PETALING JAYA: Islamic finance stands to gain significantly by leveraging on financial technology, said Bank Negara Malaysia Assistant Governor Datuk Ahmad Hizzad Baharuddin
Speaking at the ASAS Shariah Fintech Forum 2017, Ahmad Hizzad said with 28% market share of total financial assets, it is time for the Islamic finance industry to compete alongside its conventional counterparts.
"While technology is an agnostic tool, the Islamic finance industry can harness its power to deliver and realise the intended goals and objectives of Shariah," he said.
He added that technology can help realise Islamic finance's promise in risk-sharing and support for genuine and productive economic activities.
Citing crowdsourcing platforms such as Kapital Boost, the Investment Account Platform in Malaysia and Ethis Crowd, Ahmad Hizzad said technology can play a facilitative role in widening funding avenues for new and small businesses.
He added that technology is a powerful tool to widen access to and outreach of social financing instruments such as zakat, waqaf and sadaqah.
"Digitisation of collection and disbursement of proceeds can re-energise these social financing instruments. It will not only provide greater convenience to customers, but also strengthen public trust and confidence in the system," he said.
In concluding his speech, he said fintech promises to revolutionise finance and bring wider benefits to financial institutions and customers alike.
"We are faced with a reality where tech-forward institutions will survive while those that refuse to evolve – or evolve too slowly – may be left behind, or swallowed by the competition."
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