İslami Finans İçin Yeni Bir Kaynak: İslami Fintekler

Finansal teknolojiler (kısaca fintech), basitçe dijital teknolojilerin finansal servislerde kullanılması olarak isimlendirilebilir. Özellikle 2008 krizinden sonra fintekler ivme kazanmıştır. Fintekler, finans endüstrisi için hem yıkıcı hem de destekleyici durumdadır. Sektör bu buluşlardan faydalansa bile birçok uygulama sektör için oyun değiştirici olmaktadır. Yarış kriptoparalar (özellikle bitcoin) ile başlasa da fintekler günümüze gelinceye kadar 50 alt branşa ayrılmıştır. Bunların hemen hepsi yenilikçi, yüksek teknoloji kullanan ve yarışmacı uygulamalardır. Konvansiyonel bankalar (KB) ve finansal aracılar -finteklere nazaran- ne kadar büyük olsa da fintekler yeni ve KB’ler için değersiz müşterileri hedeflemektedir. Birçok start-up varlıklarını büyütmek için bu yolu seçmektedir. Bunun yanında, büyük teknoloji firmaları bankaları aradan çıkararak kendi ödeme sistemini ve finansal düzenini kurmuştur. Bunlara ise Bigtech denilmektedir. Diğer yandan fintek girişimlerinin yaklaşık %50’si ise bankalarla iş birliği halindedir. Uygulamalarının optimize edilmesi ve zenginleştirilmesi için bankalara ihtiyaç duymaktadır. Özellikle mobil ödeme sistemlerinde bankalar ana alıcı konumundadır. Bu firmaların buluşları müşteriyi ve banka uygulamalarını hedeflemektedir. Yakın zamanda bazı fintekler – kitlesel fonlama, P2P borçlanma, lendtech gibi – sosyal gelişim ve dayanışmayı öncüllemektedir. Bu finteklerin sayısı ve hacmi hızla artmaktadır. Yeni uygulamaların merkezi konvansiyonel bankaların önem vermediği sosyal projelere ve imeceye kaymış durumdadır. Özellikle Covid-19 pandemisinden sonra bu projeler fintek ekosisteminde öne çıkmaya başlamıştır. İslami finans için, kapitalist anlayışın aksine, niyet ve sosyal fayda ana amaçlardır. İslami fintekler insanlığa hizmet edebilir ve yine kar da sağlayabilir. Bu açıdan bakıldığında bahsedilen gruptaki fintekler İslami vicdana hizmet edebilecektir. “İslami fintek” kavramı Şer’i prensiplere göre yapılandırılan ve çalışan fintekleri ifade etmektedir. Bazı fintekler İslami anlayışın uzak durduğu faiz (riba), belirsizlik (gharar) ve şans/kumar (maysir) bileşenlerinden ayrı olarak kurgulanmaya müsaittir. İslami finans genelde küresel finansal standartlar ve ürünlerle şekillenmektedir. Hemen tüm İslami bankacılık ürünleri konvansiyonel bankacılıktan türetilmiştir. İslami bankalar bu şartlar altında konvansiyonel bankalarla rekabet etmeye çalışmaktadır. Fakat konvansiyonel bankaların sınırları olmadığından ve kar etmek hırsıyla çalıştığından İslami bankaların bu kurumlarla yarışması zor olmaktadır. Fintek girişimlerinin ise fiziksel şubelere, merkezlere ve görünürlüğe ihtiyacı yoktur. Bunlar internet ortamında bulunan, banka müşteri olmayan kişilere ulaşabilme imkânı olan ve işlem maliyetlerini en düşük seviyede tutma opsiyonuna sahip kurumlardır. Belirtilen avantajlarıyla İslami fintekler, İslami finans için yeni bir kaynak ve konvansiyonel bankacılığın kısıtlarından çıkış yolu olabilecektir. Dünya çapında 150’den fazla İslami fintek kuruluşu bulunmaktadır. Hemen yarısı İslam ülkelerinde, diğerleri ise daha çok gelişmiş ülkelerde yer almaktadır. İslami fintekler ABD, Birleşik Krallık ve Avrupa’da daha profesyonel şekilde çalışmaktadır. Görünen o ki yarışmacı ortam onları ekosistem içerisinde daha iyi oyuncular haline getirmektedir. İslami finteklerin bazı fırsatları olduğu kadar karşılaştığı zorluklar da bulunmaktadır. Bu zorluklar Şer’i uyumlu olma zorunluluğundan kaynaklandığı gibi evrensel sebepler de olabilir. Hemen her start-up (İslami olmayanlar da dahil olmak üzere) benzer zorluklarla karşı karşıyadır. Diğer yandan İslami finteklerin “İslami” olmasından dolayı da bazı avantajları bulunmaktadır. Müslüman nüfusun bu kurumları daha kolay kabullenmeleri, bankacılık sistemine dahil olmayan nüfusun ağırlıklı olarak İslam ülkelerinde yaşaması ve İslami öğretinin diğerkâmlığı ön planda tutması İslami finteklerin avantajları arasında sayılabilir. Bu makalede İslami fintek düzlemi değerlendirilmiştir. Finteklerin İslami finansa katkıları ile İslami finteklerin karşılaştığı zorluklar ve fırsatlar ele alınmıştır. Son bölümde ise İslami finteklerin büyümesi ve gelişmesi için bazı önerilere yer verilmiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

Finans, İslami Finans, Fintek, İslami Fintekler, Teknoloji

New Resources for Islamic Finance: Islamic Fintech

Financial Technologies (fintech) is the application of digital technology in financial services. It has been accelerated after the 20008 crisis. Fintech initiatives could be both disruptive and supportive for the finance industry. Even the sector has benefited from these innovations, most of the applications could change the game. The race started with cryptocurrencies (especially bitcoin) but in the meantime, fintech are diversified into more than 50 sub-branches. Almost all of them are innovative, applying high tech and competitive. Although the conventional banks (CBs) and financial intermediaries are giants (with respect to fintech start-ups) fintech are targeted new and worthless customers. Most of the start-ups find their path for growing their assets within this concept. Besides giant tech companies are formed their payment and financial systems and named Bigtech. On the other hand, almost %50 of fintech initiatives are collaborating with banks. Their innovations are based on optimizing and enriching the bank mechanism including mobile payment systems. These firms need customers to develop their findings and banks to apply their applications. In recent years, some fintech sub-branches such as crowdfunding, P2P lending, lendtech, etc. are based on social developments. The number and volume of these fintech are growing rapidly. The objection of new initiatives are changing into social projects and collaboration which are not subjected by CBs. Especially after the Covid-19 pandemic, these start-ups are being hyped projects in fintech ecosystem. In Islamic finance, unlike the capitalist mentality, intention and social benefit are primary goals. Islamic fintech could serve humanity and be even profitable. In this aspect, this group of fintech could serve as Islamic consciousness. The term “Islamic fintech” represents the fintech that designs and works according to Shariah principles. Some sub-branches of fintech are fit in the Islamic perspective that avoids interest (riba), uncertainty (gharar), and chance/gambling (maysir). Islamic finance -in general- shape by global financial standards and products. Almost all Islamic banking products are derived from conventional banks. So, they must compete and make a profit like CBs. Since CBs have no limitations and hunger for profit, Islamic banks (IBs) could not be able to keep up with them. Islamic fintech could serve as an intermediary for IBs without restrictions. Fintech initiatives do not need physical branches, centers, and appearance. They settled on the internet, could reach the unbanked population, and have the lowest spread for transactions. With these advantages, Islamic fintech could be the new resource for Islamic finance. There is more than 150 Islamic fintech around the world. Almost half of them are constructed in Islamic countries and others are in developed ones. Islamic fintech in the USA, UK, and Europe are much more professional. It seems that competition makes them better players in the same ecosystem. Islamic fintech has some opportunities and challenges. These challenges are based on the Shariah-compliance perspective and global issues. Almost every fintech start-ups (including non-Islamic ones) are faced the same challenges. On the other hand, Islamic fintech has opportunities because of being “Islamic”. The Muslim population is ready to accept these firms, the unbanked population is concentrated in Muslim countries, and the Islamic tenet supports social generosity could be some advantages for them. In this article Islamic fintech landscape has been evaluated. The benefits of fintech in Islamic finance are recognized and challenges and opportunities for Islamic fintech are studied. In the end, recommendations are listed and explained for the emerging of Islamic fintech.

Keywords:

Finance, Islamic Finance, Islamic Fintech, Fintech, Technology,

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