INCEIF Seeks Fintech Partners, Investors

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 25 (Bernama) -- The International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF) is looking for more financial technology (fintech) partners in developing the syariah-based, socio-economic fintech solution model, as well as potential investors for the business model. Its School of Graduate Studies deputy dean Prof Dr Mohamed Eskandar Shah Mohd Rasid said more external support was needed for the model which was developed by INCEIF. "Hence, we need fintech partners to assist us in developing the platform. Secondly, we need to pitch this ideas to investors. "Even though, this has been practised in Indonesia, we want to bring this business model to various parts of the world. At the end of the day, the technology platform will be the same. "All we have to do is just tweak it according to the regulatory framework of the country," he told reporters after attending the Idea Pitch presentation at the Islamic Finance InnoFest 2016 (IFinnofest) here Thursday. On interest shown in the business model, Mohamed said several companies came forward after the Idea Pitch presentation and their ideas would be discussed further. The IFinnoFest 2016 picked three best ideas, which were pitched by INCEIF and Australia's Deakin University, out of eight presented at the one-day event. They were a "Syariah-based, socio-economic fintech solution", "Index Link Sukuk" and "Price Discovery Mechanism". The IFinnoFest 2016 was one of the initiatives put forward by the Islamic finance industry to serve as a platform in energising innovative ideas in its aim to bring the industry forward. INCEIF Centre of Research and Publications director Assoc Prof Dr Baharom Abdul Hamid said with rapid development in technology, the Islamic finance industry was vigorously looking at innovations to spearhead its growth. Held for the first time, the IFinnoFest 2016 was organised by INCEIF with the support of Bank Negara Malaysia (Malaysia's Central Bank), the Association of Islamic Banking Institutions Malaysia, and Malaysian Takaful Association. -- BERNAMA