The objectıve of the seminar was to review the developments in the revolutionary phenomena of Fintech and Regtech (which are considered by some as ingredients of the Fourth Industrial Revolution) and create an awareness of these developments for National Development Finance Institutions (NDFIs).

Fintech covers Money transfers, Payments, Financial Planning, Investments, Borrowing, Lending, Microfinance, Insurance, Cryptocurrencies as well as charity. Blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud technology are among the outstanding technologies that facilitate fintech applications.

The seminar began by a recitation from the Holy Quran.

H.E. Dr. Mansur Muhtar, Vice President (Operations) on behalf of the Islamic Development Bank made his opening remarks. Dr. Mansur thanked ADFIMI, Bank Zitouna and Zitouna Tamkeen for organizing this very important topical seminar. He added that Islamic Development Bank has the mandate to alleviate poverty and assist its member countries in achieving their goals for socio-economic development in a sustainable manner. Fintech offers the possibilities for this financial inclusion through cheaper, efficient and accessible financial services. Fintech reduces the time and costs involved in financial transactions, Regtech minimizes the time and operational costs of implementing, monitoring and meeting both compliance and regulatory standards. He concluded his remarks by thanking the participants as well as the parties who joined hands in making this strategic seminar a reality.

Mr. Metin Özdemir, Chairman of ADFIMI and CEO of Ziraat Participation Bank on behalf of ADFIMI made his opening remarks. After briefly describing ADFIMI and its activities, he emphasized on the importance of Fintech with special reference to Development Finance. He said that this seminar would not only help NDFIs to get acquainted with present global practices but also help them understand the role of Fintech and Regtech in compliance issues. He concluded his remarks by thanking the speakers and IDB and Government of Tunisia for providing the meeting hall and facilities for this event.

After Mr. Metin Özdemir, Mr. Nabil El Madani, Deputy CEO of Bank Zitouna, made his welcoming remarks on behalf of Bank Zitouna as the CEO could not be present at the event.

First speaker of the seminar was Prof. Dr. Dirk Zetzsche, Professor at University of Luxemburg who discussed “Regtech”. In his presentation he discussed Financial Inclusion which ensuring access to broad range of financial services, availability of financial services that meet the specific needs of users without discrimination and the role of Fintech and Regtech for Development of Microfinance.

The second speaker was Mr. Umar Munshi, CEO of EthisVentures who discussed “Adopting Fintech for Islamic Finance”. In his presentation, he highlighted the importance of Fintech in Islamic Finance and how Fintech can set new solutions to serve large financing gaps.

The third speaker was Datuk Mohd. Radzif bin Mohd. Yunus, Chairman of Ethis Ventures who discussed “Fintech and Financial Inclusion”. After giving an overview of Crowd Funding Platforms and Distributed Ledger Technology, Datuk Radzif highlighted some of the main challenges of financial exclusion in the Muslim world and how Islamic FinTech may help address this problem. He also addressed Shariah compliance issues and regulation of Islamic FinTech.

The final speaker was Mr. Jamel Bouzaine, Chief of Support and Digital Transformation Operations at Banque Zitouna, Tunisia who gave his presentation on “Fintech in Tunisia”.

The whole event can be viewed on a video recording available at :

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