The trade finance arm of the Islamic Development Bank group has provided more than US$13bn in open account financing since 2024. An advisory service started the same year helps banks and platforms put Shariah-compliant supply chain finance products in place, which ITFC’s financing lines can then support.
Background
ITFC is the trade finance arm of the Islamic Development Bank group. Nasser Mohammed Al-Thekair, its general manager for trade and business development, said it is the only multilateral development bank focused solely on trade finance, with operations across four continents.
Islamic finance and supply chain finance share one rule
Al-Thekair said Islamic finance and supply chain finance rest on the same principle: every financing must be linked to an underlying trade transaction. Since 2024, ITFC has provided more than US$13bn in open account financing, the segment of trade in which supply chain finance operates.
Global Islamic finance assets stand at about US$6tn and are projected to reach US$9.7tn by 2029, according to the Islamic Finance Development Report 2025 from the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector and LSEG.
“The liquidity is there, and it is designed to finance real trade,” he said. “What limits it is whether a local bank has the product, the governance and the people to deploy it. Our financing is the core of what we do, and we work with institutions so that it can reach suppliers.”
Conventional receivables finance breaks two Shariah rules
Basel As’Ad Alhussien, who leads ITFC’s advisory work, said conventional receivables financing conflicts with two Shariah principles. The first is the prohibition on profit from the exchange of money. The second is gharar, excessive uncertainty, which here concerns whether the receivable will be collected. Established structures such as Murabaha, Wakalah and supplier financing can achieve the same result: early liquidity against receivables. In one mandate, ITFC set out five options for a bank.
“The client selects what suits its business model,” he said. “They all lead to the same end result.”
The advisory work leads back to ITFC’s financing lines
ITFC’s advisory work is carried out one institution at a time. It covers readiness diagnostics, product structuring, Shariah governance and documentation, and training. Where possible, the institutions it advises can then draw on ITFC financing lines.
In Jordan, ITFC reviewed a commercial bank’s receivables product, proposed structural changes and arranged certification through a member of the Islamic Development Bank group’s Shariah board. In the Maldives, a product to turn receivables from tourism and fisheries into cash is at implementation stage. On 5 February 2026, ITFC assisted Qualco, a Greek technology company, in getting its ProximaPlus platform certified to process transactions using Goods Murabaha and Tawarruq structures.
Alhussien said the work follows from the Islamic Development Bank group’s mandate. “We are the only Islamic financial institution classified as an MDB with a mandate to promote Islamic finance,” he said.
