Despite the global upward trend of the Islamic fintech industry, the size of the Islamic fintech offering is still embryonic in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) region considering the number of Islamic fintech providers. However, the growth potential of Islamic Fintech in the WAEMU member countries is real in light of (i) the high percentage of Muslim population in the region, (ii) the ongoing initiatives of the decision makers, intended to improve and finetune the Islamic banking regulation and financial inclusion, (iii) willingness of the regulator to establish an efficient regulatory framework for fintech to address customer's expectations/needs and (iv) the positive impact of framework for conventional fintech on Islamic one, notably in terms of infrastructure and regulation. As part of its initiatives to promote financial innovations and inclusion, the Central Bank of the West African States (BCEAO) has implemented some initiatives aiming at promoting the harmonious development of fintech industry in WAEMU. However, considering the achievements observed so far from the relevant policy makers, it is appropriate to examine whether the initiatives involve Shariah compliant fintech or not, before addressing potential Shariah governance issues of fintech. Despite the encouraging improvement of the financial inclusion, most of the population does not have access to the basic financial services, such as payment, transfer money, etc. As of today, the use of digital financial services has become the most appropriate way to serve the populations excluded from the traditional financials services, considered as challenging and unaffordable by the poor population, either because of onerous conditions (high lending rate), limited offers or religious believes (prohibition to be funded as per the conventional financing products).
