Ep509: Building a bank in Central Asia, Alif aims to be an Islamic FinTech unicorn

Mahmood Shamsher Ali, Pakistan Country Representative, Alif BankAlif is a Central Asian FinTech operating as a full-fledged bank in Tajikistan and as an e-commerce and FinTech company in Uzbekistan. The company, originally established in 2014, has a full banking licence in Tajikistan and a payments licence in Uzbekistan. It has also applied for a digital banking licence in Pakistan – one of 20 applicants for 5 licences on offer. Alif now has more than 1 million users and, for example, a market share of more than 50% of all Visa payments in Tajikistan. The group’s ambition is to become a global Islamic FinTech unicorn. Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence discusses Alif’s ambitions with the bank’s Pakistan Country Representative, Mahmood Shamsher Ali.