An Investigation Of Islamic Finance And Islamic Banking In Malaysia

Abstract

After many years of strong growth performance, Islamic banking industry has become an important source of the global financial system. As one of the pioneer countries, Malaysia has been trying to improve its Islamic financial system since 1980’s by diversifying Islamic financial products. In order to have a sustainable development in Islamic finance in Malaysia, Shariah compliant new Islamic financial instruments are produced. Today, as one of the leader countries in Islamic finance Malaysia has a significant share in the Islamic financial system with its Islamic banks’ assets, sukuk and other Islamic funds. By comparison in terms of Islamic financial assets, Malaysia comes just after Saudi Arabia. The emergence of the Islamic banking system in Malaysia was driven by the demand of depositors for interest free services. To satisfy this need, the first commercial Islamic bank in Malaysia was established in 1983 under the name of Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad. In the banking industry in Malaysia where the dual system has been operated, conventional banks are operating as well as domestic and foreing Islamic banks. As conventional banks also provide Islamic banking services, a strong competitive market has been established in the financial system. With the government’s efforts and legislative changes, Malaysia showed a remarkable performance in passing 40 years. There are numerous institutions and organizations within the financial system such as Islamic banks, conventional banks, Islamic banking branches of foreing conventional banks, offshore banks, windows of conventional banks providing Islamic banking services and intermediary financial companies. With such a sophisticated financial ecosystem, Malaysia has become a model country with its Islamic banking sector exceeding $65 billion.  In Malaysia, a wide range of Shariah compliant Islamic contracts such as mudarabah, musharakah, murabaha, salaam and wadiah are used. Besides, sukuk issuance has been started in compliance with Shariah laws in 2002. In recent years, in addition to the sukuk issuance in USD, sukuk issuances in domestic currency ringgit are also recognized in international financial markets. With further innovative implementations on sukuk, an important initiative has been made on protecting environment which is currently in the agenda of the whole world. The new Islamic financial instrument, the green sukuk, supports sustainable environmental friendly infrastructure projects such as renewable energy projects. In this context, green sukuk, just like conventional bonds with fixed income rate, provides investment opportunities in line with the demand of investors who want to make investments on environmental friendly projects. Sukuk issuance directly affects the official reserve level as it promotes capital inflows. Furthermore sukuk issuance has a significant positive impact on capital budget as well as real income growth. By providing tax incentives, Malaysia also welcomes foreign investors those prefer Islamic banking and Islamic financial instruments. With these advantages and innovative products, Malaysia became Asia’s largest corporate bond and sukuk market. In addition to sukuk, much have been done on Islamic insurance, takaful, also. With the new regulations, the development of takaful industry has been supported by the government. Thanks to the tax incentives implemented by the government, foreign compaines from all over the world like UK and Bahrain, opened takaful business branches in Malaysia. However, although Malaysia has managed to become one of the leading countries in Islamic finance with its sound Islamic financial infrastructure, it is a fact that there are some difficulties in the implementation processes. Problems arise from the lack of recongnition of Islamic financial products in sales and marketing, conflicts in establishing a common legal infrastructure, necessity to hold a relatively higher amount of cash comparing with conventional banks are the primary problems of Islamic financial industry in Malaysia.
There are many legal regulations and arrangements in Malaysia to overcome these obstacles in front of the Islamic finance sector. Besides, by offering attractive Islamic financial services and instruments in compliance with Shariah laws, the government tries to include the funds outside the financial system due to the religious reasons to the financial system. The deepening and improving soundness of the Islamic financial system brought technologic innovation, internet banking and mobil banking applications which will have a feedback effect on the Islamic financial system performance. In addition to the measures such as minimizing the costs of entering the market and taking precautions to reduce the asymmetric information, developing appropriate financing opportunities for SME’s are the other regulations. It should be noted that there has to be some global regulations along with the local regulations. Establishing global standards on the Islamic financial system, i.e. eliminating the differences between countries in the implementation of the Islamic financial instruments/Islamic banking transactions, minimizing the effects of disagreements because of sectarian differences, empowering oversighting and supervisory institutions and policy making processes,  development of financial system with applications such as the acquisition of financial institutions, developing and deepening Islamic interbank markets and providing tax incentives are the most important global protections.
In this vein, the aim of this study is to analyze Islamic banking and Islamic financial applications in Malaysia. In the paper, after giving detail information about Islamic banking and Islamic finance practices in Malaysia, some policy implications will be put forth for developing Islamic finance in this country. The paper has the headings of the financial system in the country, the structure and functioning of Islamic banking, Islamic financial instruments, sukuk and takaful practices as well as policy implications for the development of Islamic financial system.

Keywords

• Islamic law,Islamic Finance,islamic banking,malaysia

Malezya’da İslami Finans ve İslami Bankacılık Uygulamaları Üzerine Bir İnceleme

Abstract

İslami finans alanında dünyada lider ülkelerden olan Malezya’da İslami bankaların varlıkları yanı sıra sukuk ve diğer İslami fonlar İslami finansal sistemde önemli bir pay almaktadır. Ülkede, İslami finansal sistemin gelişimini sürekli kılmak adına Şeriat kuralları dikkate alınarak yeni İslami finansal enstrümanların geliştirilmesi konusunda önemli inovasyon çalışmaları yapılmaktadır. Ülkede İslami bankacılık uygulamalarının başlatıldığı 1983 yılından günümüze sektörde önemli ilerlemeler kaydedilmiştir. Günümüzde 65 milyar $’ı aşan sermayesi ile İslami bankacılık sektöründe Malezya, model bir ülke konumundadır. İslami bankacılık sisteminin ortaya çıkışında mudilerden gelen faizsiz hizmet alma talebi önemli bir motivasyon olmuştur. Bankacılıkta dual/ikili sistemin uygulandığı ülkede, yerli ve yabancı İslami bankaların yanı sıra konvansiyonel bankalar da faaliyette bulunmaktadır. Malezya’da Şeriat kurallarınca uygun görülen Mudaraba, Muşaraka, Murabaha, Selem, Vadîa gibi çok çeşitli İslami kontrat modelleri uygulanmaktadır. Öte yandan, 2002 yılında Şeriat hükümlerine uygun olarak Sukuk ihracına başlanmıştır. Malezya günümüzde sukuk ihracı konusunda dünyanın önde gelen ülkeleri arasında yer almaktadır. Ancak Malezya’da, İslami finans konusunda diğer ülkelere göre rekabetçi üstünlüğe karşın, uygulamada bazı güçlükler yaşanmaktadır.
Bu çalışmanın amacı, Malezya’da İslami bankacılık ve İslami finans uygulamalarını incelemektir. Malezya’da İslami bankacılık ve İslami finans uygulamaları hakkında ayrıntılı bilgiler verildikten sonra bu ülkede İslami finansın geliştirilmesine yönelik öne çıkan politika önerileri üzerinde durulacaktır. Çalışma, Malezya’da finansal sistemin yapısı yanında İslami bankacılığın yapısı ve işleyişi, İslami finansal enstrümanlar, sukuk ve tekâfül uygulamaları ile İslami finans sistemin gelişmesine yönelik politika önerileri başlıklarından oluşmaktadır.

Keywords

• İslami finans,İslami bankacılık,Malezya,İslam Hukuku

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