Bullish about Malaysia’s Islamic fintech
Malaysia is fast becoming the global hub for Islamic fintech. Utilising its burgeoning Islamic financial sector and governmental support to expand the digitalisation of the economy, an ecosystem is being carved out for fintech start-ups to flourish.
Indicative of Malaysia’s rising appeal is British start-up IslamicMarkets, a market intelligence platform, which opened an office in the capital Kuala Lumpur earlier this year. The move was driven by the country’s strategic positioning in Southeast Asia’s Islamic finance corridor, which runs from Kuala Lumpur through Singapore to Jakarta, Indonesia, with enough sectoral players and related services to tap into the demand for Shariah-compliant finance.
Out of the 138 Islamic fintech start-ups globally, 41% are in Asia, with 26 in Malaysia, outpacing the UK’s 19 providers, the UAE’s 16, Indonesia’s 12 and the USA’s ten providers, according to a report on the sector published by the Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC).
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