Fintech Strategies of Islamic Banks: A Global Empirical Analysis

Ahmet Faruk Aysan, Abdelilah Belatik, Ibrahim Musa Unal and Rachid Ettaai
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Ahmet Faruk Aysan: Islamic Finance and Economy Program, College of Islamic Studies, Qatar Foundation, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha 34110, Qatar
Abdelilah Belatik: General Council for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions (CIBAFI), Seef 24456, Bahrain
Ibrahim Musa Unal: Islamic Finance and Economy Program, College of Islamic Studies, Qatar Foundation, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha 34110, Qatar
Rachid Ettaai: General Council for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions (CIBAFI), Seef 24456, Bahrain

FinTech, 2022, vol. 1, issue 2, 1-10

Abstract: As new digitalization strategies storm the banking industry, banks which are behind the technological curve may struggle to keep pace. This is a well-known challenge in the Islamic banking sector in particular; however, this research shows that little is being done in order to achieve unified digitalization in operations. The 2020 Global Islamic Bankers Survey (GIBS) from CIBAFI sought opinions and data from 101 Islamic banks, which outlined both their institutions’ adoption of financial technology and their awareness of existing technologies. In addition, several technology trends—such as AI, machine learning, DLTs, and P2P lending—were analyzed separately in order to understand how they may be implemented within Islamic banking. This paper performed different statistical procedures to answer these research questions via correlation analysis and one-way ANOVA. The data were compiled and analyzed using SPSS software. In doing so, this study clarified the perspective of Islamic banks on digital transformation and answered whether Islamic banks are taking the right direction in terms of their digitalization strategies. Interestingly, most newly developing technologies have a low implementation level in Islamic banking operations globally, with the exception of mobile banking, which already has a vast global infrastructure. The results may serve as a warning to Islamic banks to invest more capital and energy in the developing fields of financial technologies in order to keep abreast of their conventional banking counterparts.

Keywords: Islamic banking; digitalization; digital transformation; digital awareness; Fintech; banking technologies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C6 F3 G O3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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