ABSTRACT
Islamic finance offers an alternative financial system that prohibits the use of interest and other economic exploitations and intends to establish a just and fair economic system. The industry has seen some extraordinary growth, primarily in systemically important Islamic finance countries in the Middle East, North Africa, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Central Asia. Fintech has evolved fast as a massive change-maker in the financial sector globally, with a focus to deregulate/personalize financial transactions at a lower cost for the customers and stable income for the financial institutions. While COVID-19 has pushed the Fintech agenda quickly forward, the use of Fintech has received momentum since the introduction of mobile payments. Islamic as well as traditional financial institutions are making an increasing amount of investment to offer services that are embedded into mobile applications. While Fintech adoption is a major barrier in countries with larger share of Islamic finance users, there are other challenges, and opportunities, awaiting Islamic financial institutions. This chapter provides a brief introduction to principles of Islamic finance and Fintech, and offers a description of potential benefits and drawbacks that influence Fintech engagement among Islamic financial institutions. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lockdown have created a mammoth economic cost to the economies around the globe. The policy response to the crisis must be fast, secure, and sustainable. It has also created astonishing solidarity among the people with every element of society irrespective of race, caste, creed, or religion working together to save humanity. To overcome the financial and economic disruption caused by the pandemic, it needs immediate attention from the economists and policymakers. Islamic finance has many financial instruments for helping the poor by alleviating poverty, distributing income fairly, and improving social welfare, they comprise, Zakat, Sadaqat, Awqaf, etc. Zakat is the compulsory contribution from the Muslims to the poor and needy every year. Zakat is the compulsory donation from the rich and able Muslims which must be given to the poor and needy within a year. This immediate benefit of Zakat is well suited to tackle an economic crisis such as the one caused by COVID-19. Islamic finance in combination with the Fintech-based technologies like AI, Blockchain, machine learning, and natural language processing can work wonders in achieving Islamic finance objectives. The present study proposes an AI-based Islamic Fintech model to helping the needy and poor affected due to COVID-19. The model uses AI and NLP-based Fintech model for collection and dissemination of Zakat money to needy, poor, COVID-affected, and vulnerable sections of the society. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.
ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to provide a comprehensive overview of the ongoing technological disruption in the finance world. There is no denying that technology has already brought disruption of unprecedented scale and type in terms of bringing innovative solutions like never seen before in the financial sector. The disruptive innovation like P2P lending, Crowdfunding, Cryptocurrency, Regtech, Insurtech mobile payment, etc. has changed the way traditional financial institutions used to operate. Against such a backdrop, this chapter attempts to provide an overview of this disruption. The chapter also explores how these innovations have brought changes in the working cultures among financial institutions. The study suggests, based on the analysis of facts and figures that the disruptive technology has brought positive changes in the society in terms of delivering valuable stimulus and financial aid to the vulnerable and affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings of the study further suggest that the Fintech disruption has been a blessing in disguise for the overall growth and development of the finance community. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.
ABSTRACT
The study tries to provide visualization of the Fintech ecosystem in the MENA region. The global financial market is undergoing unprecedented change with the COVID-19 pandemic and the evolution of disruptive technology called Fintech. Fintech has completely changed the landscape of the financial sphere across the globe. One of the key outcomes of the MENA region is establishing a friendly, permissible, and governing atmosphere for Fintech startups and matured development proposals through progress-thinking programs. An essential part of this approach is establishing a facilitating environment adept of inviting and encouraging foreign firms contained by their corresponding countries. The study concludes that the information transfer likely to result from this will push the advancement of a lively, regional Fintech ecosystem. Most noticeably, counties like Bahrain and the UAE are initially on in their attempts to build into the Fintech hub in the area. Most of the countries in the MENA region are adopting and considering the outcome of Fintech and putting their efforts to establish a sustainable Fintech ecosystem. The study is expected to help the financial institutions, investors, and regulators in formulating the right strategy in embracing this disruption to get the maximum benefit out of it. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.
ABSTRACT
The new age Fintech-driven innovative financial services started with the fourth industrial revolution and COVID-19 has stimulated supreme innovation in the global financial services industry. It is the young and millennial population driving these innovations and startups are responding, as there are more than 15, 000 startups and global Fintech-based transaction crossed $6.308 Billion by the year 2020. Islamic finance industry has experienced an unprecedented growth, partly due to incremental investment in Fintech-based financial intermediation. Two most commonly cited high growth areas for Islamic finance lie within blockchain and crowdfunding. This study provides an advanced overview of the Islamic Fintech, blockchain and crowdfunding;their current landscape;and path forward. We discuss opportunities for Islamic financial institutions and a clear roadmap to capitalize on those opportunities. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.
ABSTRACT
The present study aims to examine the role of Islamic financial system in the recovery of post-COVID-19 pandemic and possible role to be played by the disruptive innovation called Islamic Fintech. The study takes a discourse analysis route to examine the disruptions created by the pandemic on the overall global Islamic economy. Islamic financial system has long established its credentials as the most resilient and sustainable financial system during the global financial crisis of 2008 and the current pandemic provides another opportunity to reestablish its position in the financial sphere and emerge as the main contender to the conventional financial system. The disruptions created by the pandemic have spared no one and created havoc in every sector of the global economy. Islamic financial system has certain ethical and social financial services such as Zakat, Qardh-Al-Hasan, Awaqaf, sadaqa, and Islamic microfinance with wide-ranging social reach aimed at the poor and vulnerable sections of the society. The study provides an overview of the Fintech-based Islamic financial services that can be used to provide efficient, reliable, cost-effective, and innovative financial services to its customers during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings of the study are expected to help the Islamic financial institutions, governments, regulators, and policymakers efficient use of Fintech in solving the problems created by the pandemic. The study is also expected to contribute to creating a more sustainable and resilient alternative to the conventional financial system. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.
ABSTRACT
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the financial system, and it now becomes a new challenge to Islamic banking. This pandemic demands the use of a distinct set of financial services, strategies, and technologies among which is the Islamic Fintech. The main objective of this study is to explore the use of Islamic Fintech in the Islamic banking sector and its impact on the stakeholders in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. This study shows that Islamic Fintech has performed a critical role in assisting Islamic banks and other Islamic financial institutions to continue operating effectively during this difficult time. Although the impact of the pandemic has been very harsh on the users of Fintech, the financial institutions have benefited due to the wider acceptance rate of the Fintech-based financial services. The study also shows that during the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone has been impacted, including governments, customers, Fintech developers, Fintech startups, and Islamic financial institutions. However, Islamic Fintech has emerged as a critical tool for mitigating the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy and society during and after this difficult time. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.
ABSTRACT
Using a bivariate dynamic conditional correlation (DCC) generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) model, this study compares the safe-haven properties of various assets against the major Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) stock indexes during two periods of financial turmoil, the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC). Sovereign bonds offered the highest hedging benefits under both crises. The traditional safe assets, gold and silver, which were reasonably productive under the GFC, have been less so during the pandemic. The Japanese yen emerged as a very safe choice for investors holding GCC stock indexes. Both sector indexes and stock indexes failed to safeguard investors most of the time during each crisis.
ABSTRACT
Purpose - While the world is yet to fully recuperate from the social and economic repercussions of COVID-19, the Russia-Ukraine conflict poses another major threat causing a humanitarian crisis and economic shock. Although the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its pledge to "leave no one behind" is a universal commitment to protect the livelihoods of vulnerable groups, the Russia-Ukraine ongoing conflict is causing immense suffering and a gloomy future for the 2030 Agenda. The purpose of this study is to provide a holistic understanding of the ramifications of the Russia-Ukraine war in SDGs progress around the world. Further, the authors shed light on how stakeholders can help engage in support of SDGs in such a challenging time. Design/methodology/approach - This study is qualitative in nature and relies on secondary sources. The motive behind this study is to allow social and economic policy researchers and practitioners to learn from the Russia-Ukraine dispute. The authors conduct a preliminary factual analysis to determine patterns of how the conflict affects the SDGs Agenda. On this basis, the authors propose some recommendations. Findings - While it is still early to measure the full impact of the war on crises worldwide, it is clear that the repercussions will be multi-dimensional. The authors argue that the conflict in Ukraine is severely threatening the achievement of the SDGs. As such, the authors identify patterns of this crisis that have halted progress on SDGs worldwide. Of all SDGs, the authors argue that SDG16 (i.e. peace and justice) is an absolute pre-requisite to sustaining other goals. Further, refugees should be economically empowered, resilient and sustainable food systems need to be put in place and renewable energy transition is required. Research limitations/implications - This study serves as a springboard for future research by identifying patterns of war crises that have halted progress in achieving sustainable development worldwide. Empirical evidence needs to be conducted on the impact of this ongoing conflict on sustainable development and the 2030 Agenda. Practical implications - This study could provide guidance to leaders and stakeholders across the globe on patterns for the impact of the Ukraine Russia conflict on undermining global sustainable development while highlighting the need for major additional efforts to achieve the relevant SDGs. Originality/value - To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to analyse the threats the Russia-Ukraine dispute presents to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for SDGs.
ABSTRACT
The rapid spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) significantly destabilized the global financial and economic conditions, prompting investors to seek safer investments for their portfolios. This study examines the contagion effect and dynamic relationship between DJI, DJIM, gold, silver, oil, bitcoin, ethereum and cryptocurrency index using data obtained before (18 June 2019–29 January 2020), during the first phase (30 January – 11 September 2020) and after the first phase of COVID-19 pandemic (12th September 2020 - 3rd January 2022). We employed three main methodologies: MGARCH-DCC, MODWT and Wavelet Coherence analysis, to investigate the safe haven property of major investable assets during the pandemic. The findings revealed that gold offers a safe trading opportunity due to its lower volatility and correlation across the different stock market investment horizons (with a few exceptions), contrary to other assets, which exhibits high volatility and correlation. The phase pattern demonstrated the existence of a dynamic asymmetric relationship between the studied investable assets and stock market returns. Furthermore, the study also found that the dynamic lead-lag relationship of investable assets with the stock market returns varies depending on the investment horizons before and during the pandemic. © 2023 Elsevier Inc.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: Zakat (Islamic almsgiving) plays a considerable role in dealing with the socioeconomic issues in times of COVID-19 pandemic, and such roles have been widely discussed in virtual events. This paper aims to discover knowledge of the current global zakat administration from virtual events of zakat (e.g. webinars) on YouTube and Zoom via text mining approach. Design/methodology/approach: The authors purposefully sampled 12 experts from four different virtual zakat events on YouTube and Zoom. The automated text transcription software is used to pull the information from the sampled videos into text documents. A qualitative analysis is operated using text mining approach via machine learning tool (i.e. Orange Data Mining). Four research questions are developed under the Word Cloud visualisation, hierarchal clustering, topic modelling and graph and network theory. Findings: The machine learning identifies the most important words, the relationship between the experts and their top words and discovers hidden themes from the sample. This finding is practically substantial for zakat stakeholders to understand the current issues of global zakat administration and to learn the applicable lessons from the current issues of zakat management worldwide. Research limitations/implications: This study does not establish a positivist generalisation from the findings because of the nature and objective of the study. Practical implications: A policy implication is drawn pertaining to the legislation of zakat as an Islamic financial policy instrument for combating poverty in Muslim society. Social implications: This work supports the notion of "socioeconomic zakat”, implying that zakat as a religious obligation is important in shaping the social and economic processes of a Muslim community. Originality/values: This work marks the novelty in making sense of the unstructured data from virtual events on YouTube and Zoom in the Islamic social finance research. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.
ABSTRACT
This paper examines whether the Covid-19 pandemic has had a homogeneous or heterogeneous effect on stock returns in India. We consider panel data by using 1,318 companies that are listed on the National Stock Exchange of India. We find that the daily growth rate in Covid-19 cases and Covid-19 deaths are negatively associated with stock returns. Further, we observe that the average stock returns during Lockdown 2 are positive and highly significant, while the returns during Lockdowns 3 and 4 are negative. Moreover, our results show that the chemical, technology, and food and beverage industries earn higher returns. In contrast, the banking and finance, automotive, services, and cement and construction industries yield lower returns for the overall period. Interestingly, all industry groupings in this study earn a positive return during the lockdown period. In particular, the chemical, technology, automotive, metals and mining, and food and beverage industries provide higher returns during the lockdown period. Finally, this study supports the claim that the Covid-19 pandemic has had a heterogeneous effect in the Indian stock markets. © 2022, Academy of Economics and Finance.
ABSTRACT
We present the publication trends in the literature on venture capital financing during crises and highlight the top publishing source with the most contributing authors in their affiliated countries using bibliometric and content analysis of 115 documents retrieved from the Scopus database. This study provides insight into the theme with the help of co-occurrence, co-citation, and bibliographic coupling analysis. The authors' keyword co-occurrence analysis shows the spatial links among the articles based on venture capital during the financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. The top productive and influential source is the journal Venture Capital, followed by Small Business Economics and the Journal of Business Venturing. The Journal of Business Venturing is the top journal in terms of citations per document. The United States is the most contributing affiliated country having strong links with several nations. The publications on crisis-led venture capital increased significantly after the financial crisis of 2008.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: While the world is yet to fully recuperate from the social and economic repercussions of COVID-19, the Russia–Ukraine conflict poses another major threat causing a humanitarian crisis and economic shock. Although the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its pledge to “leave no one behind” is a universal commitment to protect the livelihoods of vulnerable groups, the Russia–Ukraine ongoing conflict is causing immense suffering and a gloomy future for the 2030 Agenda. The purpose of this study is to provide a holistic understanding of the ramifications of the Russia–Ukraine war in SDGs progress around the world. Further, the authors shed light on how stakeholders can help engage in support of SDGs in such a challenging time. Design/methodology/approach: This study is qualitative in nature and relies on secondary sources. The motive behind this study is to allow social and economic policy researchers and practitioners to learn from the Russia–Ukraine dispute. The authors conduct a preliminary factual analysis to determine patterns of how the conflict affects the SDGs Agenda. On this basis, the authors propose some recommendations. Findings: While it is still early to measure the full impact of the war on crises worldwide, it is clear that the repercussions will be multi-dimensional. The authors argue that the conflict in Ukraine is severely threatening the achievement of the SDGs. As such, the authors identify patterns of this crisis that have halted progress on SDGs worldwide. Of all SDGs, the authors argue that SDG16 (i.e. peace and justice) is an absolute pre-requisite to sustaining other goals. Further, refugees should be economically empowered, resilient and sustainable food systems need to be put in place and renewable energy transition is required. Research limitations/implications: This study serves as a springboard for future research by identifying patterns of war crises that have halted progress in achieving sustainable development worldwide. Empirical evidence needs to be conducted on the impact of this ongoing conflict on sustainable development and the 2030 Agenda. Practical implications: This study could provide guidance to leaders and stakeholders across the globe on patterns for the impact of the Ukraine–Russia conflict on undermining global sustainable development while highlighting the need for major additional efforts to achieve the relevant SDGs. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to analyse the threats the Russia–Ukraine dispute presents to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for SDGs. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.
ABSTRACT
Under rational asset pricing theory, and in efficient, frictionless market, risk should be priced contemporaneously and, thus, the market meltdown during the COVID-19 pandemic must have been a contingent valuation of newly created risk. In contrast, we find that the reduction in equity value during the pandemic was stronger for stocks with higher pre-pandemic accrued risk. This lends support to the discrete pricing proposition, which is a form of behavioural bias where investors price accrued risk during significant corporate or macroeconomic events. Furthermore, we compare the pricing of accrued risk during the pandemic with the pricing of accrued risk during non-pandemic events and during past financial crises. We report evidence that pricing of accrued risk results in a premium in normal times and a discount during financial turmoil. Finally, we report evidence that investors price accrued stocks discriminately, that is, they are more likely to price accrued risk of stocks of larger firms, smaller B/M, and weaker momentum. Several theoretical and practical implications are discussed inside the paper.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: Zakat (Islamic almsgiving) plays a considerable role in dealing with the socioeconomic issues in times of COVID-19 pandemic, and such roles have been widely discussed in virtual events. This paper aims to discover knowledge of the current global zakat administration from virtual events of zakat (e.g. webinars) on YouTube and Zoom via text mining approach. Design/methodology/approach: The authors purposefully sampled 12 experts from four different virtual zakat events on YouTube and Zoom. The automated text transcription software is used to pull the information from the sampled videos into text documents. A qualitative analysis is operated using text mining approach via machine learning tool (i.e. Orange Data Mining). Four research questions are developed under the Word Cloud visualisation, hierarchal clustering, topic modelling and graph and network theory. Findings: The machine learning identifies the most important words, the relationship between the experts and their top words and discovers hidden themes from the sample. This finding is practically substantial for zakat stakeholders to understand the current issues of global zakat administration and to learn the applicable lessons from the current issues of zakat management worldwide. Research limitations/implications: This study does not establish a positivist generalisation from the findings because of the nature and objective of the study. Practical implications: A policy implication is drawn pertaining to the legislation of zakat as an Islamic financial policy instrument for combating poverty in Muslim society. Social implications: This work supports the notion of “socioeconomic zakat”, implying that zakat as a religious obligation is important in shaping the social and economic processes of a Muslim community. Originality/values: This work marks the novelty in making sense of the unstructured data from virtual events on YouTube and Zoom in the Islamic social finance research. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.
ABSTRACT
This paper examines whether the Covid-19 pandemic has had a homogeneous or heterogeneous effect on stock returns in India. We consider panel data by using 1,318 companies that are listed on the National Stock Exchange of India. We find that the daily growth rate in Covid-19 cases and Covid-19 deaths are negatively associated with stock returns. Further, we observe that the average stock returns during Lockdown 2 are positive and highly significant, while the returns during Lockdowns 3 and 4 are negative. Moreover, our results show that the chemical, technology, and food and beverage industries earn higher returns. In contrast, the banking and finance, automotive, services, and cement and construction industries yield lower returns for the overall period. Interestingly, all industry groupings in this study earn a positive return during the lockdown period. In particular, the chemical, technology, automotive, metals and mining, and food and beverage industries provide higher returns during the lockdown period. Finally, this study supports the claim that the Covid-19 pandemic has had a heterogeneous effect in the Indian stock markets. © 2022, Academy of Economics and Finance.
ABSTRACT
The debate regarding the performance of Islamic banks vis-à-vis conventional counterparts has attracted growing attention recently. Exploiting the Covid-19 health and economic crisis as an exogenous shock, we extend this debate by examining the resilience of Islamic banks vis-à-vis conventional banks during this shock. Using data from the Gulf Cooperation Council member states, we find stock market investors have not assessed the Islamic banks to be superior to conventional ones during the Covid-19 market meltdown. Specifically, our findings show Covid-19 confirmed cases, government social distancing policies and feverish period (i.e., 24 February to 17 March 2020) have had negative impact on stock returns of both Islamic and conventional banks alike. Interestingly, the adverse impact of social distancing policies is stronger on Islamic banks due to their inherent higher cost structure. Additionally, we find the marginal adverse impact of Covid-19 shock is weaker on banks with higher liquid assets holdings on the onset of the Covid-19 shock. Moreover, larger banks were hit harder during the first quarter of 2020, however, they also recovered more quickly during the second quarter. Results are robust with alternative estimation methods, matched sample of Islamic and conventional banks, cross-sectional analysis with fever period and extended sample period. © 2022 Elsevier B.V.
ABSTRACT
The study aimed to quantify the impact of lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic on new case referrals to the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (OMS) service. The researchers retrospectively reviewed all new referrals received during a government-imposed 47-day lockdown period and a similar period pre-lockdown as a control group. The main outcome was the differences in the number of new case referrals between the two periods. The contributing clinical and demographic factors were also explored. Appropriate bivariate statistics were computed and the level of significance was set at 0.05 for all tests. A total of 309 referrals were received during the study period. There was a reduction of new referrals due to the lockdown from five to two cases per day. There was a statistically significant reduction of cases referred from outpatient and emergency departments. There was also a statistically significant difference with regard to home address distance to the centre. Medically compromised and orofacial infection referrals were not affected by lockdown. The lockdown imposed due to the pandemic has significantly impacted the pattern of new OMS referrals. Referrals for orofacial infections, the medically compromised and inpatients were minimally affected by lockdown.