On Fridays with Fintelekt today, Shirish Pathak, Managing Director, Fintelekt is in conversation with Irfan Yar, Research Fellow, Global Counter Terrorism Institute.

Irfan questions the progress achieved by regulation and advancements in technology in curbing terrorism financing, when ironically the scale of global terrorism is increasing.

He believes the primary reason is due to the focus on curbing the conventional methods of terror financing such as banking, charitable donations or wire transfers, while ignoring the role of state sponsorship, which is the biggest income source for terrorism. He also highlights the correlation between terrorism and transnational organised crime.

Irfan's advice to governments and the private sector is to look beyond cash and money as sources of terrorism financing to gold, precious metals and high value items which can be used to exchange with cash or to trade with drugs. Working towards reducing corruption is also critical, as it can help illegal actors and terrorists in transferring money.

Watch the entire episode for more on the impact of economic sanctions, understanding the domestic socio-politico-economic drivers of terrorism, international cooperation and financial inclusion.