Jakarta, 2 OCTOBER 2025 — The Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB), in collaboration with Bank Indonesia, has successfully concluded a high-level roundtable on advancing financial inclusion across the Islamic financial services industry (IFSI), held in Jakarta under the theme “Enhancing Financial Inclusion: A Structured Framework to Overcome Challenges”.
This first-of-its-kind initiative for the IFSB brought together senior representatives from central banks, regulators, policymakers, financial institutions, fintech innovators, social finance entities, and academia to deliberate on a structured framework and practical solutions to address persistent inclusion gaps.
“The purpose of this roundtable is to bring together key stakeholders to discuss financial inclusion from both a local and a global perspective,” said Dr. Ghiath Shabsigh, Secretary-General of the IFSB. “Financial inclusion remains a critical issue, not only here in Indonesia but across many countries worldwide. Our aim is to examine the global experience of financial inclusion and to learn from both its successes and its shortcomings. Countries like Indonesia, where the social finance infrastructure is deep and well-established, can lead the way in presenting a model for the world.”
“We recognise that programmatic efforts are still needed. Relying only on the commercial and fiscal sectors will not be enough. We need additional instruments that can truly support the government in reaching wider segments of society,” said Executive Director of Bank Indonesia, Dr. Dadang Muljawan. “I believe this forum can also facilitate the exchange of experiences with our neighbours, such as Malaysia and other countries. This will strengthen the IFSB as not only a practical platform but also an important medium for exchanging information and knowledge.”
The discussions across three sessions examined fundamental challenges, collaborative solutions between Islamic commercial and social finance with digitalisation as a catalyst, and the importance of creating a proportional, innovative, and coordinated regulatory framework. The roundtable concluded with a plan from the industry to identify the gaps in financial inclusion initiatives.
