This study's objective is to embark on an exploratory study to compare the roles played by the several regulators of each of the D-8 countries towards engendering financial inclusion through the Islamic finance offerings in their domain and lessons that can be deduced by their counterparts for adoption and implementation. The study relies on secondary data sourced from official publications, working papers, articles, e-books, websites, and online resources on how the roles played by the financial regulators of the D-8 countries impact on financial inclusion. Content analysis was carried out on the collated data to determine the status of each of the D-8 countries. The study found that while the regulators of some D-8 member countries had maximized the Islamic social finance offerings to combat financial exclusion within their domain, other regulators are yet to maximize same due to factors that include weak political and or administrative will, social peculiarities among others. The study concludes by recommending the adoption of the Islamic social finance instruments in climes where same has yet to be implemented or fully adopted, to shore up the shortfalls of government expenditure, more appositely in this era of shrinking public expenditure and post Covid-19 that has exacerbated the predicament of the financially excluded. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
Expanding the Financial Inclusion Frontiers: An Assessment of the Roles of Developing Eight (D-8) Countries Financial Regulators