ABSTRACT
Fintech is disruptive due to two economic drivers: first, through zero marginal costs, allowing the ability to scale services to include the poor; and second, and the law of increasing returns, which results in monopolies as the first supplier receives the majority of income. Fintech may contribute to solutions by reinventing the business models. There are various players in the fintech universe: the old established incumbent banks, the completely fresh start-ups and the mega tech companies. The fintech regulatory framework in many countries is still new or under considerable development and may otherwise conflict with existing securities regulation. Islamic finance has an opportunity to expand by being at the cutting edge of such developments. Regulators are open to discussions about new ways of working; Islamic finance participants should grasp this opportunity. Most Muslim economists propose using profit/loss sharing as the favoured mode of finance and being as modest as possible even with the permissible debt modes.
