StructureStocks & Shares ISA, General Investment Account, SIPP (via Hartley Pensions) and bespoke discretionary management across a screened halal universe; three tiers (robo-advice online, standard advice with discretionary management, and bespoke £50k+). Three-step screen (sector exclusion, ethical, and financial ratios incl. debt/assets ≤5%, non-compliant income ≤5%); SRB calculates the annual purification/charity figure; uninvested cash is held in Shariah-compliant Al Rayan accounts.
A long-established (2009), FCA-regulated Shariah investment and financial-advisory firm offering ISAs, pensions and discretionary portfolios screened to AAOIFI-style standards, with FSCS protection and external SRB Shariah audits (UK scholars Mufti Faraz Adam and Sheikh Muhammad Ahmad). Credible and well-suited to investors with significant assets — but it is not a home-finance provider, and minimums ($1k–$50k+) are higher than robo-advisors.
Read the contract →Contract-grade public documents were read directly (e.g. a full Terms & Conditions or a scholar-reviewed contract). This rates our certainty, not the provider’s compliance.
Established & regulatory standing
The verifiable facts
Established
Founded 2009 by Faizal Karbani (Chartered Accountant; IFQ/CIFE/CSAA; Islamic-finance author).
Regulatory standing
Simply Ethical Financial Services Ltd is authorised and regulated by the FCA (Firm Reference 511220); FSCS protection up to £85,000. SIPP provided via Hartley Pensions Limited (FCA-authorised).
Shariah board
Who certifies it
Shariah supervision via the Shariyah Review Bureau (SRB, Central-Bank-of-Bahrain-licensed), with UK-assigned scholars Mufti Faraz Adam and Sheikh Muhammad Ahmad and an annual SRB audit.
A named, credentialled board is a real signal — but a provider’s own board certifying its own product is not the same as arm’s-length review. Weigh it alongside the independent commentary below.
Independent scholarly review
What independent scholars have said
Annual SRB external Shariah audit of the investment policy, calculation methodologies and documentation.
Independent commentary is weighed, not treated as a final personal ruling. A body that rules one way is one respected voice, not a universal consensus — and rulings can lag changes to a live contract.
How the structure works
The mechanics, in principle
Stocks & Shares ISA, General Investment Account, SIPP (via Hartley Pensions) and bespoke discretionary management across a screened halal universe; three tiers (robo-advice online, standard advice with discretionary management, and bespoke £50k+). Three-step screen (sector exclusion, ethical, and financial ratios incl. debt/assets ≤5%, non-compliant income ≤5%); SRB calculates the annual purification/charity figure; uninvested cash is held in Shariah-compliant Al Rayan accounts.
This describes the structure in principle — it is not a verdict on the executed contract. Note too that FCA/PRA regulation guarantees consumer protection and solvency oversight, not Shariah-compliance; the checklist below is what tests the fiqh.
From the public documents
How the contract actually works
Read from Simply Ethical’s own public materials — white papers, product pages, FAQs and fatāwā — not its executed contract, which is generally not published. Where a point is undisclosed, it is said plainly rather than guessed. Sources are listed below.
Simply Ethical operates as both an FCA-regulated adviser and investment manager; its three-step screen is documented and externally audited by SRB, and holding uninvested cash in Al Rayan accounts (not interest-bearing conventional accounts) shows genuine Shariah-first design. IFG's review is broadly positive while noting interface complexity and higher minimums than competitors. The financial thresholds align with AAOIFI/DJIM, and the purification mechanism for incidental haram income is a recognised instrument; SIPP provision via Hartley Pensions adds an intermediary-risk layer. There are no home-finance contracts to evaluate — this is an investment/advice platform.
The Six-Pillar test
The questions that decide it
This is the universal lens this site applies to every home-finance contract, anywhere. Read each pillar as a question to put to Simply Ethical’s executed contract — not its brochure.
- 1
Real ownership
Does the financier genuinely take ownership of the asset — even briefly — and bear a real owner's risk, rather than only ever holding a debt secured against it?
- 2
Risk-sharing
If the asset is destroyed or its value collapses, does the financier share that loss in proportion to its stake, or is the customer left bearing it alone?
- 3
Rent vs interest
In a lease/co-ownership, is the rent benchmarked to a genuine market rent for the property — or is it calibrated to an interest rate (a base-rate + margin) in disguise?
- 4
Default mechanism
On default, does the contract behave like the end of a real lease/partnership — or does it accelerate like a loan, demanding the full outstanding 'principal' plus charges?
- 5
No guaranteed pre-fixed return
Is the financier's return tied to real ownership and risk, or is it a pre-fixed, guaranteed sum that arrives regardless of what happens to the asset?
- 6
Substance over form
Strip away the Arabic labels: does the cashflow, risk, and outcome differ from a conventional loan — or is it the same economics wearing a compliant name (ḥiyal)?
Before you sign
What to ask Simply Ethical, in writing
Put these to the provider in writing and keep the answers. The reply — not the marketing — is what tells you whether the structure holds.
This is an investment and advisory platform — it cannot help you buy a home; confirm the scope.
What are the all-in fees (advice, platform, fund charges) for your account type?
How often is the portfolio rebalanced and is the Shariah screen re-applied each time?
How is the annual purification/charity figure calculated and directed?
If Hartley Pensions (the SIPP provider) has difficulties, what protects your pension assets?
The honest gap
What we have not verified
- The SRB certifier is less publicly profiled in UK discourse than AAOIFI/UKIFC.
- Hartley Pensions intermediation adds an operational-risk layer for the SIPP.
- Full investment-policy and SRB audit reports are not publicly released.
The reasoning
Why this verdict, and not another
A verdict is only as honest as the reasoning behind it. Here is why Simply Ethical sits where it does — what keeps it off a clean pass, and what keeps it off an outright avoid.
Not a clean pass because
Not a home-finance product, higher minimums than robo-advisors, a noted complex interface, and a certifier less prominent in UK public discourse.
Not an outright avoid because
15+ years operating, FCA-authorised with FSCS, an external annual SRB audit with named UK scholars (Faraz Adam, Muhammad Ahmad), Al Rayan cash management, and a published ethical-investment policy.
Sources
What this read is built on
The verifiable references behind this page — provider documents and independent scholarly resolutions. Read them yourself; do not take our summary on trust.