LONDON: Wahed, an investment platform backed by Saudi Aramco and French footballer Paul Pogba, has opened a physical branch and bank accounts backed by gold in London, CNBC has reported.

The New York-based firm describes itself as a 鈥渉alal investing platform.鈥�

The company鈥檚 Shariah-compliant investment management and advice service aims to target the UK鈥檚 3.9 million Muslims.

Wahed forbids investments in businesses that profit from lending, gambling, alcohol, and tobacco.

An account with Wahed does not pay interest on savings but instead tracks the value of users鈥� deposits against the value of gold. The price of the precious metal varies according to supply and demand. 

Wahed CEO Junaid Wahedna told CNBC that the company offers consumers, both Muslim and non-Muslim, the chance to tackle currency fluctuations and rising living costs.

鈥淸Muslims are] an underserved community as a whole,鈥� Wahedna said

He pointed out that the Muslim community is one of the lowest socioeconomic sectors of the UK, with low financial literacy. 

He added: 鈥淭hey have trust issues, and so they want to see a physical presence before they trust you with money.鈥�

Wahed is also launching a debit card that will allow account holders to deposit funds using an exchange-traded fund that tracks the price of gold. This means that users can use gold to pay for everyday items.  

Investors can also convert the gold in their accounts for physical bars.

Wahedna said: 鈥淚 think it really fits with the Muslim community and what their needs are.

鈥淥therwise, what happens is the Muslim community, because they鈥檙e underserved, they keep their money in cash under their mattress, or in something that鈥檚 very unsafe, and they lose their money every few years because there鈥檚 a scam in the community or someone takes advantage of them. And that poverty cycle just continues.鈥�

Wahedna criticized the rise of 鈥渂uy now, pay later鈥� services, claiming that modern fintech companies have become overly focused on consumer lending.

He added: 鈥淚 feel that fintech, like most of the finance industry, is very heavily geared towards lending.

鈥淚n fact, I would say, it鈥檚 making the cost-of-living crisis, a debt crisis, worse with a lot of the products.

鈥淚f you look at the 鈥榖uy now, pay later鈥� companies, people are struggling 鈥� that鈥檚 the worst type of innovation, you鈥檙e making it easier to get people into debt.鈥�

Wahedna said that the company is not only for Muslims, but also for followers of other Abrahamic religions. He added it targets both prosperous individuals and less well-off customers.