AAOIFI Kazan Centre and Tatarstan Muslim Administration Sign Cooperation Memorandum on Islamic Finance
The AAOIFI Centre for Islamic Finance Development in Kazan and the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Republic of Tatarstan (DUM RT) have signed a memorandum of cooperation aimed at strengthening Shariah expertise and supporting the development and assessment of Islamic financial products in the region.
The memorandum was signed during an official ceremony at the Kul Sharif Mosque in Kazan. The agreement was signed by Mufti of Tatarstan Kamil Hazrat Samigullin and Nader Amir Omar Abdelaziz, head of the AAOIFI representative centre in Kazan. A separate memorandum was also signed between the AAOIFI centre and the Russian Islamic Institute (RII).
Cooperation on Islamic Financial Products
According to the institutional announcement from the Russian Islamic Institute, the cooperation between DUM RT and the AAOIFI centre includes work related to the development and certification of new Islamic financial products in accordance with AAOIFI standards and Russian legislation.
The cooperation also involves the Shariah Committee established under DUM RT’s Council of Ulema. The committee was formed in May 2026 and includes Islamic scholars and AAOIFI-certified specialists, according to the Russian Islamic Institute.
The memorandum is intended to coordinate the activities of the participating organizations within the region’s partnership-finance development roadmap and to combine their intellectual resources, practical experience and institutional expertise.
The development comes as Russia continues its partnership-finance experiment, which began in September 2023 in Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Dagestan and Chechnya. The experiment has subsequently been extended through 2028.
Separate Education and Professional Development Cooperation
The second memorandum, between the AAOIFI Kazan centre and the Russian Islamic Institute, focuses on scientific and educational cooperation in Islamic finance.
According to the Russian Islamic Institute, the agreement includes systematic professional-development and certification courses delivered by AAOIFI experts. The broader objective is to strengthen the pool of specialists working in Islamic finance in Russia.
The cooperation follows the establishment of AAOIFI’s Centre for Islamic Finance Development in Kazan, which AAOIFI officially launched in January 2026 in partnership with the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Tatarstan. AAOIFI described the Kazan centre as its first regional centre and said it would contribute to developing a standards-based foundation for partnership finance in Tatarstan, Russia and the wider CIS region.
Industry Impact — IFD Editorial Insight
The agreement is significant because it connects AAOIFI’s international standards expertise with local Shariah expertise and the emerging partnership-finance ecosystem in Russia.
For the Russian market, cooperation between a major Islamic finance standards organisation and DUM RT’s Shariah institutions could support more structured approaches to product development and Shariah assessment. The parallel agreement with the Russian Islamic Institute also addresses the availability of qualified professionals, an important requirement as the country’s partnership-finance market develops.
However, the memorandum should be understood as a cooperation framework, rather than evidence that all Islamic financial products in Russia are automatically approved or certified by AAOIFI. Product certification and assessment remain subject to the applicable processes, standards and Russian legal requirements.
Sources
- Russian Islamic Institute — official announcement of the memorandums signed by DUM RT, RII and the AAOIFI Kazan representative centre. (Kazan Islamic Institute)
- AAOIFI — official announcement on the launch of the AAOIFI Centre for Islamic Finance Development in Kazan. (AAOIFI)
- Tatar-Inform — report on the memorandum and its Shariah-expertise focus. (tatar-inform.ru)
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