The UK’s first Sharia-compliant bridge finance provider, Offa, has partnered with cloud-based mortgage and savings provider finova to develop an innovative end-to-end digital platform to support its growing portfolio of property finance products. Offa’s new origination platform will be delivered by finova and its implementation partner Hexaware in the first half of 2024.

The innovative project – part of a £1 million investment by Offa into its IT systems – is expected to transform the way Islamic property finance is conducted in Britain, creating a tech-driven “faster, smarter and easier” service for intermediaries and direct customers that start with their initial enquiry and concludes with the release of funds.

Offa will leverage finova’s fully customizable Apprivo software, giving it access to multiple data points, including ID verification, credit reference agencies, and automated valuation models. Additional services can also be integrated via finova’s API ecosystem, including conveyancing, valuations, and payment processing and those services specific to Offa and Sharia-compliancy. The result will be a smoother and far quicker application process for Offa’s trusted intermediaries, direct customers, and others involved in the property finance chain.

Sagheer Malik, Offa’s Chief Commercial Officer, said: “Speed is especially important in the real estate market segments we target. We know from past experience a key issue for customers and intermediaries seeking Islamic finance is the slow, cumbersome and complicated application processes involved. Offa is making a significant investment into the digital technologies that underpin our business, and in finova we have a trusted and highly experienced technology partner, whose Apprivo software will transform our service by streamlining our processes to create a faster, smarter and easier system for all.”

Offa was launched in 2019 as an ethical alternative to conventional bridging. The Birmingham-headquartered company currently offers short-term property finance in line with Islamic finance principles, which means products are not based on interest or finance-prohibited activities that are regarded as damaging to society, such as alcohol, gambling, and the arms trade. Islamic finance applications have a reputation for taking longer than they should, an issue addressed in the new architecture built for Offa by finova.

Chris Little, Chief Revenue Officer at finova, commented: “Clients have become accustomed to a seamless digital experience across every aspect of their lives, including their finances. As a fully open API, Apprivo has many applications for the Islamic Finance market and will support Offa’s end-to-end digital processes with ease. Moving forward, we’re excited to activate the next stages of delivery and play a part in Offa’s growth journey as it rapidly expands its portfolio of products.

“Our partnership with Offa also marks an important milestone for finova as the first project where we collaborated with Hexaware, our new implementation partner. Hexaware has played a critical role in the delivery of this platform, with oversight from the finova team, and we look forward to building on this new strategic partnership that is already off to a strong start - with Offa.”