The 15th summit of the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB), organized by the Saudi Central Bank between November 9 and 11 in Jeddah, discussed financial technologies and means to develop the Islamic financial services market with the participation of several experts in financial institutions. The session was held under the theme "Financial Technologies and Islamic Financial Services: Market Developments and Effective Organizational Approaches" and was moderated by President and CEO of the Malaysia-based International Center for Education in Islamic Finance Dr. Mohammed Azmi Omar, where speakers included Executive Director of International Shariah Research Academy and Securities Commission in Malaysia Sharifatul Hanizah, Chairman of Financial Services Authority (Otoritas Jasa Keuangan) in Indonesia Wimboh Santoso, CEO and Secretary of the Board of Directors of the International Islamic Financial Market Ijlal El-Alawi, and CEO of Marble Capital Ltd Akeem Shina Oyewale. Dr. Mohammad Azmi said: "The volume of financial transformations for Islamic financial services in 2020 was estimated at USD 400 billion, which means that the financial technology contributes to a very big share. Despite that, it still represents a low percentage of only 0.7% from the international financial technology, and is expected to grow by more than USD 100 billion in 2025. Consequently, the Islamic financial technology will have a big market share." He noted that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Malaysia and Indonesia have the biggest share of this market, in addition to having some countries that enjoy a proper environment, pointing out that there are nine categories of the financial technology in the Islamic world, which are: alternative finance, market, capital, digital assets, payment, donation support, purposes, asset administration, takaful, finance, Zakat and Awqaf (endowments). Meanwhile, Sharifatul Hanizah said that the financial technology empowered 4,000 companies in Malaysia that reached a high level of digital assets, noting that work is currently ongoing to develop this sector through organization and legislation, where the organizational legislative program was launched for the first time in the Islamic market and is expected to have a good impact this year. For his part, Wimboh Santoso said: "We have a special model for risk management and evaluation, and we play the role of moderator among financial institutions and supervise the income processes and accredit the central authority for businesses." "In 2016, we embarked on drafting laws and now we are better and bigger and started to receive several benefits, which made us aspire to be the best in the international market," he added. El-Alawi highlighted the importance of having reference standards in all branches of the financial technology regarding murabaha, noting that agreements were signed with six international institutions to develop these standards.
