The need for new technology-first players in Islamic finance

This article is produced and sponsored by DDCAP Group. It was first published in the Global Islamic Fintech Report 2021 produced by DinarStandard and Elipses. The report can be downloaded from here. 

As a consequence of the Covid-19 global pandemic Islamic financial markets participants, like their global counterparts, have rapidly elevated their awareness of the advantages of existing and evolving financial technology. Phase one of the pandemic, not surprisingly, brought an immediate focus to ensuring access to technology that brought significant efficiencies to daily operating procedures. As market participants grappled with the sudden imposition of remote working practices, and the unwelcome necessity of rotating employees between remote and physical offices, being able to place full reliance on sustained, automated processes that assured business continuity was of paramount importance. DDCAP Group’s own ETHOS AFP™ automated trading and post trade services platform has been widely available to the marketplace for over a decade and was a pathfinder in delivering automated services, with various straight-through processing capabilities, to Islamic market participants. Any lingering reticence on the part of institutions in adopting full automation has seemingly been swiftly addressed and resolved during the past 12 months.