suhaimi ali : catalysing technology towards building an inclusive and progressive islamic financial system keynote address by mr suhaimi ali, assistant governor of the central bank of malaysia ( bank negara malaysia ), at the 3rd annual islamic fintech leaders summit, kuala lumpur, 25 october 2023. * * * assalamu'alaikum w. b. t and a very good morning, meet aishah, a working professional with a jam - packed schedule. as her car takaful coverage nears its expiration, she navigates the labyrinth of websites and, with a few swift clicks, renews her policy and road tax without ever setting foot outside her home. meanwhile, across town, ahmad finds himself in need of a caffeine boost. he saunters into a cosy cafe, deftly taps his debit card on the payment terminal, and seconds later, relishes the taste of his freshly brewed coffee. for ahmad, it doesn't end there. having some spare time on his hands, ahmad effortlessly opens an online account to secure his children's education fund, expertly navigating the intuitive interface of a mobile application to transfer funds in real - time. these snapshots of everyday life showcase the transformative power of fintech : it has made our lives easier, more efficient, and seamlessly connected. in fact, this entire paragraph is written by generative ai with my role limited to only providing a prompt. distinguished guests, ladies, and gentlemen, i am delighted to be here today at the 3rd annual islamic fintech leaders summit. examples that i just shared are only a minor fraction of what we are experiencing today. how intriguing it is to witness financial consumers'activities becoming deeply integrated into digital ecosystems. over the years, we have witnessed how technology progressions and sophistications have advanced the finance world. among others : i. technology helps in improving efficiency and accuracy in finance by providing real - time data, enabled automated compliance, and provided tools for analysis and reporting. technology such as blockchain is evolving - mobilised to provide a secure, transparent, and decentralised framework for a wide range of applications. we have also seen application programming interfaces or apis playing a crucial role in allowing different software systems to communicate, collaborate, and interoperate, regardless of their differences in technology or architecture, thus creating the much - needed efficiency. ii. technology also enables accessibility and inclusivity :

it facilitates the unbundling of financial services, allowing fintech players to offer specialised and tailored financial products and services to customers. this, among others, catalyses access to financial services, bridging the gap between the unbanked or underbanked with the formal financial system, including in the areas of sustainability. iii. 1 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches iii. and technology also facilitates decision - making : for example, data analytics enables financial institutions to process huge quantities of data to produce meaningful insights and use for fraud detection. robo - advisors are used to create and manage investment portfolios. and now, the generative ai has allowed for creation of new content and data which can assist in tasks like drafting contracts and assisting with financial reporting. in the future, professionals are likely to collaborate with generative ai - " assistant " to transform fundamental processes, reengineer business collaborations and reduce risks. against this backdrop and align with this year's theme of " tech toward sustainability : empowering resilient ecosystem ", i hope this summit will further catalyse efforts in leveraging the ever - expanding technology evolution towards enhancing the islamic finance industry to be more competitive, inclusive, and sustainable. although technology is agnostic to either islamic or conventional finance, the untapped opportunities within islamic finance are eminent. we can view this from the lenses of traditional roles of the islamic financial institutions, as well as from collaboration perspective, with emergence of fintech companies offering diverse, innovative, and potentially disruptive solutions. globally, the islamic fintech sector is showing signals of prospect with close to 400 islamic fintech companies present to date. the market size of islamic fintech in the oic countries is projected to grow at cagr1 of 17. 92, relative to global fintech growth rate at 13. 5 %, to reach usd179 billion by 20263. revolutionising change in islamic finance through greater adoption of fintech ladies and gentlemen, today, i wish to focus my remarks on how islamic finance, could be revolutionised through greater adoption of fintech from three fundamental aspects : firstly, we must optimise use of technology as tools to better deliver the objectives of shariah ( maqasid shariah ). this can be achieved by leveraging on technology to promote inclusivity, sustainability, integrate decision making and impact considerations with maqasid shariah, while continuing to advance accessibility and transparent services to customers