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Observers of the global Islamic finance industry are predicting significant imminent growth in sharia-compliant environmental and social governance (ESG) investment, as demand for financial institutions to deploy funds in ethical ways expands, along with awareness of climate change and social justice.…

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – which as of June 10 had killed 4,339 civilians (UN figures) – sparked an unprecedented range of sanctions against Russia’s financial, business and political elite. But there is little evidence as of June – with the invasion entering its fourth month – of upset Russian oligarchs pressuring President Vladimir Putin to abandon his bloody invasion, because they had lost access to their yachts, mansions and bank accounts.…

A spate of recent high-profile investigations into suspected money laundering through cryptocurrency and a failure to prevent it have drawn attention to the capacity of law enforcement to tackle AML/CFT activity in the crypto sphere.

In July 2021, the UK’s Metropolitan Police force in London said it had seized a record GBP180 million (USD219 million) worth of cryptocurrency linked to international money laundering.…

The creation crypto-currency units through the arcane process of ‘crypto-mining’ presents peripheral money laundering risks, during the initial validation of a crypto coin and where the transaction is mined. There could be a need for a new type of KYC – KYM, ‘Know Your Miner’.…

Sharia-compliant financial technology (fintech) is poised for explosive growth across both Islamic and western jurisdictions. 

In part this reflects growth in Islamic finance: Refinitiv, an American-British global provider of financial market data owned by the London Stock Exchange (LSE), predicts the value of money transacted through the Islamic finance sector will reach USD4.9 trillion by 2025. …

International legal arbitration systems and judicial standards are emerging to help solve complex Islamic finance disputes, while national judicial and informal dispute resolution systems continue to develop – in civil and religious law institutions.

Informal dispute resolution processes can, of course, resolve disagreements without recourse to the payment of damage and potentially without damaging valuable reputations.…

The size of the global non-fungible token (NFT) market has exploded since the beginning of 2021 and, as ever with the growth of a novel asset, fraudsters have been creative in exploiting its sale and purchase to make dishonest gains. One benefit for fraudsters seeking to attack immature markets is unstable valuations, in this case of unique digital assets consisting of data stored in a blockchain.…

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has undermined many political assumptions, including – of course – the right of countries to retain their borders and independence without being invaded. But one change encouraged by the war has been the increased desire of European countries to shake off dependence on Russian oil and gas – and that has increased support for nuclear power.…

With moves to sustainability conformity strengthening across the textile industry, rules protecting consumers and finishing workers, as well as the environment, are strengthening, notably to reduce textile dye allergies. Dye producers Colorifix, from Norwich, East Anglia, England, says this has led to “biology replacing chemistry” in dye production, enabling finishers to market products as provide positive health benefits not just preventing allergic reactions.…

The Australian coating and paint market withstood the Covid-19 pandemic downturn comparatively well, despite prolonged lockdowns of major cities, with industrial paint sales and private renovation projects boosting the market. Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand’s even stricter Covid-19 lockdown regulations have hampered growth, however companies have used downtime to innovate.…