investment manager Triple Point. Ayan uses an Ijara wa Iqtina structure, in which the company retains ownership of the financed vehicle throughout the term while customers pay fixed monthly rentals, avoiding interest in line with Islamic finance principles. Since launching in early 2024, Ayan says it has drawn more than 150,000 applications, holds a 4.9 Trustpilot rating, and reports a loss rate below the industry average. Its founding team previously built Alif, a fintech serving more than 10 million customers across Central Asia. The company is also planning a Series A round in the coming months, backed by existing investors Cur8 Capital, Empakt Ventures, IT Park Ventures and Caucasus VC.
“This facility lets us serve more customers, more competitively. Over time we want to build a challenger bank open to everyone, whether seeking halal finance or not,” said Abdullo Kurbanov, CEO and co-founder of Ayan Capital.
The original insight is the sequencing: Ayan is using a proven, narrow lending product to build the credit performance and balance-sheet track record a bank charter application will need, rather than seeking a licence first and a customer base second, the same charter-before-scale versus scale-before-charter tension that has defined how other neobanks have approached the charter question and that shaped the skepticism around whether a consumer launch actually amounts to a bank. A below-average loss rate on a single product is a much easier pitch to a regulator than a licence application built on ambition alone.
Source: PR Newswire
