Global Islamic Economy Summit includes discussion on FinTech disruption

The recent Global Islamic Economy Summit in Dubai included a plenary session entitled “The Tesla of finance is coming: are Islamic banks ready for the imminent FinTech disruption?”
 
“The good things about FinTech companies is speed and customer focus, yet the cons are they are not widely regulated,” Zubair Ahmed, head of IT and business innovation at Emirates Islamic Bank, said. “Increasingly, the relationship between banks and FinTech is being seen as a much more complementary and collaborative one than competitive.” 

Abdul Haseeb Basit, CFO of the UK’s Innovate Finance, agreed on the need for a collaborative approach. He also talked about how new entrants face a lot of red tape.
 
“The challenge for startups is regulation,” Basit said. “FinTech realizes that regulation is where banks have an advantage, while they also have the ability to access a wide customer base. Banks already have that scale so it makes sense for FinTechs to partner with them rather than market on their own.”
 
Basit mentioned that investors looking for the next unicorn should look at remittances; he thinks companies that specialize in this field can come in and quickly capture market share.