Report by Malaysia International Islamic Financial Centre

Social Media Opportunity for Islamic Finance

Today, most financial institutions recognise that the biggest question about social media is how it can best be applied in their business. Increasingly, this applies not just to retail banking, but investments as well. In a fast growing market such as Islamic finance, the information gained from direct interaction on social media is invaluable, as it would enable Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) to gauge market preferences for Shariah-compliant products and services.

Today, Islamic finance is an industry with around USD2tln in assets; and growth has been supported mainly by demographic factors, rising incomes and improving regulatory clarity. In countries with established Islamic finance entities in customer facing segments such as retail banking and takaful, the continued growth of Islamic finance will depend in part on product innovation and customer satisfaction. In this regard, social media is an important channel that IFIs must leverage on to support branding efforts, to better manage customer feedback and to create an alternative avenue for transactions.

The potential for improving Islamic finance outreach via social media is staggering, given the rapid and continuous growth in users. It took just one year for Facebook to reach 50 million users; by comparison, it took 13 years for commercial television reach 50 million households. To leverage on this strong growth, IFIs need to strategise on social media uses and challenges now, in order to reap the benefits in the next few years.

Download Report:  Social Media Opportunity for Islamic Finance