ISLAMIC CO-OPERATIVE FINANCE AUSTRALIA LIMITED

• Normally, there is one type of membership only. This is referred to as active membership, following the applicable rules of the Co-operative (ICFAL).
• Active membership criteria require members to be 18 years or over and an Australian resident. An active member pays $100 as a one off membership fee and purchases at least 5 shares ($100 per share per year). An active member also exercises voting rights at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) for ICFAL. The joining member contributes at least 2 hours a month for the overall promotional activity of the Co-operative on a voluntary basis.
• Children under 18 years of age may join the Co-operative under the Children Education Fund by paying a minimum of 10% of normal membership fee. Such membership must be managed by a legal guardian and is only for the purpose of purchasing shares of the Fund for higher education purpose. A member under this category does not have any voting right at the AGM.
• A self managed super fund may also join as an active member of the Co-operative by nominating a long term investment provision. This provision may attract a better return than the dividend earned by the regular active membership pooled fund as decided at the AGM or at the discretion of the board of directors of ICFAL.
• Conditions of additional dividend for the long term provision requires keeping the investment at least for six months, limited to two redemptions per financial year each not exceeding 50% of the member equity. Violating this policy may entitle the respective member to receive the same dividend as that received under general membership.
• Please consult a professional tax agent or accountant to set up your own super fund. The Co-operative is not a fund manager but simply allows this membership as a viable Halal investment alternative/opportunity to that of an interest bearing business activities.

• Unfortunately we are not in a position to attract membership from other states at the moment. ICFAL is currently registered to do business only within NSW and ACT, Australia. You need to be a resident of Australia and have a residential address in the respective states as mentioned when applying for membership.
• However, due to the overwhelming number of enquiries from interstate we aim to register our co-operative in all other states and territories in Australia in due course. Please stay tuned for updated information in this regard.

A number of registered funds are available for the benefits of the memberships as follows:

1. Hajj Fund:

• This fund is designed for facilitating its joining members purchasing units of shares to perform pilgrimage to the holy city Makka.
• Each member is limited to purchase share units of only up to $10000, and invest with ICFAL for longer term. Members are not encouraged to redeem shares from this account unless urgently required.
• The shares invested from this fund may attract higher dividends than the general fund amount as decided at the AGM.

2. Zakat fund: ICFA has this provision by rule but it is not actively operating this fund at this moment.

3. Children Education Fund: Please see the Question 2 as a general guideline.

• This fund was created for the benefit of children willing to pursue higher education from the unit of shares purchased over the years plus anticipated profit earned to cover some cost of higher education. Due to the long term nature of the investment, this fund is similar to Hajj fund and a Self Managed Super Fund membership, and may also attract an extra incentive on top of the regular membership dividend as declared at the AGM.
• A joining member under this fund is encouraged to become informed on general Cooperative policies so that when they become adults, they may continue on as a general member of the Co-operative and become eligible to receive all rights and obligations due to the Co-operative.

4. Qard-e-Hasan fund: Qard-e-Hasan is a type of benevolent fund created to assist persons of need. This fund offers the opportunity to fulfill religious obligations of co-operative membership via charitable donations to the fund.

• A small amount of fund is currently available to assist a needy person. The dividend due to this fund is not distributed to membership, but rather reinvested in the fund so that it may grow further.

A member may purchase shares of ICFAL at anytime for any of the funds such as the membership general pooled fund, Hajj fund, Zakat fund, Children Education fund and Qard-e-Hassan fund.

• Download a share redemption form from the ICFAL website, fill it out with all information required and send it to us. Please note that the Co-operative does not carry out traditional banking business activities, therefore unable to transact like deposit and withdraw at call.
• However, you are entitled to redeem shares from your account at call if it was less than $1000. Redemption of a greater amount requires at least one month notice as your shares are already invested and may require time to return. Sometimes, due to hardship and difficulties of member to cover any emergency, faster redemption may be allowed provided fund is available.

• ICFAL endeavors to invest most of its funds in Islamically acceptable business portfolios. However, any unused funds at any given point of time in a financial year are normally kept with an interest free Commonwealth Bank account and/or a similar financial organization such as MCCA.
• ICFAL may redeem investment units from MCCA conveniently prior to re-investing in ICFAL’s own main investment portfolios. This arrangement allows funds kept in other similar organizations to earn Halal income through investing in lawful businesses instead of keeping money idle in a traditional bank.

• ICFAL as a registered co-operative under the C-operatives Act 1992 with the Registry of Co-operatives, NSW must lodge an annual return.
• All financial matters and other Co-operative activities are being audited periodically including an annual audit conducted by an independent professional and authorized auditor prior to the AGM.
• In addition to submitting an annual return for each financial year and since its inception in 1998, ICFAL has complied with detailed audit requirements twice by the Registry of Co-operatives team of auditors.
• Moreover, most of the ICFAL funds are invested in real-estate properties therefore carrying a highly secured portfolio in the market. ICFAL dividend history shows that it has consistently maintained a positive return. However, members should be aware that like any other investment, past history cannot guarantee future returns.
• Members are permitted to check their financial record at any time by contacting the Co-operative office.

• No, we are not required to lodge a tax return. However, the dividend earned by individual member must be declared as part of income during lodgment of their income tax return.
• The dividend is declared during the AGM and the profit or loss is normally mailed with the December quarterly statement. Hence, the amount earned by a member should be declared in their following financial year tax return.