Mapping Malaysia's Resource Centres

132 MAPPING MALAYSIA’S RESOURCE CENTRES SOUQA FINTECH SDN. BHD. (PAYHALAL) Introduction Souqa Fintech Sdn. Bhd. is a company registered in Malaysia since 2015. It provides financial technology solutions designed to make Malaysia the No.1 destination for Islamic Digital Financial Services through PayHalal, a finance- based Shariah compliant application. PayHalal’s Islamic fintech solutions are attested by Amanie Advisors, a leading Shariah advisory firm specialising in Islamic finance solutions. PayHalal’s primary role is to act as a wakeel (trustee) between Halal Market Merchants - who are generally non-Muslim - in enabling a payment gatekeeper to monitor and protect the interests of Muslim consumers carrying out transactions online. It operates according to the highest standards of Shariah governance whereby all of PayHalal’s merchants, vendors and digital assets are Shariah compliant. From online Islamic fintech to other Application Programming Interface (API) solutions driven by big data, PayHalal aims to enable financial transactions without was-was (doubt). PayHalal hosts and consolidates all bank accounts into one application allowing for a single source tracking and monitoring platform. This is highly convenient for all consumers, regardless of their bank of choice. Area of Expertise Souqa Fintech’s aim is to educate, engage and empower Muslim merchants and consumers through fintech development, Shariah Robo Advisory, Shariah compliant payment technology, Artificial Intelligence, machine learning and robotics. PayHalal will bridge the gap in the Halal marketplace by increasing the understanding of how Halal e-commerce and Islamic payment gateways and instruments can integrate to meet global Halal standards. Strengths and Achievements Research indicates online merchants that added PayHalal as a payment option to engage Muslim buyers see an average sales increase of 14%. The reason being Muslim buyers are inclined to use PayHalal simply because the brand resonates with their beliefs. Furthermore, with over 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide, there is a substantial bracket of loyal Muslim consumers to be acquired online via PayHalal. Due to the conventional methodology of digital payments which lacks Halal processes in clearance and settlement, PayHalal aims to protect Muslims’ transactions through an online payment gateway that is untainted. This guarantee is made possible due to PayHalal’s inherent payment process feature that eliminates the ‘Riba-element’ where I S L A M I C F I N A N C E A N D A D V I S O R Y