4th AICIF: Islamic Finance Has Unique Role To Play In Tech Investments — Experts

Stakeholders at the 4^th African International Conference on Islamic Finance (AICIF), held in Lagos with the theme  “Infrastructure Financing, Sustainability and the Future of African Markets” have shared an insight on how technology is used in Islamic financing.

Speaking on the topic “Application of Fintech in Islamic Finance” the honourable minister of State for Science Technology, Mohammed H. Abdullahi said to that there is growth and support towards financial technology in the country as the Federal Government’s attention is really on science and technology.

“We have come up with policies that will support this initiative like the National Science and Technology Road Map and few others.

He pointed to the fact that Fintech has transformed the economy of Malaysia and will also do same here when there are more awareness and adoption of it.

“One of the challenges of Fintech’s adoption in the Muslim community is the Moral issues that have been associated with it. But the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages so a challenge like that can easily be mitigated.

“I encourage the providers of Islamic banking to access Fintech in order to make their services available to many because Fintech is permissible and accepted in Islam if they are not against the basic rules of Sharia.

“The Ministry of Science & Technology will continue to support the industry and initiative to help promote Islamic finance across Nigeria.

“It is better for a private sector to come up with a tech-focused fund or incubation strategy to really drive the Fintech space so that it can be sustained and because of lack of harmony in terms of oversight institutions the Ministry may not manage it well,” Mohammed, said.

Rauf Aregbesola Jnr – Founder, NQLB said that Mobile technology is the way to go and Fintech solutions should think of leveraging the USSD.

“One of the challenges the Fintech space has is Identity Management as we cannot give financial services to people we do not know. This is an area that cannot be overlooked if we are looking at maximizing the potentials of Fintech.

“The regulatory side, especially around data, is another area that needs to be looked into. For those who do not have the means, their data may be the only currency they have.

“There are lots of funds available for SMEs today in the country but beyond the funds, the Market guarantee is needed. The government needs to guarantee the market so that investor confidence will be built,” Aregbesola Jnr., said.

Mayowa Ayodele – Chief Investment Officer, The Platform Capital, speaking on the topic said that Islamic Finance has a very unique role to play regarding tech investment in the country

“The providers need to come with products, services or ideas on how to use the current platform or technology available on ground to provide Fintech services across the country.

“Data collection is a key part of Fintech. When we get the data, we need to analyse it but most of the time, we are not analyzing it correctly and I feel that we are also not investing enough in this aspect,” Mayowa said.