Istanbul, Republic of Türkiye
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

A panel titled ‘’Innovations in Islamic Social Finance: Opportunities for Türkiye’’ was jointly organized by Participation Banks Association of Türkiye (TKBB), Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) through its Center of Excellence in Kuala Lumpur (KLCoE), UNDP in Malaysia, Singapore & Brunei Darussalam on 25 November 2022 in Istanbul, Türkiye.

The panel held at the 8th World Halal Summit Istanbul (WHS) under the Auspices of the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye with the theme of “For a Sustainable Trade: Explore All the Aspects of the Halal Industry’’ during 24-27 November 2022 in association with the Standards and Metrology Institute for Islamic Countries (SMIIC).

The session, moderated by Mrs. Fatma Çınar, Advisor at TKBB started with the opening remarks made by keynote speakers Mr. Osman Çelik, Chairman of Participation Banks Association of Türkiye and General Manager of Vakıf Katılım Participation Bank, Mr. Mohamed Abida, Head of Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Centre of Excellence in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia and Ms. Manon Bernier, Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP Country Office for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam.

The Chairman of the TKBB, Mr. Osman Çelik, stated: “I would like to thank the IsDB Centre of Excellence Kuala Lumpur and UNDP Malaysia for contributing to the report and their collaboration for organizing this event. In an era where the institutionalization of social finance has turned into a need rather than a preference, the report includes the topics of Digital Sukuk, Value-Based Intermediation, Islamic Microfinance, Fintech and Islamic Social Finance. Moreover, I believe it will also benefit social finance studies in our country since strategic targets have been set for structuring Islamic Social Finance institutions in our country in the "Participation Finance Strategy Document" published by the Finance Office of the Presidency on 5th October 2022.’’ He added: “We highly value and appreciate the outcomes of the panel and I believe that both report and discussion on Islamic Social finance opportunities for Türkiye will play a significant role in the development of institutionalization of Islamic social finance both in Türkiye and world.” In his speech, which also touched upon the social finance practices in Türkiye, he emphasized that the Foundation of Vakıf Katılım Participation Bank is a social finance practice in itself.

On this occasion, Mr. Mohamed Abida, Head of IsDB Kuala Lumpur Center of Excellence in Malaysia stated: “ I hope this event will be an opportunity to benefit from these successful experiences and to study possible cooperation between the relevant stakeholders from Malaysia and Türkiye in order to adapt these solutions to the Turkish environment. Our ultimate objective is to enhance the role of Islamic Social Finance in creating new economic opportunities leading to job creation, supporting MSMEs, promoting financial inclusion, and contributing to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals”

Ms. Manon Bernier, Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP Country Office for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam said, ''We are scaling up efforts to engage countries on innovative solutions to leverage the power of Islamic finance, as a vital complement to the overall mobilization of financing for the SDGs.  The alignment of the SDG financing agenda and Islamic finance presents a clear potential to attract capital from across the global financial system and enable the shift from “billions to trillions” needed to achieve the SDGs.

After the keynote speeches, Prof. Dato’ Dr. Mustafa Mohd Hanefah from Faculty of Economics and Muamalat in Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) and Mrs. Ratna Sha'erah Binti Kamaludin, Executive Director in Association of Islamic Banking and Financial Institutions (AIBIM) delivered their presentations on the outcomes of the studies undertaken by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), through its Center of Excellence in Kuala Lumpur (KLCoE) in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) on Innovations in Islamic Finance; Case Studies from Malaysia & Indonesia.

The session ended with a discussion of the development of the Islamic Social Finance ecosystem and projects for Türkiye and with a Q&A.

During the session, the content of the report titled ‘’Innovations in Islamic Finance; Case Studies from Malaysia & Indonesia’’ has been covered and opportunities for Islamic Finance in Türkiye have been evaluated. This report explores benefitting the successful experience of the case studies namely digital sukuk, Value-based intermediation (VBI) and Innovative Fintech solutions in Islamic Social Finance for the benefit of IsDB member countries in the region.

In addition, the panel finalized the highlighting the expected outcome for the panel as building a roadmap in implementing the identified solutions namely VBI, Digital Sukuk, and Fintech Solutions for Türkiye & the region, and to have a Joint Action Plan for implementing the roadmap.

Participation Banks Association of Türkiye (TKBB)

Türkiye Katılım Bankaları Birliği (Participation Banks Association of Türkiye) is a professional public institution established in 2001 with a mandate to represent the participation banking sector both nationally and internationally, support the development of participation banking in the country, contribute to the efforts of raising the sector's market share, develop professional principles and standards, and protect the rights and interests of participation banks. As of today, TKBB represents the participation banking (Islamic banking) sector in Türkiye with 6 participation banks member. TKBB works with the government, regulators, and other stakeholders to increase public awareness and understanding of the contribution the sector makes to the Turkish economy. The TKBB has a range of working committees to support member banks’ priority issues and conducts extensive training programs.

For more information, please contact:

Ms. Dilek Sülün, Assistant Specialist, Participation Banks Association of Türkiye (TKBB), Office: +90 216 636 95 29