Islamic Finance News

Related Islamic Finance Industry News

• In August 2023, BlackRock Inc., a prominent international credit asset manager, acquired Kreos. Kreos, renowned for its specialization in growth and risk-based financing for technology and healthcare enterprises, enhances BlackRock's market presence. This acquisition aligns with BlackRock's strategic objective of broadening its private-market investment portfolio.
• In January 2023, Fidelity Investments acquired Shoobx, a leading provider of automated equity management and financing software. Shoobx caters to private companies across various growth stages, including IPOs.

• March 2024: CNB Bank & Trust (CIBC) and Insuritas partnered to launch an embedded full-service insurance agency. Insuritas is proud to announce that it has been chosen by CIBC to install its award-winning, fully-functioning digital insurance agency solution. BUNDLE is Insuritas' award-winning, full-functioning insurance agency platform embedded in CIBC's ecosystem and engineered to provide a complete solution for CIBC's retail and commercial clients.
• June 2023: Clover Health Investments Corp., a leading provider of physician enablement services with a mission to improve Medicare access to quality healthcare, announced that it had reached a partnership agreement in principle to settle seven derivative lawsuits that are pending in the courts of Delaware and New York, as well as in the courts of Tennessee.

• July 2023: Backbase, the world’s largest omni-channel bank, has partnered with OBC to accelerate its omni-channel banking transformation, as announced in a signing ceremony.
• February 2022: Visa, the world’s largest digital payment company, partnered with VNPAY, a leading fintech company in Vietnam, to improve the digital payments ecosystem in Vietnam.

• September 2023: PayU, an Indian payments company, partnered with WhatsApp to considerably improve Indians' purchasing experience.
• November 2022: The Hyderabad-based SaaS business CreditVidya was acquired by Bengaluru-based financial unicorn CRED in a deal that included cash and stock. The value of the agreement has not been made public by the companies.

• September 2023 - Standard Chartered Bank, a multinational bank, launched a sustainable trade loan offering for financial institutions. It will assist financial institutions in providing liquidity associated with sustainable development in the most needed areas.
• April 2022 – The Asian Development Bank signed a deal with Axis Bank Limited worth up to USD 150 million to work together to expand supply chain financing for small and medium-sized businesses. The Asian Development Bank will guarantee loans made by Axis Bank to assist supply chain finance for impact sectors under the terms of its Trade and Supply Chain Finance Programme (TSCFP).

• January 2024: HCSC entered into a binding contract with The Cigna Group to purchase its Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplemental Benefits, Medicare Part D, and CareAllies businesses. This acquisition will bring significant advantages to HCSC's existing and prospective members, as it will strengthen the company's capabilities and expand its presence, especially in the expanding Medicare sector.
• January 2024: Elevance Health announced its plans to acquire Paragon Healthcare Inc., a well-known company specializing in delivering vital infusible and injectable therapies that enhance and preserve lives.

• February 2023: New India Assurance (NIA) launched a ‘Pay as You Drive’ (PAYD) policy, which offers a comprehensive motor insurance policy that charges a premium based on vehicle usage. The policy has two components- Third Party cover and own-damage cover.
• June 2022: Edelweiss General Insurance introduced the country's first telematics-based motor insurance called 'SWITCH.' This on-demand policy generates a real-time driving score and dynamically rates the premium. Moreover, it detects motion and automatically activates insurance when the vehicle is driven, making it convenient and hassle-free for users.

• October 2023: FWD and Club Care partnered to launch the online insurance platform Club Care. Club Care is a new online insurance platform that has a reward-based system for its loyal customers.
• June 2023: ZhongAn Insurance and ZhongAn Technology explored a generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology that is predicted to emerge as an essential strategic asset for online insurance companies in the future.

• December 2023: Swiss Re completed the acquisition of Fathom, a global leader in water risk intelligence (WRI) and flood models based in Bristol, United Kingdom. This transaction integrates Fathom's expertise and robust suite of products into Swiss Re's Reinsurance Solutions (RSP) division, enhancing the company's existing data and risk capabilities in the realm of flood threats—an essential factor contributing to the escalating losses from natural disasters worldwide.
• August 2023: Wysa Assure, an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven mental health support app, was developed in collaboration with Swiss Re. The app combines Swiss Re's risk expertise and in-house scoring system with Wysa's AI-enabled mental health solutions, providing support to insurers and their clients. Similar partnerships may be explored in other markets.
• April 2023: Munich Re Specialty Insurance announced the expansion of its E&S Lawyers Professional Liability solution. The expansion now includes primary and excess coverage for firms with 11 or more attorneys, as well as those with an Intellectual Property (IP) practice.

• July 2023: Citi has launched its Trade and Working Capital eLoans solution for its U.S. CCB clients. The solution is designed to help clients meet their current and projected working capital needs through loan advances via Citi’s easy-to-use and secure eLoans platform. The eLoans platform aims to support clients by allowing qualified clients to access liquidity for running their commercial business, reducing manual touch points, allowing clients to manage outstanding loans via repayment features, and enhancing self-service reporting via automated notifications, among other features.
• May 2023: JPMorgan Chase acquired the substantial majority of assets and assumed the deposits and certain other liabilities of First Republic Bank from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Acquisition of most of First Republic Bank’s assets, including approximately USD 173 billion of loans and about USD 30 billion of securities.