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Islamic banks have been urged to adopt a strategy to make effective use of financial technology. At a seminar held recently, Ahmed Ali Siddiqui, director of Centre for Excellence in Islamic Finance at IBA, said there has to be a strategy for Islamic finance in the digital world. According to fintech expert Ashar Nazim, Pakistan is doing well in Islamic finance, but the country's finance industry has to adapt to fintech. Market Link Executive Director Ishan Kanji said that using fintech will support the agricultural sector by providing easy access of loans and facilities to farmers. He stressed on the need to tap into the informal economy, which is twice the size of formal economy in Pakistan. At the seminar Hasan Bilgrami, CEO of BankIslami, shared the success story of BankIslami being the first bank in Pakistan to use biometric technology.

Islamic banks have been urged to adopt a strategy to make effective use of financial technology. At a seminar held recently, Ahmed Ali Siddiqui, director of Centre for Excellence in Islamic Finance at IBA, said there has to be a strategy for Islamic finance in the digital world. According to fintech expert Ashar Nazim, Pakistan is doing well in Islamic finance, but the country's finance industry has to adapt to fintech. Market Link Executive Director Ishan Kanji said that using fintech will support the agricultural sector by providing easy access of loans and facilities to farmers. He stressed on the need to tap into the informal economy, which is twice the size of formal economy in Pakistan. At the seminar Hasan Bilgrami, CEO of BankIslami, shared the success story of BankIslami being the first bank in Pakistan to use biometric technology.

According to a study of Ernst and Young, there will be three times higher demand for Islamic bonds (or Sukuk) till 2017. It is also assumed that this year could be the biggest year for Sukuk as the supply is close to demand. The Continuing standardization by Islamic finance organizations should help Sukuk securities to grow in long-term, analysts says.

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It is thought that islamic insurance contributions worldwide will rise by 31% this year. In 2010 the growth was 33%.
Ashar Nazim, executive director and Islamic Financial Services Leader at Ernst & Young, has the strong oppinion that key takaful markets are leading to a positive outlook for the sector as a whole because of its low insurance penetration rates and comparatively high rates of economic growth.

With access to capital becoming more difficult, and valuations nose-diving across public markets, private equity firms are challenged to demonstrate the real value they bring to the investee companies, says Ashar Nazim, Director and Head of Islamic Financial Services at Ernst and Young.
Liquidity and credit surge during the past decade saw mushrooming of investment firms across emerging markets pursuing private equity business. Shari'a compliant investments especially remained in strong demand as investors sought to diversify risk and seek higher risk adjusted returns.
With access to capital becoming more difficult, and valuations nose-diving across public markets, private equity firms are challenged to demonstrate the real value they bring to the investee companies.