“Re-Evaluating the Islamic Finance in Post Pandemic Era: Social Finance, Digitalization & ESG Goals”

The year 2020 was considered as a year of digital transformation when technology adoption reached at its zenith not among the individuals but businesses also embraced it. Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, the Internet of Things, and Virtual and Augmented Reality are among the advanced technologies paving the next generation of data. These technologies and tech savvy behavior of the young generation can both be leveraged by Islamic financial institutions in achieving the Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) goals. Aligning the organizational strategy with ESG goals is highly important for Islamic finance industry as the unexpected climate change, unexpected uncertainties are affecting the people and the environment.
Being deposit taking institutions, Islamic banks and other Islamic financial institutions have to follow a heap of regulations that limit their risk aversion behavior. They are not able to entrain the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) who are highly risky in nature but at the same time they are the backbone of an economy. Amidst of the COVID-19, the MSMEs are affected badly as millions of people belonging to this sector have lost their jobs and the poverty risk has increased. Contray to this, majority of Islamic banks hit to new records in terms of deposits and assets during the pandemic period. This has very crucial implications for Islamic finance industry as being called “Islamic” their role during the pandemic period raises serious concerns. It seems that Islamic finance industry is converging with conventional paradigm rather than moving towards achieving expected goals and diverging from them. This is the time for re-evaluating the development of Islamic finance industry.
Noticeably, IsIslamic social finance with an inherent character of being social has huge potential to alleviate poverty and become the best solution in the post pandemic scenario. To harness the real power of Islamic social finance, this must be merged with Islamic finance, especially Islamic banking through the help of technology.
So, the combination of social finance, digitalization and ESG is very important for Islamic finance in the post pandemic scenario. Islamic finance industry can achieve sustainability and by combining these three forces, Islamic finance can bring product innovation and introduce customer centric and MSMEs centric and investment based solutions. In this way, the Islamic finance will actually be able to attain the Maqasid Al-Shariah at one end and ESG goals at the other end.
In view of the above agenda, Minhaj University Lahore is goining to 5th international conference on Islamic economics and finance with the theme of ‘Re-Evaluating the Islamic Finance in Post Pandemic Era: Social Finance, Digitalization & ESG Goals’. The conference will utilize the university’s strength to focus on the consensus that the Islamic banking and finance industry (IBFI) should be more inclined towards ethical and social concerns than the conventional system. Furthermore, the optimal role of governance, Innovative products and their mechanisms in providing stability and trust will be an important part of the main theme. Contributions should address research gaps in these areas in particular.
Notwithstanding the continuous discussion and conversation that are currently taking place among academicians, this conference aims to address a specific issue related to future road map of Islamic economics and finance. In particular, the conference will address questions such as:  

Sub-Themes
1. Assessment of Islamic Financial Institutions in Post Pandemic Scenario
2. Socio-Economic Challenges and Role of Islamic Finance Industry
3. Islamic Finance and ESG goals
4. Harnessing the Power of Islamic social finance in Post pandemic era
5. Digitalization of Islamic Finance Industry: Myth or Reality?/ Banking Revolution Industry 4.0
6. Challenges and solutions for Halal Industry in Post Pandemic Era
7. Developemts of Islamic Fintech and Its Future
8. Islamic Capital Market : Resilience and Growth in Post Pandemic Era
9. Accounting, Governance and Legal Issues in Islamic Finance Industry
10. Value Based Intermediation and Its Importance in Post pandemic era