First Islamic exchange to launch in London in May

Interesting news. The first Islamic ETF to help firms raise money. I quote:

The first electronic trading platform allowing sharia-compliant companies to raise cash will launch in London in May, the venture capital firm behind the project told Reuters on Thursday.

The Sharia Ummah Securities Information Exchange (UMEX) is designed to provide a platform to companies with a capital value of at least 20 million pounds ($31 million) and looking to raise the equivalent of at least 20 percent of their market value.

Fascinating stuff, and no, there is no issue elsewhere with interest rates or anything. At least not that I can see. With 10 Islamic Enterprises and over 100 Sharia Compliant Securities on the secondary market through IPOs, this is a good start although I wonder about the liquidity and depth of the market. Is there indeed that much liquidity available on this? Secondly, if there are day traders active on the market, i would posit that that will make it speculation. Which is obviously a bit difficult challenging from a Sharia perspective as you cant make money out of money.

But still interesting to see how this works out and what the returns are. As an aside, I found it eye catching that they appointed a Hindu to run it :), good for them :)