Islamic Finance in the Modern Era: Digitalization, Fintech and Social Finance

This book focuses on recent developments in financial technology: specifically, how FinTech affects the Islamic finance industry. It examines the challenges of Shariah compliance and explores opportunities for riba-free finance.

The book describes contemporary FinTech solutions, investigating their relation to Islamic financial institutions. It outlines the current status of Islamic FinTech, arguing that it can provide Shariah-compliant innovative financial services to bridge the gap and compete with or complement conventional finance. Islamic FinTech can play a transformational role in making Islamic finance more accessible to a wide range of audiences and can also support the SME sector, which has been significantly impacted by the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

First, the book addresses thematic issues in Islamic finance, including its role in poverty eradication, elevating SMEs, and the Islamic digital economy. Second, it examines Shariah-compliant instruments in Islamic finance. The final part encompasses the risk profile of Islamic finance products and explores mitigation strategies. The book simultaneously presents theories, practice, and key issues, introducing new ideas and perspectives to the Islamic banking and financial community.

The primary audience for the book will be researchers and scholars of Islamic economics and finance, and it will also appeal to practitioners and regulatory bodies.

Hussain Mohi-ud-Din Qadri is Deputy Chairman of the Board of Governors of Minhaj University, Lahore; Professor at the School of Economics and Finance, Minhaj University, Lahore, Pakistan; and Senior Fellow, the University of Melbourne, Australia.

M. Ishaq Bhatti is Professor of Finance, School of Business and Economics, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, and Adjunct Professor Finance & Financial Econometrics and the Founding Director of the Islamic Banking and Finance Programme at La Trobe University, Australia.