Group targets $500bn Islamic charity market

Veteran Geneva-based banker and Islamic finance expert John Sandwick has teamed up with Saudi adviser Wafi International to target the Islamic endowment market, a $500 billion capital pool he said had been poorly served to date.

Waqf, or charitable endowments invested according to Islamic principles, are often used to fund schools and hospitals, but the charitable trusts that generally manage them tend to produce poor returns.

Because of the largely informal nature of the market, estimates of its size vary widely. USAID, the United States' international aid body, said philanthropic giving in Muslim communities worldwide was between $250 billion and $1 trillion a year.

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