“Vanguard Investor Choice continues to help improve the corporate governance ecosystem by ensuring the voices of more investors can be heard. We are proud to continue to pioneer proxy voting choice for index fund investors, empowering them to more directly express their proxy voting preferences for their proportionate share of the funds,” John Galloway, Global Head of Investor Engagement at Vanguard, said.

“In 2025, we more than doubled participation in Investor Choice, reflecting strong – and increasing – investor interest in proxy voting. Going forward, we plan to continue to make it easier for all investors in our US equity index funds to participate,” said David Reiner, Head of Investor Choice at Vanguard.

Meanwhile, the value of assets that Vanguard manages outside the United States has surpassed USD 1 trillion, with the company now planning a significant global expansion, with the goal of doubling the number of clients and assets in its portfolio in five years.

Salim Ramji, the chief executive of the world’s second-largest asset manager, told the Financial Times (FT) that globally, there would be “unbelievable opportunities” as governments seek to encourage millions of savers to put their excess cash into investments.

He said the United Kingdom and Europe were “overexposed to cash and cash deposits,” partly because investing is “too expensive, too complex, and there are lots of barriers in the way to helping people make good long-term investments.”

Vanguard, which oversees assets worth more than USD 12 trillion globally, specialises in low-cost products and offers ready-made investment funds for “DIY” investors. The company aims to more than double its 17 million international clients within the next five years to nearly 40 million.

The post Vanguard adds 17 new funds to Vanguard Investor Choice appeared first on International Finance.

They have scrapped the long-standing Qualified Foreign Investor (QFI) programme. The previous framework only allowed large institutions to make investments.

That reform significantly lowers the barrier to entry for overseas investors and gives platforms like Sahm a timely opportunity to widen access to Saudi equities. Sahm says its app offers trading across both Saudi and American markets in a single interface, along with real-time data, analytics tools, and educational content, while the company operates under Capital Market Authority licenses covering dealing, custody, advising, arranging, managing investments, and fund operation.

The broader market backdrop is substantial. Saudi Tadawul Group’s total market capitalisation reached approximately USD 2.6 trillion as of January 2026, emphasising the scale of the exchange Sahm is integrating into. The Saudi Exchange also reported a total foreign holding value of SAR 443.78 billion, or about USD 118.34 billion, at the end of February 2026.

Foreign interest had already been building before the rules changed. By the end of Q3 2025, international investors’ ownership in the Saudi capital market had exceeded SAR 590 billion, with roughly SAR 519 billion invested in the Main Market, up from SAR 498 billion at the end of 2024. That trend suggests the market opening is an acceleration of an existing shift rather than a sudden break with the past.

Sahm has also posted rapid user growth. Company-linked announcements said the platform surpassed one million users within its first year and maintained close to 70% year-on-year user growth in its second year. Earlier reporting also described Sahm Capital as a venture linked to Hong Kong’s Valuable Capital Group and eWTP Arabia Capital.

For investors, the opportunity comes with limits. Saudi rules still maintain foreign ownership caps, including a 49% aggregate ceiling and a 10% limit for a single foreign investor in many cases, even as access has widened. In other words, Sahm may help open the digital front door, but Riyadh’s market opening and not the app itself is the real business story.

The post Sahm: Saudi Arabia’s quiet but consequential brokerage bait appeared first on International Finance.

Economists Konstantinos Gavrilidis, Ramya Raghavan, and Jim Stock published a new paper, titled “The Macroeconomic Effects of Climate Policy Uncertainty,” stating that climate policy uncertainty curbs investments, output, and employment while increasing prices. They found that climate change denial has stagflationary effects that compound and complicate policy responses.

By analysing millions of newspaper articles dating back to the 1980s, these economists created a monthly index of US climate policy uncertainty that tracks legislative debates, regulatory reversals, and shifts in international climate commitments.

Their research found that when this index spikes, such as during the 2009 Waxman-Markey Cap and Trade Bill or the 2017 US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, macroeconomic models indicated that businesses respond by cutting back on investment, scaling down production plans, and postponing hiring and research.

Simultaneously, the risk of future tightening in emission standards or compliance costs raises expected future production costs, which helps transmit the uncertainty into higher applied prices.

When company policies change unpredictably, companies become uncertain. They act or respond to policy uncertainty just like they would to a financial risk, such as currency swings or interest rate moves.

Firms related to climate change risks, such as energy producers, heavy manufacturers, car makers, and even big tech firms with large data centre footprints, don’t treat climate rules as a distant problem. They begin to adjust spending, borrowing, and hiring plans according to climate policy.

The report reveals that when climate policy uncertainty occurs, firms cut back on capital spending, resulting in fewer new factories, power plants, production lines, and renewable energy projects. This shift can lead to a 5%-15% drop in annual investments for exposed companies over a few years, depending heavily on the intensity of the regulatory back-and-forth.

Furthermore, there is a notable scale-back on research and development, particularly in clean tech. Since green energy often only becomes profitable under strict emission rules, this uncertainty inadvertently slows down innovation in several key areas, including battery storage, electric vehicles, and industrial decarbonisation.

In simple terms, when businesses can’t be sure what climate rules will look like in five to ten years, they stop treating climate policy just as a policy issue and start treating it as a real financial risk that affects how much they build, invent, hire, and borrow.

Companies seen as more vulnerable to climate rules often see their stock prices suffer or become more volatile, and their borrowing costs also rise slightly. Even analyst ratings turn a little bit more cautious.

The cost of uncertainty that businesses absorb is then fed back into the broader economy, making growth slower and transitions bumpier than they would be if there were clear, stable rules.

The post US’ climate policy uncertainty: A global macro risk appeared first on International Finance.

While net income increased to USD 282.4 million in 2025 (compared to USD 265.7 million in 2024), the year-on-year growth percentage stood at 18% from a normalised base of USD 239.6 million in 2024. Total assets grew by 23% to a record USD 13.4 billion (up from USD 10.9 billion in 2024), reflecting strong asset build-up momentum across Corporate Banking, Investments, and Treasury.

The Arab Energy Fund CEO Khalid Al-Ruwaigh said, “Our financial results reflect the strength and resilience of The Arab Energy Fund’s diversified business model. Achieving our fourth consecutive year of record net income, supported by a strong balance sheet, underscores our disciplined execution, prudent risk management, and continued ability to mobilise capital across the region.”

In terms of raising funds, the entity, during 2025, got USD 3.8 billion, reinforcing its diversified funding base and strong access to international capital markets. Asset quality remained robust, with a non-performing loan (NPL) ratio of 0.2%.

The Arab Energy Fund CFO Vicky Bhatia said, “TAEF has delivered, yet another strong performance, achieving its highest Net Income level of USD 282.4 million. We also raised record levels of funding in 2025, achieving effective pricing outcomes. We maintained strong operating efficiency, with a cost-to-income ratio of 19.5% and Capital adequacy of 30.45%, positioning us very well to fuel our future growth.”

Across The Arab Energy Fund’s business verticals, corporate banking expanded its portfolio to USD 6 billion, with net operating income reaching USD 140.1 million, supported by financing activity across the energy value chain, portfolio expansion and funding optimisation.

Investments and partnerships expanded the asset portfolio to USD 1.6 billion, generating USD 67.0 million in gross operating income. This growth was primarily driven by dividend income and ongoing portfolio diversification. Treasury and Capital Markets effectively managed the balance sheet, with assets totalling USD 5.5 billion and net operating income of USD 132.6 million. This success was supported by sound liquidity management, optimisation of investments in a declining interest rate environment, and disciplined funding execution.

And the positive momentum will continue in 2026, as the entity received regulatory approval to issue Panda bonds in China. This makes it the first multilateral financial institution from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to secure such approval, granting it direct access to the domestic bond market of the world’s second-largest economy.

Under the programme, approved by China’s National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors, TAEF can issue up to 10 billion Chinese yuan (USD 1.4 billion) in Renminbi-denominated bonds in multiple tranches over two years, providing flexible, long-term capital for the fund’s strategic investments.

The post The Arab Energy Fund delivers record net income in 2025, to issue Panda bonds in China appeared first on International Finance.

However, in this article, International Finance will discuss in detail SoftBank’s rush to forge partnerships with OpenAI and the American tech industry in general, as the ongoing AI boom is also witnessing heavy spending on data centres. In January, OpenAI and SoftBank announced their roadmap to invest $500 million each in California-based SB Energy (a SoftBank-owned company) to expand data centre and power infrastructure for their Stargate initiative. SB Energy will build and operate OpenAI’s previously announced 1.2-gigawatt data centre site in Milam County, Texas.

Talking about Stargate, it is a $500 billion multi-year initiative to build AI data centres for training and inference, backed by major investors including Oracle. SoftBank’s aggressive spending spree on the data centre front comes amid the tech companies’ mad rush to secure their power infrastructure. Energy access is becoming a critical constraint on AI expansion, with the push for larger and more numerous data centres driving electricity demand higher.

SoftBank will also be acquiring Florida-based digital infrastructure investor DigitalBridge Group in a deal valued at $4 billion. Through this, the Japanese company will be penetrating the digital infrastructure segment further, aligning with the vision of its billionaire founder, Masayoshi Son, who has made the United States’ AI boom his investment target. He wants to capitalise on surging demand for the computing capacity that underpins AI applications.

DigitalBridge invests in digital infrastructure sectors such as data centres, cell towers, fibre networks, small-cell systems and edge infrastructure. The company, which as of September 2025 possesses around $108 billion in assets, making it one of the largest dedicated investors in the digital ecosystem, also has a Stargate link.

It, along with OpenAI, Oracle and Abu Dhabi-based tech investor MGX, is investing billions of dollars in the project, under which five new computing sites across Texas, New Mexico and Ohio will have a combined power capacity of about seven gigawatts.

Building an AI war chest

Masayoshi Son’s latest interview with The Times Magazine gave a sneak peek of what is going through his mind, in terms of SoftBank’s road ahead in the AI domain. After making a fortune in software and transferring that success into domains like telecoms and a raft of tech ventures, Son is now preparing SoftBank’s $180 billion war chest for AI.

Be it taking control of chip firms Arm, Graphcore and Ampere Computing, as well as self-driving car start-up Wayve, or the investments into Intel and OpenAI, all of them have one thing in common: Son’s emphasis on artificial superintelligence (ASI), which he envisions becoming “10,000 times smarter than humans within a decade.”

“ASI combined with physical AI (including humanoid robotics) will comprise 10% of global GDP in 10 to 15 years, followed by 30% over 30 years,” Son predicted.

Masayoshi Son is known for following a high-risk, even higher-leveraged investment style that has courted both success and disasters. While the $20 million investment in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (worth close to $200 billion at its peak) gave the SoftBank boss a sort of legendary status, the $18.5 billion he pumped into the now-bankrupt office-sharing venture WeWork also got listed among history’s most bizarre moves.

However, the ongoing AI boom has given Son another opportunity to be a risk-taker. SoftBank shares hit a record high in October 2025, briefly propelling Son to once again become the richest man in Japan. However, he has got a bigger role now: spearheading Silicon Valley’s bet to scale up US data centres and AI infrastructure, thereby writing the rulebook of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0).

The SoftBank boss has also reportedly proposed a vast $1 trillion AI and robotics complex in Arizona, dubbed “Project Crystal Land,” that will also incorporate a free-trade zone alongside Taiwan’s chipmaking giant TSMC. By tapping into the Donald Trump Administration’s appetite for big numbers, as well as the clamour to reshore chipmaking and reassert American tech leadership against China, Son has pivoted SoftBank as an essential partner toward revamping US AI infrastructure.

And the investment vehicle supercharging SoftBank’s AI pivot is its “Vision Fund.” The entity, apart from being a steady investor in AI companies, including OpenAI, holds stakes in chip designer Arm, along with companies involved in robotics and autonomous vehicles. As of December 2025, through the fund’s strategic investments, the Japanese tech conglomerate has remained a profit-making machine, that too for four consecutive quarters.

In the October-December quarter alone, the venture reported a net profit of 248.6 billion yen (USD 1.62 billion), in a stark reversal of the net loss of 369 billion yen which it had to undergo in the same quarter in 2024. It seems like OpenAI’s rising valuation will also bode well for the conglomerate’s earnings, despite market worries about the risk of overexposure to a single firm.

In March 2026 itself, S&P Global lowered its outlook for SoftBank Group to negative from stable, saying further investments in the Sam Altman-led firm may hurt the Japanese conglomerate’s liquidity and the credit quality of its assets. However, it seems Son doesn’t have immediate plans to move away from the OpenAI bet.

However, the same bet comes at a cost. In November 2025, the SoftBank boss had to take the hard call of liquidating the entire stake ($32.1 million to be precise) in American chipmaking giant NVIDIA to free up investment worth $5.83 billion, along with part of a T-Mobile stake worth $9.17 billion. It wasn’t an easy call for Son, given that Vision Fund was an early backer of NVIDIA, apart from both ventures having a deep relationship, with the tech conglomerate involved in several AI ventures that rely on NVIDIA’s technology, including the Stargate one.

When Masayoshi Son broke his silence on the NVIDIA stake sale, he said, “I respect Jensen (NVIDIA CEO), I respect NVIDIA so much, I don’t want to sell a single share. I just had more need for money to invest in OpenAI, invest in our opportunities, so I was crying to sell NVIDIA shares. If I had more money, of course, I would want to keep NVIDIA shares, all the time, any time.”

Maverick since childhood

Born as the grandchild of Korean immigrants in a small town on Japan’s southernmost island of Kyushu, Masayoshi Son had a humble childhood, living in a shack on a plot of unregistered land. At the age of 16, he read a book written by legendary Japanese businessman Den Fujita, the iconic figure who brought McDonald’s to Japan.

Then he made 60 long-distance phone calls with one intention: to meet the businessman himself. Despite repeated rejections, Son went to Tokyo and turned up uninvited at the McDonald’s head office. He was eventually given a 15-minute audience with Fujita, who gave one piece of advice to the teenager that changed his life forever, which was “focus on future technologies like computers.” It is worth mentioning that Fujita later sat on the SoftBank board.

Masayoshi Son then moved to the United States, completing his high school education at California High School, followed by a course in economics at the University of California, Berkeley. However, one task was quietly shaping Son’s entrepreneurial destiny, dedicating five minutes every day to thinking about inventions and filling hundreds of notebooks.

Son eventually ended up collaborating with Berkeley tutors to invent the world’s first electronic translator, which he later sold to Sharp Corporation. He then started a business importing second-hand arcade game machines from Japan.

Despite setting up a successful business in the United States, Son returned to his homeland to keep a promise he made to his mother. In 1981, the 24-year-old Son established SoftBank. While SoftBank started as a software wholesaler to support the then-upcoming PC industry, in 1982, TIME named the computer its “Machine of the Year,” giving the youngster’s business a solid purpose.

However, he was diagnosed with Hepatitis B. Given three to five years to live, Son took the challenge head-on and underwent pioneering treatment that saved his life. The whole episode only made him more self-confident. And it showed in his rapid rise since then.

In the 1990s, Masayoshi Son invested $3 billion in 800 tech start-ups. In 1996, he paid $100 million for 33% of Yahoo! Three years later, he sold off a chunk of the shares for a huge profit but still retained a 28% stake worth $8.4 billion. He zeroed in on one investment strategy, which is issuing SoftBank bonds to borrow money at rates cheaper than banks.

Then arrived the ill-famed dot-com bubble. During the phase, Son’s net worth used to surge by $10 billion every week, so much so that in February 2000, the SoftBank boss briefly unseated Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to become the world’s richest person for three days. However, when the bubble burst later that year, SoftBank shed 97% of its value, and Son had to suffer losses worth $70 billion.

However, the beauty of time is that it changes. Alibaba, now an established Chinese conglomerate, was a relatively unknown e-commerce startup in 2000. It got a $20 million bet from Son, and as the company went public in 2014, the same stake became worth $75 billion. As Son sold it, it doubled again, becoming one of his most profitable investments of all time, apart from creating the “Midas Touch” narrative about Son’s bet-taking capabilities.

Telecom investments and blunders

After recovering from the dot-com bubble disaster, Masayoshi Son set his eyes on the broadband segment. However, things weren’t smooth initially, as SoftBank had to struggle to get regulatory approvals in Japan to set up its industry subsidiary.

Things went to the extent where Son stormed into an official’s office at Japan’s telecommunications ministry, clutching a cheap cigarette lighter. While recollecting that episode in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Son remembered saying to the official, “This is the end. If you don’t help me, I’m going to pour gasoline all over myself right here and set myself on fire with this $1 lighter.”

The situation got better in 2006 when, after acquiring Vodafone’s Japanese subsidiary, the rebranded SoftBank Mobile emerged as a key player in Japanese telecoms. Son successfully persuaded Apple co-founder Steve Jobs to give him the exclusive rights to market the iPhone, history’s most successful consumer electronic product, when it debuted in 2007.

In 2013, he purchased Sprint and turned things around for the struggling US telecom provider before merging it with T-Mobile in 2020, disrupting the AT&T and Verizon duopoly. Although Son is known as a hands-off investor, the Sprint episode was the best example of him rolling up his sleeves and getting things done.

In 2017, he formed the SoftBank Vision Fund with over $100 billion in capital. The entity still maintains its position as the world’s largest private equity fund. He secured some $45 billion from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) following a 45-minute meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The fund’s strategy was simple: invest a minimum of $100 million to juice each startup to market dominance by blowing competitors out of the water, and Masayoshi Son called it “blitzscaling.” The entity, by 2019, pumped $76.3 billion into companies like NVIDIA, Uber, WeWork, Paytm, Ola and Flipkart, most of which are market giants in their respective fields.

In 2019, SoftBank launched Vision Fund 2 with a touted value of $108 billion. However, there was a setback, as the entity reportedly managed to secure a paltry $30 billion, mostly self-funded. The original Vision Fund also underperformed, as in 2021 it posted record losses of $27.4 billion amid the haemorrhage of tech stocks. The Ukraine war, COVID-19 lockdowns, and Beijing’s crackdown on its tech giants, many of which were backed by SoftBank, pulled down investor confidence.

And who can forget the WeWork disaster? During his high-profile visit to the United States in December 2016, in which Son met President-Elect Donald Trump, he also interacted with Adam Neumann, the founder of the co-working venture. The deal, famously drawn up during a 12-minute meeting followed by a car ride, saw the SoftBank boss handing Neumann $4 billion. The Japanese conglomerate then went on to pump in another $14.5 billion.

However, in 2023 the bet backfired as WeWork declared bankruptcy, after a planned IPO went awry, followed by investor doubts about its governance, business model and profitability.

The episode affected Masayoshi Son, as he announced SoftBank would adopt a “defensive” position by being conservative when it came to the pace of new investments. Not only did the Japanese conglomerate witness an exodus of executives, but Son also ended up telling investors that he was “embarrassed and ashamed of himself for being so elated by big profits in the past.”

WeWork was not the only failed bet for SoftBank, as it also faced criticism for unsuccessful investments in dog-walking service Wag, robot pizza chain Zume and, most importantly, payments service Wirecard, which collapsed in 2020 after being named in Germany’s biggest post-war accounting fraud, where €1.9 billion in reported cash was found to be non-existent.

Around the same time, Greensill, a SoftBank-backed supply chain finance firm in the United Kingdom and Australia, also shut down amid illegal lobbying accusations.

The big gamble

Stargate is a huge bet for Son and the wider American tech sector, as through this, the world’s largest economy is looking to enhance its AI infrastructure to 10 gigawatts by 2029, with Texas, Michigan, New Mexico and Wisconsin being key data centre hubs.

However, economists and investors believe that the current AI infrastructure, far cheaper than Stargate, already fails to generate adequate revenue compared to its cost. Also, newer AI models will likely be more power-efficient, rendering massive data centres obsolete.

Data centres are also known for straining energy grids, leading to higher operational as well as environmental costs, undermining economic viability.

Masayoshi Son disagrees with the detractors, as he envisions 10 times more AI chips being deployed in each three-year cycle. Over time, these chips themselves will become 10 times more potent, while AI models, on their part, will ramp up productivity by a factor of 10.

“That’s 1,000x in three years. Nine years with three generations is 1,000,000,000x. It’s a huge, huge difference,” he told TIME.

Another concern of critics is that the collaboration between OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank could result in a cartel that stifles innovation while inflating costs.

Taking a different view, Son remarked, “For the AI race, it requires hundreds of billions of dollars of investment into the data centres, buying chips, integrating chips and training the models. It’s very, very costly, so it will naturally be concentrated into several very capable companies in terms of talent and capitalisation.”

Stargate is also a prime example of geopolitical and technological rivalries finding a common link: Washington’s desire (spooked by DeepSeek’s rise) to beat Beijing in the so-called AI “arms race.” Korean-Japanese Son has picked his side here.

Or call it Son’s revenge, as Beijing’s regulatory crackdown on its tech industry in 2021 caused stocks to plummet, leading to a financial bloodbath for SoftBank.

He told TIME, “I have stopped investing in China. Zero. I’m now focused on investing in the US.”

However, he still has great admiration for Chinese business acumen, reflected in his words: “You cannot underestimate China’s crowd of young entrepreneurs, young scientists. They are for real.”

Talking about Stargate, out of the total $500 billion to be spent over four years, some $100 billion was to be invested “immediately,” to create 100,000 permanent jobs. However, only roughly $10 billion has so far been deployed in the Texas city of Abilene, where some 7,000 temporary construction jobs reportedly have been created, providing a mixed bag to the local economy in the form of growing job openings and a housing crisis.

Two elements from the dot-com era, fibre optic cable and 3G infrastructure, went on to prove invaluable over the years. However, the same can’t be said about data centres (warehouses packed with GPUs), as these infrastructures may not enjoy such longevity given the industry’s emphasis on developing next-generation AI that will be more energy-friendly.

Has Masayoshi Son, who has repeatedly risen like a phoenix after multiple investment failures, taken a big gamble about Stargate and American AI ambitions in general? Only time will tell.

The post Stargate: Masayoshi Son’s next big bet appeared first on International Finance.

This gap exists within Australia’s USD 4.3 trillion superannuation system, where Shariah-compliant options remain limited. Rising mortgage rates, reaching around 5.5% in late 2025, have further increased the challenge. Recognising this need, Md. Rokibul Islam founded Meezan Wealth in 2020 to provide trusted, Shariah-compliant solutions across home finance, superannuation, and investments.

His vision was grounded in three core values—trust, ethical integrity, and sustainable growth. The objective was not simply to create financial products, but to establish a platform where faith and financial well-being could coexist, while remaining committed to innovation and ethical finance.

Meezan Wealth’s super and investment solutions are supported by internationally recognised Shariah governance frameworks, including certification aligned with AAOIFI standards and advisory oversight from SRA Consulting in Malaysia.

In January 2026, the company was awarded the “Most Innovative Shariah-Compliant Financial Solutions Provider – Australia 2025” at the International Finance Awards. At the same ceremony, Founder and CEO Rokibul Islam was named Best “Emerging CEO – Islamic Finance – Australia 2025.”

These accolades reflect not only organisational achievement but also the emergence of Australia as a developing hub for Islamic Finance. Under Islam’s leadership, Meezan Wealth has established itself as a pioneer, building solutions that meet global compliance standards while serving local community needs.

Transforming Retirement Through Halal Superannuation

Superannuation has historically presented one of the most significant barriers for Muslim investors. Conventional funds often allocate capital to non-compliant sectors, leaving many individuals uncertain about their retirement savings.

Meezan Wealth addressed this gap by introducing Halal Superannuation through the APRA-regulated fund called Super Simplifier. All investments undergo rigorous screening by IdealRatings and are certified by the International Shariah Research Academy (ISRA), ensuring alignment with global Shariah standards.

And the company’s performance proved one fact: ethical investing need not come at the expense of returns. As of June 2025, Meezan Wealth’s “Islamic Ethical Growth Option” delivered 11.21%, while the longer-term strategies, including “Islamic Ethical Growth Plus,” achieved 11.32 % over three years. These outcomes reinforce the viability of Shariah-compliant investing as both principled and competitive.

“In addition to performance, members benefit from low-cost structures, flexible contribution options, and integrated optional insurance offerings, ensuring comprehensive financial security,” Meezan Wealth told International Finance.

Addressing The Home Finance Gap

Home ownership is essential for financial stability, yet traditional interest-based mortgages have long been a barrier for Muslims. Meezan Wealth addressed this by introducing Islamic home finance based on the globally recognised Ijarah model, which replaces interest with a transparent lease-to-own structure.
Clients hold the property title while repayments combine rental and equity components, with the rental portion decreasing as ownership grows.

Modern features such as offset accounts, redraw facilities, and flexible repayment options ensure these solutions meet the practical needs of Australian households. For many clients, this has enabled home ownership for the first time without compromising their values.

Building The Future Of Ethical Finance In Australia

More than representing the success of a single company, Meezan Wealth’s growth reflects the maturation of Islamic Finance within Australia. By providing integrated solutions across home finance, superannuation, and investments, the firm has created a comprehensive ecosystem previously unavailable to Muslim investors.

The company continues to expand its reach nationally, driven by a clear mission of empowering individuals and families to build wealth in a manner consistent with their values. As awareness grows and demand increases, Meezan Wealth is positioned to play a central role in shaping a more inclusive and ethical financial system.

The journey from struggle to solution is still unfolding. Yet Meezan Wealth’s progress demonstrates what is possible when financial innovation is guided by purpose. In doing so, it is helping redefine the future of finance in Australia, one where faith, ethics, and financial prosperity move forward together.

The post Meezan Wealth: The force behind Australia’s Islamic Finance growth appeared first on International Finance.

The official launch took place on February 7 at the Grand Egyptian Museum, attended by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Minister of Planning and Economic Development Rania Al-Mashat, key members of the entrepreneurial ministerial group, the governor of Giza, ambassadors, and various stakeholders from the startup ecosystem and venture capital funds.

“The Startup Charter represents a strategic framework to enhance the capabilities of startups and the entrepreneurial ecosystem, aiming for rapid, sustainable economic growth driven by competitiveness and innovation, while also contributing to job creation. The initiative follows over a year of consultations involving 15 national entities and more than 250 representatives from the startup ecosystem, entrepreneurs, and parliamentary bodies,” according to an official statement from the Egyptian Cabinet. As outlined by the “Ministerial Group for Entrepreneurship,” the charter is designed to support up to 5,000 startups, generate an estimated 500,000 direct and indirect jobs, and accelerate international expansion.

Egypt’s startup ecosystem has gained significant traction in recent years, with ventures attracting USD 228 million in venture capital and debt financing during the first five months of 2025 alone, marking a notable increase from the 2024 situation. Official figures indicate that total funding for the sector reached USD 614 million in 2025, a sign of growing investor confidence and a more diverse financing landscape.

The charter has set out several key objectives over the next five years, including accelerating startup expansion into international markets, developing local talent to combat brain drain, promoting venture capital, and attracting investments through a unified financing initiative. It also seeks to connect critical challenges in various sectors with innovative solutions from startups.

While describing the reform as the first step toward modernising Egypt’s policies and legislation to better support startups, Al-Mashat further emphasised that the charter is not just a theoretical document but a practical and adaptable tool that will evolve to meet technological advancements and market needs. She further highlighted that the priorities of the charter were determined after extensive consultations with key stakeholders, aiming to create a dynamic and sustainable business environment that fosters innovation and attracts investment.

One key feature of the “Startup Charter” is the introduction of a unified definition of startups, newly established companies with a focus on rapid growth, flexibility, and innovation. This definition will allow startups to access a range of incentives and benefits, including official classification certifications from small and medium enterprise authorities.

“Additionally, it includes a unified financing initiative designed to coordinate available funding resources from government entities. The initiative aims to amplify the impact of these resources by up to four times, to mobilise USD 1 billion over the next five years through government-backed guarantees, joint investments with venture capital funds, and collaboration with private-sector investors,” Arab News reported.

The post Egypt unveils USD 1 billion Startup Charter to boost innovation, jobs appeared first on International Finance.

Combs, who worked as the investment manager for legendary Wall Street investor Warren Buffett, in addition to being the CEO of Geico Insurance for Berkshire Hathaway, heads the USD 10 billion strategic-investment group and serves as a special adviser to JPMorgan Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon.

“Todd Combs is one of the greatest investors and leaders I’ve known, having successfully managed investments alongside the most respected and successful long-term investor of our time, Warren Buffett,” Dimon said.

Buffett, Berkshire’s chairman, endorsed the move, stating that Combs is leaving to accept “an interesting and important job at JPMorgan.”

“JPMorgan, as is the usual case, has made a good decision,” he added.

The appointment follows JPMorgan’s announcement in October this year, saying that it would invest USD 1.5 trillion over the next 10 years in companies that are “critical to national economic security and resiliency,” apart from directly investing USD 10 billion in companies that are critical to American national security. Combs will oversee the bank’s direct equity investments as part of this initiative, while sourcing deals in areas like technology, defence, rare earths, robotics, and medicines, targeting smaller and mid-sized businesses instead of large-scale acquisitions, according to a Reuters report.

Meet Todd Combs

Born in 1971, Todd Anthony Combs has been interested in domains like business, financial systems, and analytical problem-solving since his childhood. He graduated from high school and earned a Bachelor of Science from Florida State University before pursuing an MBA at Columbia Business School, where value-investing principles are deeply ingrained in the curriculum, which Warren Buffett also attended. This educational background led to Combs’ long-term, fundamentals-based investment philosophy.

Combs did not start his career on Wall Street but in the world of financial regulation, working as an analyst for the “Banking, Securities and Finance Division” of the State of Florida, reviewing institutions for compliance and risk exposure, learning about the operations of banks and insurers, and later moving to “Progressive Insurance,” where he held increasingly technical jobs in pricing and risk management, gaining a foundational understanding of insurance economics that would serve him well over the years.

In 2005, Combs took another entrepreneurial leap and established “Castle Point Capital Management,” a long-term-oriented hedge fund based in Connecticut, dedicated to endowments, foundations, and institutional clients, as CEO and Managing Member, where he was known for careful research, disciplined capital allocation, and a solid knowledge of the financial services sector. His results and analysis started to garner attention well beyond the size of the fund, even from the most experienced investors and industry leaders.

In 2010, Combs reached another career highlight when Warren Buffett named him one of the investment managers of Berkshire Hathaway, which has billions in equity investments and where Combs is one of a handful of people Buffett zeroed in on as his investment decision-making successors.

He assumed even more leadership responsibilities in early 2020 when he became CEO of GEICO, Berkshire’s flagship auto-insurance company, where he helped steer the company through industry disruptions and modernise various parts of its operations. He also became a director of the JPMorgan Chase Board of Directors in 2016, where he currently sits at the intersection of banking, insurance, and long-term investment strategy.

The post Business Leader of the Week: Todd Combs to take forward JPMorgan’s strategic investments appeared first on International Finance.

Net Interest Income from Conventional Banking and Net Income from Islamic Financing stood at RO 413.01 million for the year ended December 31, 2025, compared to RO 397.70 million for the same period in 2024, an increase of 3.8%. Non-interest income, on the other hand, was RO 174.18 million for the year ended December 31, 2025, as compared to RO 145.00 million for the same period in 2024, an increase of 20.1% due to Bank Muscat’s growth in business volumes and higher investment income.

Operating expenses for the year were RO 222.88 million, compared to RO 209.26 million for the same period in 2023, reflecting an increase of 6.5%. Net impairment losses on financial assets were RO 60.97 million as against the 2024 tally of RO 64.41 million.

Bank Muscat’s net loans and advances, including Islamic financing receivables, increased by 4.8% to RO 10,731 million as against RO 10,237 million as at December 31, 2024. Customer deposits, including “Islamic Customer Deposits”, increased by 6.7% to RO 10,430 million as against the 2024 tally of RO 9,777 million.

The full results for the year ended December 31, 2025, along with the complete set of unaudited financial statements, will be released following the approval of the Board of Directors of the Bank at its meeting scheduled later in January 2026.

Bank Muscat’s gains also coincide with the latest numbers emerging from the Gulf country’s banking sector. By the end of November 2025, credit provided by conventional commercial financial institutions saw an increase of 8.5%, indicating a robust growth in banking activities. Credit to the private sector rose by 5.8%, reaching RO 21.9 billion during the same timeframe.

In terms of investments, the Gulf country’s conventional commercial banks recorded a 7.4% rise in total investments in securities, amounting to approximately RO 6.4 billion by the end of November 2025. Investments in government development bonds experienced a 9.5% year-on-year increase, totalling RO 2.2 billion. Investments in foreign securities, on the other hand, dropped by 4.4%, settling at RO 2.3 billion over the same period.

The post Bank Muscat posts USD 664.3 million net profit for 2025 appeared first on International Finance.

Venture capitalists, on the other hand, are professional investors who manage funds on behalf of other investors, such as institutions, corporations, or pension funds. They operate within a more structured framework, employing rigorous due diligence processes and focusing on businesses with high growth potential and scalable models.

While both provide crucial financial support to emerging businesses, the difference lies in their approach, investment scale, and overall impact on a company’s trajectory. Understanding these differences is essential for entrepreneurs looking to secure the right type of funding for their ventures.

Investment Stage And Amount

VCs and angel investors differ in the way they invest in new businesses and the amount of capital they provide. Angel investors often act as the first external funding source for startups, stepping in during the pre-seed or seed stages when the business is developing its product or service to make things market fit. Their investments usually range from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars, filling the crucial gap between initial funding from friends and family and larger institutional investments.

Venture capitalists, on the other hand, enter the picture at later stages (typically seed, Series A, and beyond), when a startup has already demonstrated some market traction or viability. VC investments are significantly larger, often starting in the millions and potentially reaching tens of millions of dollars. Their focus remains on scaling businesses with established potential rather than nurturing ideas from inception.

Decision-making Process

In the words of Levi King, CEO, co-founder, and chairman of Nav.com (also a strong advocate of small businesses, “the decision-making process for angel investors is often more personal and subjective. They may rely heavily on their gut feeling, the entrepreneur’s passion, and the potential they see in the idea. This approach allows for quicker decisions and can be advantageous for startups needing fast access to capital.”

Venture capital firms employ a more structured and rigorous decision-making process, which involves elements like detailed market analysis, assessment of the business model, and evaluation of the startup’s growth potential. Decisions are typically made by a committee or team rather than an individual, leading to a longer and more complex process but resulting in a more comprehensive evaluation of the investment opportunity.

Involvement And Support

Angel investors frequently take a hands-on approach with their invested businesses. They often provide mentorship, guidance, and access to their personal networks. This level of involvement can be invaluable for early-stage startups navigating the challenges of business development and market entry.

“While venture capitalists also offer support beyond just capital, their involvement tends to be more strategic. They may seek board positions, influencing major decisions and providing high-level guidance on scaling the business. VCs typically have extensive networks and can facilitate partnerships, further funding rounds, and potential exit opportunities,” King said.

Risk Tolerance And Return Expectations

Angel investors generally possess a higher tolerance for risk, often investing in unproven ideas or technologies. They remain mentally prepared for some of their investments failing, but they still take these risks for the potential of high returns on successful ventures. Their investment horizon tends to be longer, and they may be more patient with the company’s growth trajectory.

“Venture capitalists, while still operating in the high-risk world of startup investments, tend to be more risk-averse than angel investors. They seek businesses with clear paths to significant returns, often looking for companies that can potentially provide a 10x or greater return on investment. This focus on high growth and scalability influences both their investment choices and their expectations for the companies they back,” King remarked.

Impact On Company Control And Direction

Angel investors typically seek less control over the companies they invest in, often content with minority stakes and limited voting rights. This can be appealing to entrepreneurs who wish to maintain significant control over their company’s direction.

“Venture capitalists, however, usually demand more substantial equity stakes and greater control. They may require board seats, voting rights, and other mechanisms to protect their investment and influence the company’s strategic decisions. While this can bring valuable expertise and guidance, it also means entrepreneurs must be prepared to cede some control over their businesses,” King concluded.

The post Angel investors and venture capitalists: Who is right for startups? appeared first on International Finance.