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.

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