Cracking the Code: Pool management challenges in Islamic Banking and how iMAL solves them

At a recent Azentio roundtable in Pakistan, one concern rose above the rest. Pool management remains one of the biggest operational burdens in Islamic banking today. Despite the industry’s rapid digitalization and its deep roots in principles of trust and risk-sharing, managing investment pools is still largely manual, fragmented, and error-prone.

For Islamic banks, pool management is not a back-office function. It is the foundation on which compliance, performance, and credibility are built. Yet institutions continue to struggle with legacy systems that were not designed to meet Shariah mandates but instead adapted later with bolt-ons and fixes.

So, what exactly is the issue?

The unique demands of Islamic pool management

Unlike conventional banking, Islamic finance prohibits interest (riba) and operates on principles of profit-and-loss sharing. As a result, pool management must accommodate a distinct set of requirements:

• Multiple products with varying tiers, each requiring its own return calculation
• Multiple pools reflecting diverse Shariah contracts, customer segments, and currencies
• Real-time performance tracking to guide operational and investment decisions
• Transparent and auditable profit-and-loss allocations to ensure regulatory and Shariah board approval

Trying to meet these demands on conventional systems introduces complexity, inefficiency, and risk. At our event, banking leaders shared their frustration openly. They spoke of excessive manual reconciliation, lack of visibility, and repeated delays in reporting.

The hidden cost of manual work

Many Islamic financial institutions still rely on spreadsheets or disconnected modules to manage pools. The consequences are predictable.

• Operational bottlenecks that delay reporting and audits
• Human errors that expose the bank to compliance risks
• Inflexibility that hinders the launch of new Shariah-compliant products or structures

This operational drag holds back innovation. It lowers customer satisfaction. And it burdens internal teams who should be focused on strategic initiatives, not endless reconciliations.

iMAL: built for Islamic finance, not adapted for it

At Azentio, we didn’t take a conventional core banking system and retrofit it for Islamic banks. We built iMAL from the ground up with Shariah compliance at the centre. Pool management is not an afterthought. It is a foundational capability.

Here is how iMAL helps institutions solve pool management challenges.

Built-in Shariah controls

iMAL supports multiple Shariah contracts including Mudarabah, Musharakah, and Wakalah. These contracts come with their respective Shariah controls built in, shifting the burden of compliance from the user to the system. This ensures that products operate fully within prescribed Shariah rules.

Forecasting through PCS

The forecasting capabilities in iMAL’s Profit Calculation System (PCS) gather data from participating modules such as assets, investment accounts, income, and expenses. The system uses these inputs to calculate weightages based on expected rates of return provided by users.

Real-time monitoring

Banks can monitor pool performance daily through an intuitive dashboard. This enables timely decisions, ensures accurate tracking, and provides clear comparisons to forecasted values. All of this can happen without waiting for end-of-month closings.

End-to-end transparency

Every movement within a pool is traceable, auditable, and backed by full transaction history. Banks can generate real-time reports for internal auditors, Shariah boards, and external regulators without needing manual intervention.

Innovation-ready flexibility

Want to launch a new Sukuk-backed investment product? iMAL enables rapid product configuration and aligns it directly with the relevant pool. New products can be deployed without restructuring systems or compromising compliance.

Compliance by design

Every feature in iMAL is designed to meet AAOIFI standards and local regulatory requirements. This means no bolt-on compliance layers and no last-minute workarounds. Just clean alignment with what Islamic banks truly need.

The message is clear

At our Pakistan roundtable, the Islamic banking community spoke with one voice. Manual pool management is no longer sustainable. Patchwork systems and retrofits will not carry the industry forward.

With iMAL, Azentio offers a system that simplifies complexity, reduces risk, and restores focus on growth, innovation, and Shariah-first performance.

If your teams are still burdened by pool management workarounds, it is time to move to a platform that was built with purpose, not compromise.