A study called the Global Islamic Fintech Report recently revealed expectations for such companies in the coming year, said Salaam Gateway. The research eyes P2P crowdfunding and challenger banking as two of the contributing sectors for such fintech in 2020. It also predicted that Southeast Asia will be a strong contender.
Conducted by a London digital finance firm Elipses, the study looked at data from 160 companies across the globe. It covered five major categories including financial technology, ecosystem players, service providers, financial institutions and investors. According to the Salaam Gateway report, fintech accounts for 50% of the categories, followed by ecosystem players with 22%.
Peer-to-peer and crowdfunding are currently at the top, being the largest area. According to the study, these two fields will remain to be the most competent. Challenger banking is also seen as a strong area for next year.
Aside from what is mentioned, there are three other promising areas including blockchain and crypto, Robo-advisory and personal finance management and lending.
When talking about the region that will show the biggest growth in 2020, 39% of the participants in the survey said that Southeast Asia will grow the most. This is followed by the Middle East with 31% and the United Kingdom with 16%.
Salaam Gateway clarified that regardless of sectors and regions, these fintech companies can benefit from partnerships. Because of this, “the greatest traction for Islamic fintechs has been with their conventional peers.”
It was also revealed that such firms are looking to partner up with other Islamic fintech firms, with 40% of the respondents sharing the same opinions. Meanwhile, 20% want to work with Islamic banks and 20% looking at conventional banks.
In past studies, the research team found that there are 100 Islamic fintechs around the world, which is more than the 2017 number which determined only 93.