Finova has supported the launch of Offa’s new Sharia-compliant Home Purchase Plan, extending the lender’s technology partnership beyond buy-to-let into the residential market.

The cloud-based savings and originations technology provider has powered the introduction of Offa’s residential Home Purchase Plan, designed to deliver near real-time credit decisions depending on credit rating and risk criteria.

Offa’s Home Purchase Plan follows Islamic finance principles of co-ownership-with-leasing, under which customers gradually acquire full ownership of a property rather than paying interest.

The structure requires lenders to manage shifting ownership shares, profit-based returns and alternative affordability assessments, posing challenges for traditional origination systems.

MAINTAINING CORE INFRASTRUCTURE

Finova said its configurable rules engine enabled Offa to build and launch the product on its cloud-native platform without overhauling core infrastructure. Product rules, income multiples, gifted equity and family-supported affordability models were configured within the platform’s decisioning framework, with the aim of balancing speed to market and underwriting control.

The platform incorporates automated affordability assessment, integrated credit decisioning and digital document workflows, allowing Offa to operate a fully paperless application process. The lender said automation across origination supports faster offer decisions while maintaining compliance and risk management standards.

The residential launch builds on Offa’s existing buy-to-let proposition, which is also powered by Finova. Both product lines are now consolidated on a single lending technology stack.

FULLY CONFIGURABLE PLATFORM

Ray Barry, customer success director at Finova, said: “Offa’s new product launch highlights the flexibility modern infrastructure must deliver in the current era of finance.

“Islamic finance structures introduce genuine complexity, from co-ownership modelling to alternative profit calculations, but those requirements should not slow innovation or speed to market.

“As our platform is fully configurable, Offa was able to design a Sharia-compliant residential proposition and bring it to market quickly, without compromising on automation, speed or risk control.”

Sagheer Malik, chief commercial officer and managing director of home finance at Offa, added: “We are modernising Islamic home finance by combining faith-based principles with the speed and paperless experience customers expect from mainstream finance providers.

“Finova’s technology allowed us to configure a highly specialised product within a scalable, automated framework, supporting fast decisions and a seamless customer journey.”