Alif Bank Crosses 2.2 Million Clients — Central Asia's Islamic Fintech Leader Expands Into UK Market

Financial IT / CEO Today Magazine, 2024-2025

Coverage of Alif Bank's decade-long growth from a three-person microfinance office to a 2.2-million-client Islamic fintech serving Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, with a run-rate revenue of $78 million, IFC strategic partnership, and the launch of Ayan Capital in the UK. The coverage specifically noted Alif's unique feature: it wrote its entire core banking system in-house because it could not afford to buy one — and that system is now one of the reasons Alif can operate faster and more flexibly than competitors using vendor software. The article described Alif Academy's free IT courses as 'one of the most consequential investments any fintech has made in its own talent pipeline.'

What this means for us: A founder from a Muslim-majority country went to LSE, worked at UBS, came home, and built one of the world's most interesting Islamic fintech companies. His team's average age is 25. They train Afghan refugees to code. And now they are in London, building vehicle finance for Muslim drivers who the conventional system turned away. This is what our next generation builds when we back them.

SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alif_Bank