Vice President Ma’ruf Amin has called on all economic and Islamic finance players to expedite growth of the Islamic financial technology industry in Indonesia.
“The growth of sharia fintech needs to be pushed through reinforcement of the economic and sharia finance ecosystem,” Amin said on a video broadcast on the Indonesian Vice President’s official YouTube account on Monday.
Amin cited data from the Financial Services Authority that indicated the number of sharia fintech service providers in Indonesia as of October 2021 to reach only seven, with assets totaling some Rp74 billion.
“This figure is still very far from conventional fintech, which dominates with a total of 97 units and total assets of Rp4.2 trillion,” he pointed out.
The large Muslim population in Indonesia could serve as an opportunity to improve the sharia fintech industry, including providing sharia social fund distribution services, he reminded. Amin also deemed the efforts to boost the number of sharia fintech services as one of the means to avoid illegal financial services that harm the public.
“The Investment Alert Task Force has banned as many as 3,631 illegal online loan lenders. This needs our collective attention, as it will degrade public trust in legal fintech,” he elaborated. The vice president requested all financial technology industry players to increase innovation in the development of business models and financial technology solutions. Fintech services must be inclusive and provide services that could proffer a sense of comfort and safety to the people in conducting economic activities in the fintech industry, he stated.
“Fintech must be inclusive, not exclusive. Reach the wider community’s financial ecosystem, including those that are still economically disadvantaged.— Antara
