banking technology

The rise of Islamic fintech, global opportunities for #Bahrain

At the moment Islamic fintech is more of an aspiration than a reality. As the fintech industry and the demand for ethical investments grows exponentially, we are witnessing a want for the convergence of two. Seeing this space in the Middle Eastern banking industry, the Kingdom of Bahrain has entered a partnership with fintech incubator Singapore Fintech Consortium (SFC) and asset management and advisory firm Trucial Investment Partners. This partnership stands to initiate, nurture and sustain Bahrain’s fintech ecosystem while pulling from the experience of global industry leaders. Likewise, Bahrain has also recently opened a consultation led by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB), with the aim of establishing a regulatory sandbox for fintech. It enables businesses to take advantage of the concentration of Islamic financial institutions and the consultation focuses on crowdfunding, including Shari’ah-compliant crowdfunding.

Al Hilal Bank’s new CIO looks to collaborate with #fintechs

Al Hilal Bank's new CIO Gopi Krishnan is calling on fintech CEOs to get in touch and collaborate. Krishnan moves from another regional bank, Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), where he was CIO since 2012. Prior to that, he was with BankMuscat International as programme director in charge of transformation, enterprise project management office and group integration. Al Hilal Bank offers Islamic banking services in the retail, corporate, wholesale, treasury and investment segments. Its core operations are underpinned by the T24 banking platform supplied by Temenos.

The rise of ‘halal hubs’ represents an Islamic finance opportunity

An interesting trend is developing in the halal sector: regional hubs are developing in places that have some local demand but not the size that would be significant markets on their own. Think of Malaysia (the largest) or Dubai or tiny Brunei. Each sees the halal sector as being strategic to their economic growth, and for Dubai and Brunei at least, as key aspects of their economic diversification. This trend has the potential to support global growth in the Islamic economy as well as SME development but need a lot of (costly) infrastructure put in place to open up the international side to SMEs.

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