Saudi’s ICD, Tunisian Firm Join To Develop Blockchain FinTech Solutions

Saudi Arabia’s Islamic Corporation for Private Sector Development (ICD), an Islamic Development Bank Group’s (IsDB) private sector arm, has signed an investment agreement with the company I-FinTech Solutions (IFTS) in Tunisia to collaborate in the development and implementation of FinTech solutions in Islamic banks worldwide.

The ICD and IFTS partnership involves a pipeline of Fintech products to be developed and implemented mainly to solve liquidity management problems.

The first product in the pipeline is a real – time transaction platform that facilitates the transaction of real commodities (serving as a commodity market) and resolves interbank issues between conventional and Islamic banks in accordance with Sharia law. The use of blockchain in this (ALM) product reduces both (i) the total execution time and (ii) the financial and commercial transaction costs. It also deals with the problems and challenges of transparency and traceability of financial transactions.

Ayman Sejiny, CEO of ICD, commented “IT will always play an important role for the financial system. We will consistently pursue our strategy of service orientation and help our partners with innovative Sharia compliant FinTech solutions.”

Mohamed Anouar Gadhoum, CEO-Founder of IFTS, added “we are keen to work with ICD in the Fintech industry to promote the << i-Trade Platform >> and help the banking sector through providing innovative solution to operate and supply better services for the final user and clients”.

ICD

As a member of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group, the ICD supports economic development and promotes the development of the private sector in its member countries by providing financial facilities and/or investments in accordance with Shariah law. ICD also provides government and private organizations with advice to encourage the creation, expansion and modernization of private enterprises.

IFTS

I-FinTech Solutions is an advisory firm based in Tunisia which offers alternative financial solutions. IFTS ‘ main objective is to empower and support the development and growth of the Islamic finance industry (mainly in Africa) by supporting financial institutions (conventional and Islamic) in setting up innovative technology – based financing instruments.

IFTS provides a variety of services, namely (i) consultancy and advisory services in Islamic finance and financial technology and (ii) executive training in the aforementioned sectors in collaboration with its sister company IIFTI (IFTI).