@DaveFlash#67731 Lol. Sorry but this one is a bit funny. The whole argument you heard in general at first always was "Bunq doesn't invest money whilst all those old traditional banks do! Say farewell to those that invest in filthy practices!". Now that they do invest, it's suddenly "Not wanting to invest is based on old-fashioned ideas! You should embrace investments!"? That point can't seriously be argued with a straight face imho. It was also THE argument you heard the most when discussing the prices. "Bunq is so expensive because they don't invest, they have to cover the costs and that's why it's €7,99! And I'm happy to pay that because I know my money isn't used for investments." (Which wasn't strictly speaking true to begin with, bunq always invested.). Well, that's an interesting turn of events then. (And again, I don't really care myself but it is rather ironic to see the 180 degrees turn in arguments...)

Islamic banks, best to my knowledge, actually don't deal in interests at all but in profit sharing by the way. In the end it's relatively the same result, but it's not actually the same thing and also not at a variable rate. They most certainly do invest, but the problem isn't investing itself - it's allowed to invest and get a return. But it's the interests being paid that's a problem, whether that's negative (asking you to pay interests) or positive (you getting interests from someone else - or a bank). What bunq is doing now is not the same as profit sharing.

@DaveFlash#67731
Yep. But reality is, islamic banking does exist - and banks have found ways to „work around“ paying interest outright, which are (often) considered to be compliant with religious custom and law.

Not bunqs. I don‘t think bunq has explicitly stated that they weren’t going to pay any interest forever (they did, in fact, reserve the right to charge interest in case of unplanned overdrafts), However, with their positioning with regards to investment and interest, I’m still a bit baffled there’s no opt-out. I thought it is quite well-known that some religions prohibit paying or receiving interest.

I could have predicted this issue to come up from the top of my head..

@LH-Black-Wolf#67737 correction, the previous argument was, that bunq does not invest in ''wrong things''. bunq has always said, since it's founding that If and when they can offer a safe and sustainable (sic) "green way" to invest money they will, every bank has to. I've never been against that. Even Kosher/Islamic banks invest in stuff, malls, huge airports, magnificent skyscraper hotels. They call it "profit sharing" and look the other way, never telling the full or whole truth to their most devout of cuddle (sic) sheep of customers.

Have a read through this 2016 article of AsianInvestor.net. (I've included their conclusion below)

Conclusion
Overall, the findings indicate that the profit rates of Islamic banks and finance companies are driven by the movements of interest rates of conventional banks and finance companies, respectively. These findings raise some doubts as to whether Islamic banks deposit rates are based on the profit-and-loss sharing (PLS) paradigm in practice, where returns are obtained through mudarabah or musharakah contracts.

In fact, it seems this is not the case, probably due to competitive pressure on the part of Islamic banks to meet investor expectations and the profit-maximisation mentality of customers. A very large percentage (more than 70%) of customers of Islamic banks and finance companies are non-Muslims who want to earn the highest rates on their deposits or lowest rates for financing, irrespective of the type of banking system. Furthermore, lengthy due diligence for PLS instruments and the lack of an Islamic secondary market makes it more challenging for Islamic banks and finance companies to operate fully using the PLS paradigm.

The findings imply that Islamic banks are not different from conventional banks, except for different branding to cater for a different category of clients.

The disparity in the expectation and practice of Islamic banks has reputational risk implications and is not healthy for the long-term future of the industry. The main challenge for policy-makers and regulators is to provide a proper platform and time line for gradual but effective compliance in the near future. In addition, creating better public awareness of this niche banking sector is also important for its long-term survival.

@NiB#67742 see my update above. it's mainly branding to cater to a niche market. there simply does not exist a bank completely free from interest. it's not possible and not healthy for any economy. And as this article states, Islamic banks should become much more transparent and create public awareness for their Islamic costumers that there is NO-WAY to have a completely interest free bank account, creditcard, mortgage etc, no matter what they call the product, behind the scenes it will always be linked to some form of interest one way or another. The only way to get rid of interest is to summon your governments to go to full reserve banking system, whereby each banks gets to store all the customers balances with them selves or other companies, and not statebanks or ECB. thereby a bank always has the full value of customer credit available. and maintaining that balance doesn't cost them anything.