Mohammad Ali Jinnah University, in partnership with the IEEE Karachi Section, hosted Panel Discussion 1 on Islamic Banking and FinTech Integration for Inclusive Growth as part of the 2nd IEEE Humanity Technology Conference and 4th International Conference on Business Management 2026, bringing together senior practitioners from Pakistan’s banking, digital finance, and blockchain ecosystem for a substantive conversation on how Islamic finance principles and financial technology can work together to drive broader economic inclusion.
The panel was moderated by Ahmed Ali Siddiqui, Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head of Consumer Finance and Digital Banking at Meezan Bank, with Ghulam M. Abbasi, Executive Director of the Islamic Banking Department at the State Bank of Pakistan, serving as Session Chair. The combination of a senior central banker chairing the session and one of Pakistan’s most respected Islamic finance practitioners moderating gave the discussion institutional weight rarely seen at academic conference panels, reflecting both the significance of the topic and the growing convergence between Pakistan’s regulatory, banking, and technology communities around the question of inclusive digital Islamic finance.
The four panelists brought complementary perspectives to the discussion. Umair Aijaz, Chief Executive Officer of Raqami Islamic Digital Bank, represented the new generation of Shariah-compliant digital banking that is attempting to serve segments of Pakistan’s population that conventional banking has historically failed to reach. Faisal Iqbal, General Manager and Head of Small and Medium Enterprise Executive Vice President at Meezan Bank’s Corporate, Commercial, and Investment Banking Group, brought the perspective of Pakistan’s largest Islamic bank navigating the digital transition. Khurram Shaikh, Chief Technology Officer and Founder of The Blockverse, introduced the blockchain, tokenization, and on-chain finance dimension to the conversation, exploring how distributed ledger technologies intersect with Islamic finance compliance requirements. Engr. Naeem Ilyas Khanani, Chief Executive Officer of DigiStore, rounded out the panel with an enterprise technology and digital services perspective. The session reflected how Pakistan’s Islamic banking and fintech sectors, long treated as separate conversations, are increasingly being examined together as the country looks to expand financial inclusion through digital channels that are both technologically advanced and Shariah compliant.
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