The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), the private sector arm of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group, on Thursday inked a collaboration Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with IAP Integrated Sdn Bhd (IAP Integrated), the owner and operator of the Investment Account Platform or IAP. The collaboration MoU was inked during a signing ceremony held here. The MoU came as a result of an ongoing discussion about future collaboration, between ICD and IAP Integrated since the Jan. 22 during the visit of the IAP Integrated's management team to ICD's office in Kuala Lumpur. Ayman Sejiny, the CEO of ICD commented, "ICD is pleased to be the first organization that IAP Integrated turns to in an effort to market its crowd funding Fintech solutions to other major Islamic markets such as Central Asia and Africa, in addition to the traditional Islamic markets in the Arab regions. "We believe that this collaboration will enhance our reputation as a trusted long-term partner towards contributing to the development of the economies of our member countries through private sector development." IAP Integrated's CEO Joann Maryam Enriquez said, "For IAP to penetrate the above markets, it needs a partner that is reputable, has a good network and experience in those markets and more importantly, with a name and branding that interested parties and potential suitors in those markets can trust. In ICD, we have found a partner with all these traits." "IAP as a multibank crowd funding platform has helped raise funds of more than MYR200.0 million for various SMEs and private companies since we started in February 2016. We work very closely with our 6 shareholder banks to ensure that both the investors and the entrepreneurs can benefit from the risk-sharing concept with the banks assuming the role as investment intermediary. We believe that our experience in Malaysia can be successfully replicated and implemented in other Islamic markets," she added. Currently, ICD and IAP Integrated are also working closely to assist viable but under-bankable SMEs in Malaysia to secure funding for their contract financing deals via the Investment Account Platform. — SG
