Challenges for the Islamic Finance and banking in post COVID era and the role of Fintech

Novel Corona Virus (COVID-19) pandemic has created a huge disruption in the finance world and it poses another challenge to Islamic finance after the global financial crisis to provide an alternative and sustainable finance. Islamic finance has a large market share in industries such as, microfinance, small and medium enterprises, and retail lending. They are the worst hit during the ongoing pandemic. The magnitude of the ongoing financial crisis is expected to be different from the global financial crisis of 2008; therefore, it poses different challenges for Islamic finance and banking. It requires a different set of financial services, strategies, and technologies to overcome this challenge. Against such a backdrop, the present study aims to analyze the challenges posed by COVID19 to the Islamic finance and how disruptive technological innovation called Fintech can be utilized to address those challenges. The study also presents a critical analysis of the Islamic finance and the role of Islamic finance in creating a more sustainable financial system post COVID.