bring significant benefits to consumers and the industry. islamic finance, in embracing what technology offers, would be able to better meet the ever - changing needs of customers and the real economy. the incumbents have no choice but to quickly learn to adapt, invest and innovate to deploy new technologies. at the same time, technology and fintech in particular, offer significant opportunities for entrepreneurs to scale up and succeed. in closing, i wish you all an insightful and engaging dialogue ahead. first, by leveraging on technology, industry players are able to create more value and customer focused services. this can be achieved through the delivery of customised solutions using for example biometric technologies, big data and analytics. technologies such as application programme interfaces ( or apis ) could bring substantial benefits to customers, by making banking transactions simpler, quicker and more convenient. second, the adoption of technology can help islamic finance reach out to market segments which would not otherwise be cost - effective. this means a great opportunity to serve untapped markets. third, in terms of processes, fintech can assist to improve the efficiency of back - end systems and operations, including through the use of predictive analytics to undertake real time risk management. 3 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches

principles of islamic finance. however, they are not as visible and omnipresent as their conventional peers. the case is compelling for islamic finance to take on a more prominent role in the fintech ecosystem. the technology is ripe, with higher penetration of mobile and internet across markets. consumers are also becoming more and more tech - savvy. digital - banking consumers stand at an estimated 670 million in asia alone and are expected to reach 1. 7 billion by 2020. in malaysia, within a population of 31 million, there is high mobile and internet penetration rate at about 141 % and 81 % respectively. with a diverse population and a growing middle class, malaysia is an ideal test bed for developing and commercialising fintech solutions. the emergence of fintech has opened up new opportunities which can greatly benefit the financial industry. at its core, fintech has led to the creation of various business models that help improve and simplify financial transactions, which 10 or 20 years ago seemed impossible. here, i would like to highlight three key areas that islamic finance stand to gain from fintech. entrepreneurs too stand to gain from fintech. first, fintech provides the technological underpinnings to realise the goal of islamic finance in creating a risk sharing economy. this will in turn benefit entrepreneurs who will gain wider access to bank - intermediated credit. an example is the investment account platform ( iap ). iap is malaysia ’ s first multi - bank online 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches platform that combines the credit evaluation expertise of islamic banks and the power of technology to channel funds from investors to economic ventures. this virtual “ multisided ” platform facilitates a collection of interesting investment ventures and projects, with transparent risk - return rewards for investors. second, fintech has opened up new sources of funding to entrepreneurs, in what is increasingly being referred to as the alternative financing space. crowdfunding and peer - to - peer ( p2p ) funding platforms have emerged as highly efficient “ matchmakers ” between entrepreneurs and investors. from the usd10 million raised globally in 2009 through nine major platforms, crowdfunding platforms mobilised over usd767 million in 2016 with backers from over 200 countries. this has facilitated the growth of entrepreneurs by providing finance to about 1. 3 million crowdfunding projects. crowdfunding platforms also allow entrepreneurs to closely engage with their customers – themselves investors – to shape and refine product ideas. a good example is the role played by crowd