‘Unveiling digital products to deepen Islamic banking’

The Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of TAIF Digital Institute for Islamic Finance in Toronto Canada, Mr. Fahad Siddiqui, has said the roll-out of shariah-based digital financial products will deepen Islamic finance in Nigeria.

Speaking yesterday, he said the deployment of technology can enable the market to reach out to 60 million Nigerians.

Siddiqui further said neo banks are avenues for Islamic Finance to deploy technology and broaden financial inclusion because a large percentage of those that are financially excluded in developing nations are Muslims.

He cited the Rizq Neo Islamic Banking rolled out in the UK as an example of a success story to learn from in digital Islamic finance and banking.

“Holistically private-public partnerships must be formed at a macro level, we must ask ourselves what problems the masses are facing and then address the problem in the shape of a Sharia-Compliant Financial solution both at a collective and individual level and this need not be complicated.”

Assessing the African market, he said based on his experience with the Bank of Khartoum, Sudan, South Sudan and DIB Kenya rollouts, there was no problem on the supply side, but there was a need to address speed.

He believed that scaling up would help Islamic Finance Institutions to offer Shariah (Non-Interest) compliant products to address the demand side, especially with technologies.