Mohd Ma’Sum Billah - Islamic FinTech: Insights and Solutions

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The world of today witnesses numerous catastrophes, namely the global attack by the novel coronavirus, negative hit on the global oil price, political turmoil in several parts of the world, and racial and ethnic war in many parts of the world, which destabilize in the world eco-peace and smooth forward of the socio-economic and financial movement. It has recently been predicted that the financial technology or fintech may play a significant role in rescuing the global economic future from the existing catastrophic status quo. In the contemporary century, the world has been enjoying with advancement of science and technology in the cyberspace in almost every sector of day-to-day life and culture, be one personal, private, domestic, social, political, economic, global or cyber. The economic, corporate, financial or trade sectors have still been dominated by traditional culture in coping up with gradual science and technological way uphill. It has been observed that, in the recent phenomena, the economic, financial and non-financial corporate sectors adapt borderless multiple smart mechanisms with sophisticated and complex technologies in facilitating the contemporary eco-financial movement in their technicalities, products, services and policies and promoting to maximize the friendly and easy-go with comfortness, rational cost-effectiveness and customer satisfaction with an ultimate goal in advancing the industry with dynamism and achievement, which is termed as financial technology or fintech. Despite such opportunities in the smart cyberspace (fintech) optimized by the financial industries, there are obstacles and challenges slowing the smooth way forward in true achievement. It may be recorded that among those obstacles are black hat hackers, misuse and fraud cultures, natural system crash, rapid and repeated growth of devices, poor professionalism and skills, unskilled corporate governance, lack of confidence, non-etiquette and insufficient support and cooperation from decision makers and policy controllers. However, most of these challenges might be due to invention with new dimension, but with temporary effect, perhaps. Such challenges may not last long in the promising journey or the emerging era of the fintech with its skilled dynamism and friendly offerings. Shariah compliance eco-financial industries are not exception in coping up with the global emergence of fintech in their products and quality services, but within the rules of Maqasid al-Shariah (Divine objectives) in no parallel, but dichotomizing with the technological culture adapted in the conventional financial industries. The fintech with Islamic ethical compliance may be an added value to the existing solutions particularly in this socio-economic catastrophic era in the first quarter of the twenty-first century and the time ahead.

The world financial securities industries including capital market, stock market, money market, easy-pay, smart contract, social finance, digital currency, payment through apps, mobile banking, crowdfunding and global Waqf cooperation are among those facilities systemized by fintech with affordable technical solutions and less risk and minimum challenges. Economic and financial authorities, regulators, decision makers, operators and customers are moving with greater prospects towards transmitting the traditional financial system to fintech with promising benefits and better services with rational returns. Such achievement phenomena are realized not only among the socio-economically developing states but in a rising global dimension. The contemporary Islamic financial market is growing faster than conventional counterpart with an annual growth rate ranging from 13% to 23% with sustainability appreciated by all irrespective of religion, nationality, color, gender, status and/or age across todays world of economy. It is observed that Islamic financial industries capitalize on every digital opportunity in their technicalities, policies, system, products, services and marketing within the rules of Maqasid al-Shariah aiming at serving the customers with satisfaction and comfortness compatible with possible best offerings of the global practices of eco-culture. Hence, Islamic financial industries today foresee the emerging fintech is the pushing factor of the products and services with innovation to global platform with a furtherance legacy to position itself as an able alternative to the conventional counterpart with significant results and added benefits for all with universal value within the holistic spirit of