Investment App Order, Custody and Cash Treatment Checklist

An investment app is an access layer. It may combine advice, execution, custody, fractional holdings, cash and multiple product types, so the app’s branding does not determine whether a transaction is suitable or Shariah compliant.

Educational information only: This is not investment, legal, tax, cybersecurity or Shariah advice. Verify the platform, contract and each underlying asset.

1. Identify the legal provider

Record the contracting entity, platform owner, adviser, broker and custodian. Check applicable FSCA records.

2. Define the service

Establish whether the app offers advice, discretionary management, execution only, research or administration. Record who makes each investment decision.

3. Review the account contract

Capture ownership, nominee, custody, insolvency and termination terms. Distinguish the app interface from the legal account.

4. Identify available instruments

List shares, ETFs, funds, fractional interests, derivatives, crypto assets and cash products separately. They do not share one legal or Shariah character.

5. Examine order handling

Record market, limit, recurring and fractional order rules. Confirm execution venue, price formation and cancellation rights.

6. Verify settlement

Document trade and settlement dates, when ownership is credited and what happens after a failed trade.

7. Review custody evidence

Identify custodian or nominee, account statements and asset-reconciliation process. Ask how clients prove holdings if the app is unavailable.

8. Check fractional ownership

Read the terms for fractions: legal owner, voting, dividends, transfers and sale. Refer unclear contractual exposure for legal and Shariah review.

9. Examine cash treatment

Identify the bank or fund holding uninvested cash, any return earned and how fees or impermissible amounts are handled.

10. Review leverage and lending

Check margin, overdraft, securities lending, short selling and derivatives. Do not assume these are disabled because the app offers halal funds.

11. Reconcile fees

List dealing, spread, platform, custody, foreign-exchange, fund and advice charges. Compare statements with disclosed pricing.

12. Collect asset-level Shariah evidence

Record the methodology, screening date, reviewer and purification data for each selected investment. An app filter is research evidence, not an autonomous Shariah authority.

13. Prepare tax records

Export transactions, costs, distributions and fees for a registered tax practitioner. Preserve records before closing an account.

14. Review security and continuity

Enable appropriate security, maintain recovery contacts and record the provider’s fraud process. Do not store credentials in an estate checklist.

15. Maintain the platform register

• Provider, service and licence

• Account, ownership and custody

• Order, settlement and cash treatment

• Fees, tax and security

• Asset-level Shariah evidence

Useful official starting points include FSCA regulated-entity information, SARS individual guidance and the Financial Intelligence Centre.

The completed register should show who provides the service, how each order becomes an owned asset and what happens to cash, custody and records outside the screen.