The activity of Islamic banking system

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Table of content

INTRODUCTION

Chapter I. Historical development of Islamic banks

Chapter II. The financial analysis of Islamic bank's activity

Chapter III. Perspectives of future development of Islamic banking in the world and in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The Islamic Development Bank

CONCLUSION

REFERNCES

INTRODUCTION

Modern banking system was introduced into the Muslim countries at a time when they were politically and economically at low ebb, in the late 19th century. The main banks in the home countries of the imperial powers established local branches in the capitals of the subject countries and they catered mainly to the import export requirements of the foreign businesses. The banks were generally confined to the capital cities and the local population remained largely untouched by the banking system. The local trading community avoided the “foreign” banks both for nationalistic as well as religious reasons. However, as time went on it became difficult to engage in trade and other activities without making use of commercial banks. Even then many confined their involvement to transaction activities such as current accounts and money transfers. Borrowing from the banks and depositing their savings with the bank were strictly avoided in order to keep away from dealing in interest which is prohibited by religion.

Today Islamic banks are developing very rapidly, thus many bankers and entrepreneurs of the entire world are considered with this phenomenon. However, majority of the western entrepreneurs with difficulty understands the specific character of Islamic business, which complicates their relations with the Islamic business partners. Until now, Islamic financial institutions remain “thing in itself” they despite the fact that they are possessed by significant potential by the acknowledgement of many specialists.

The system of Islamic banks is characterized by large specific character, and themselves they in essence come out as the self-contained unit, since entire structure is in the state of evolution, but the search for forms and methods of its activity, optimization of the bases of interaction with the external world is not yet completed.

An increase in the Islamic banks against the background of the crisis, which enveloped practically entire world, looks contrastingly. In light of the search for investment resources, the Islamic banking occur interest for non-Muslim countries, since in the recent decades as a result of the inflow of petrodollars this region became one of the most important suppliers of capital for the world markets.

The study of Islamic banking is necessary for understanding of the essence of the activity of banking system in the Islamic countries and possible methods of collaboration with Islamic capital.

In connection with this purpose of this course work is to analyse the activity of Islamic banking system.

Of for achievement stated goal the following tasks were formulated:

1. To examine the history of the formation of Islamic banks;

2. To examine the mechanisms of the functioning of banks;

3. To investigate the development of Islamic banking system in the world;

4. To study the classification of Islamic banks at present, the structure of interest-free banks, Islamic Development Bank and their role in the world economy;

5. To note the prospects for the development of Islamic banks in the world, the particularly in the Republic of Kazakhstan

The objectives of the course work is to give an overview of the nature and characteristics of Islamic banking as a concept and how it is implemented by the new generation of institutions called Islamic banks.

The review of basic points of the Islamic banking system and economy and the essential foundations of Islamic banking and its financial analysis will be introduced in the course paper. Furthermore the effect of Islamic banking on economy and economic life, future challenges for Islamic banking and finance in the last chapter of course work will be underlined.

The informational and methodological base for the study were the laws and legal documents regulating the activities of Islamic banks, financial and credit institutions of the world, the various statistical sources, data from the National Bank, Ministry of Finance, publications and monographs of foreign journalists, scientists of economy and finance on topics under study, information from the Internet.

Chapter I. Historical development of Islamic banks

It seems that the history of interest-free banking could be divided into two parts. First, when it still remained an idea; second, when it became a reality - by private initiative in some countries and by law in others. We will discuss the two periods separately. The last decade has seen a marked decline in the establishment of new Islamic banks and the established banks seem to have failed to live up to the expectations. The literature of the period begins with evaluations and ends with attempts at finding ways and means of correcting and overcoming the problems encountered by the existing banks.

Interest-free banking seems to be of very recent origin. The earliest references to the reorganization of banking on the basis of profit sharing rather than interest are found in Anwar Qureshi (1946), Naiem Siddiqi (1948) and Mahmud Ahmad (1952) in the late 1940-es, followed by a more elaborate exposition by Mawdudi in 1950. Muhammad Hamidullah's 1944, 1955, 1957 and 1962 writings too should be included in this category. They have all recognized the need for commercial banks and the evil of interest in that enterprise, and have proposed a banking system based on the concept of Mudarabha - profit and loss sharing. [1]

The first modern experiment with Islamic banking was undertaken in Egypt under cover, without projecting an Islamic image, for fear of being seen as a manifestation of Islamic fundamentalism which was anathema to the political regime. The pioneering effort, led by Ahmad El Najjar, took the form of a savings bank based on profit-sharing in the Egyptian town of Mit Ghamr in 1963. This experiment lasted until 1967 (Ready 198l), by which time there were nine such banks in the country. These banks, which neither charged nor paid interest, invested mostly by engaging in trade and industry, directly or in partnership with others, and shared the profits with their depositors (Siddiqi 1988). Thus, they functioned essentially as saving investment institutions rather than as commercial banks. The Nasir Social Bank, established in Egypt in 197l, was declared an interest-free commercial bank, although its charter made no reference to Islam or Shariah (Islamic law).

In the next two decades interest-free banking attracted more attention, partly because of the political interest it created in Pakistan and partly because of the emergence of young Muslim economists. Works specifically devoted to this subject began to appear in this period. The first such work is that of Muhammad Uzair (1955). Another set of works emerged in the late sixties and early seventies. Abdullah al-Araby (1967), Nejatullah Siddiqi (1961, 1969), al-Najjar (1971) and Baqir al-Sadr (1961, 1974) were the main contributors.

Early 70-es saw the institutional involvement. Conference of the Finance Ministers of the Islamic Countries held in Karachi in 1970, the Egyptian study in 1972, First International Conference on Islamic Economics in Mecca in 1976, International Economic Conference in London in 1977 were the result of such involvement. The involvement of institutions and governments led to the application of theory to practice and resulted in the establishment of the first interest-free banks. The Islamic Development Bank, an inter-governmental bank established in 1975, was born of this process.

The first private interest-free bank, the Dubai Islamic Bank, was also set up in 1975 by a group of Muslim businessmen from several countries. Two more private banks were founded in 1977 under the name of Faisal Islamic Bank in Egypt and the Sudan. In the same year the Kuwaiti government set up the Kuwait Finance House. However, small scale limited scope interest-free banks have been tried before. One in Malaysia in the middle of 1940-es and another in Pakistan in the late 50-es. Neither survived. In 1962 the Malaysian government set up the “Pilgrim's Management Fund” to help prospective pilgrims to save and profit. The savings bank established in 1963 at Mit-Ghamr in Egypt was very popular and prospered initially and then closed down for various reasons. However this experiment led to the creation of the Nasser Social Bank in 1972. Though the bank is still active, its objectives are more social than commercial. [2]

In the ten years since the establishment of the first private commercial bank in Dubai, more than 50 interest-free banks have come into being. Though nearly all of them are in Muslim countries, there are some in Western Europe as well: in Denmark, Luxembourg, Switzerland and the UK. Many banks were established in 1983 (11) and 1984 (13). The numbers have declined considerably in the following years.

In most countries the establishment of interest-free banking had been by private initiative and were confined to that bank. In Iran and Pakistan, however, it was by government initiative and covered all banks in the country. The governments in both these countries took steps in 1981 to introduce interest-free banking. In Pakistan, effective 1 January 1981 all domestic commercial banks were permitted to accept deposits on the basis of profit-and-loss sharing (PLS). New steps were introduced on 1 January 1985 to formally transform the banking system over the next six months to one based on no interest. From 1 July 1985 no banks could accept any interest bearing deposits, and all existing deposits became subject to PLS rules. Yet some operations were still allowed to continue on the old basis. In Iran, certain administrative steps were taken in February 1981 to eliminate interest from banking operations. Interest on all assets was replaced by a 4 percent maximum service charge and by a 4 to 8 percent `profit' rate depending on the type of economic activity. Interest on deposits was also converted into a `guaranteed minimum profit.' In August 1983 the Usury-free Banking Law was introduced and a fourteen-month change over period began in January 1984. The whole system was converted to an interest-free one in March 1985.

The subject matter of writings and conferences in the eighties have changed from the concepts and possibilities of interest-free banking to the evaluation of their performance and their impact on the rest of the economy and the world. Their very titles bear testimony to this and the places indicate the world-wide interest in the subject. Conference on Islamic Banking: Its impact on world financial and commercial practices held in London in September 1984, Workshop on Industrial Financing Activities of Islamic Banks held in Vienna in June 1986, International Conference on Islamic Banking held in Tehran in June 1986, International Conference on Islamic Banking and Finance: Current issues and future prospects held in Washington, D.C. in September 1986, Islamic Banking Conference held in Geneva in October 1986, and Conference `Into the 1990's with Islamic Banking' held in London in 1988 belong to this category. The most recent one is the Workshop on the Elimination of Riba from the Economy held in Islamabad in April 1992. [3] Reference should also be made to some Islamic financial institutions established in countries where Muslims are a minority. There was a proliferation of interest-free savings and loan societies in India during the seventies. The Islamic Banking System (now called Islamic Finance House), established in Luxembourg in 1978, represents the first attempt at Islamic banking in the Western world. There is also an Islamic Bank International of Denmark, in Copenhagen, and the Islamic Investment Company has been set up in Melbourne, Australia.

Currently the world market for Islamic financial services has been growing considerably. The development of Islamic finance in the world and their stability during the global financial crisis, growing demand for Islamic financial products among population, and increasing need for the investments to real sector created favorable conditions for the industry development in Kazakhstan. Now Kazakhstan takes the leading role among the CIS countries and Central Asian region in the development of Islamic finance. One of the necessary conditions for a nation's effective economic development is a vigorous investment policy that pursues development of industries, support of social welfare systems, introduction of new technologies, and promotion of competitiveness. In this regard, one of the priority directions of the Kazakhstan government's economic policy is strong support for investment activities and creation of a favorable investment climate in the country.

The recent global financial crisis has revealed an acute problem of insufficient liquidity that has impacted the development of investment processes across the world. The inflow of foreign direct investment to Kazakhstan decreased by 20% in 2009. In this connection, Kazakhstan welcomed Islamic financing as an additional source of funding that proved its sustainability during the crisis.

Chapter II. Financial analysis of Islamic bank's activity

Islamic banking has the same purpose as conventional banking except that it operates in accordance with the rules of Shari'ah. The basic principle of Islamic banking is the sharing of profit and loss and the prohibition of Riba. The main implication of the Shariah rules is that Islamic banking is restricted to Islamically acceptable deals, which exclude those involving alcohol, pork, gambling, etc. Thus, ethical investing is the only acceptable form of investment. In addition, financial transactions are structured to reallocate risk-sharing and profits by using the concepts such as Murabaha (cost plus), Musharakah (joint venture), Mudarabah (profit sharing), Wadiah (safekeeping), and Ijarah (leasing).

Therefore, in an Islamic loan transaction, instead of loaning the buyer money to purchase the item, an Islamic bank might buy the item itself from the seller, and re-sell it to the buyer at a profit, while allowing the buyer to pay the bank in installments. However, the fact that this profit cannot be made explicit and therefore there are no additional penalties for late payment, Islamic banks use the concept of Murabaha to protect itself against default, by asking for strict collateral. The goods or land is registered to the name of the buyer from the start of the transaction. Another approach applied by Islamic banks is Musharaka where they lend their money to companies by issuing loans in a way that the bank's profit on the loan is equal to a certain percentage of the company's profits. Once the principal amount of the loan is completely repaid, the profit sharing arrangement is concluded. Further, Mudarabah is venture capital funding of an entrepreneur who provides labor while financing is provided by the bank so that both profit and risk are shared. In this transaction, an owner entrusts funds to a trustee, who returns the principal and a share of profits after using the funds for a specified purpose. Such participatory transactions between capital and labor reflect the Islamic view that the borrower must not bear all the risk/cost of a failure, resulting in a balanced distribution of income. In the case of Musharakah, the joint venture which allows partners to share losses based on the proportion of their capital contributions; And in Ijarah, the transaction allows a bank to purchase equipment or machinery and lease it to clients who may ultimately take absolute ownership. [4]

Furthermore, exchange transactions can be for immediate or deferred exchange. Yet, it is recommended that future contracts be evidenced in writing. Spot transactions need not be evidenced in writing but witnesses are recommended. And the item for sale should be under ownership of the seller and in his physical or constructive possession at the time of contracting the sale. However, Islamic banks may agree to sell defined goods to the customers which they have not yet purchased provided that it does not involve Gharar. Therefore, in Salam and Istisna'a transactions, where a price is paid at the time the contract is formulated, but delivery takes place at a future date, goods must be defined, quantified and available in the market at the agreed time of delivery.

Generally speaking, all interest-free banks agree on the basic principles. However, individual banks differ in their application. These differences are due to several reasons including the laws of the country, objectives of the different banks, individual bank's circumstances and experiences, the need to interact with other interest-based banks, etc. In the following paragraphs, we will describe the salient features common to all banks.

Deposits from savers are an important source of financial strength for the Islamic banks. They use it to increase their capacity for financing operations and thereby increase profit for the shareholders. Islamic Banks raise funds generally based on Amanah or Wadiah arrangements, on Mudarabah and on Wakalah for Fund Management. There are two main bases of mobilization of deposits by Islamic banks that are Current account deposits and Savings deposits. Banks may also get permanent or redeemable equity capital through investment deposits that practically take the form of a running partnership between the depositors. Depositors in Islamic finance can be compared with investors/shareholders in companies, who earn dividends when the investment makes a profit or lose part of their capital if the investment posts a loss. The contractual agreement between depositors and Islamic banks does not pre-determine any rates of return, it only sets the ratio according to which profits and losses are distributed between the parties to the deposit contract. In Islamic banks, Current Account deposits are based on the principle of Amanah / Wadiah or that of Qard. In the first type, interest-free deposits are held by the banks either in trust (Amanah), or in safe-keeping (Wadiah). Under Amanah arrangement, the Islamic bank treats the funds as a trust and cannot use these funds for its operations; it does not guarantee the refund of the deposit in case of any damage or loss to the Amanah resulting from circumstances beyond its control. In Wadiah, the bank is deemed as a keeper and trustee of funds and has the depositors' permission to use the funds for its operations in a Shari?ah compliant manner. Deposits under Wadiah take the form of loans from depositors to Islamic banks and the bank guarantees refund of the entire amount of the deposit. While these deposits can be withdrawn at any time, the depositors have no right to any return/profit on such deposits. However, depositors, at the bank's discretion, may be rewarded with a Hibah provided such gifts do not become a custom or a permanent practice. In the second type, the client gives the bank authority to use current accounts funds to invest in its operations, in that case, the deposit amount is considered as a non-interest loan by the depositor to the bank. The bank has the obligation of to return the credit balance upon demand clients who have no right to receive any profit on their balances. The liability to return a Qard deposit is not affected by the bank's solvency or otherwise. [5]

Savings deposit accounts operate in a different way. The depositors allow the banks to use their money invested in profitable business ventures which are legal and Shari?ah compliant. Generally, deposits in savings accounts are accepted by Islamic banks on the basis of Mudarabah where the depositor is rabb-ul-mal (investor) and the bank is the Mudarib (fund manager). The profit will be shared as per a pre-determined ratio upon, while loss will be borne by the rabb-ul-mal. Profit distribution amongst the depositors and the shareholders will be made according to the weightage assigned usually at the beginning of each month to their investments. Savings deposits are generally paced in a joint investment pool with other deposits mobilised by the Islamic banks.

Investment deposits are accepted for a fixed period of time or term and are governed by the Mudarabah contract with the bank. When deposits are for an agreed fixed term no withdrawal is normally allowed until the end of the deposit term. However, some banks are allowing early withdrawals in an agreed notice period. Term deposits are arrangement where depositors seek some return on their investments; they are taken on a Mudarabah basis. These deposits are allocated to a number of investment pools and the Islamic banks invest the pooled amount in Shari?ah-compliant businesses. All direct expenses are charged to the respective pools; the net proceeds are distributed between the bank and the pools and then among the depositors represented by the pool. The profits from the assets are shared between the depositors and the bank according to a pre-determined ratio agreed upon at the outset. The profit sharing weight ages are assigned based on the various tenures and the amount invested under the arrangement. And as required under Mudarabah, depositors have to be informed in advance of the formula used for sharing the net earnings of the investment pool with the bank. In case of the unlikely event of loss, the depositors have to bear the loss on a pro-rata basis while bank goes un-rewarded for all its efforts. If a bank contributes its equity capital in a pool at the time of setting up an investment pool, the relationship will be a combination of Musharakah and Mudarabah, and the bank would be entitled to a proportionate profit on its own investment in relation to the total Mudarabah investment pool. Islamic banks can also open may announce Murabaha and leasing funds in which the risk-averse investors may purchase units and be treated as rabb-ul-mal and get the quasi fixed-return from profits or rentals earned by the respective funds from the trading and leasing activities.[6]

Statistical data of development of Islamic Bank's activity

The growth of the Islamic banking and financial sector coincided with the surplus of revenue of Islamic oil-exporting countries. More recently, the globalization of the economy, the liberalization of capital flow, and privatization have paved the way for the expansion of the Islamic financial sector. [7]

The majority of recent studies of Islamic finance have commented on the spectacular growth of Islamic assets. While the volume of Islamic financial assets at the turn of the millennium was estimated to be in excess of 150 billion dollars (Niquet, 2008), it is currently deemed to be in excess of 700 billion dollars, including nearly 300 billion dollars of assets and over 400 billion dollars of financial investments managed by Islamic banks. The growth rate of assets owned by Islamic banks, which increased from 15% in 2000 to 23% in 2008, is significantly higher than the growth rate of assets owned by conventional banks. Another remarkable and exceptional fact is that in countries such as the United Kingdom, Islamic assets have continued to grow in spite of the severity of the subprime crisis and the subsequent credit crunch (Jouini & Pastre, 2008). Islamic banking remains highly concentrated geographically, since nearly two-thirds of Islamic financial assets are located in the Gulf, while almost 20% are located in South-East Asia (Hassoune & Satel, 2008). The available studies and statistics indicate that the growth rate of Islamic assets is approximately 39% in the GCC zone as opposed to just 15-20% in the rest of the world (MIFC 2009). Another remarkable fact is apparent from the wide range of publications in the field, i.e. the good financial health of Islamic financial institutions. To cite just two examples, the average return on equity (ROE) of the “Kuwait Financial House” and the “Al Rajhi Bank” over the course of the last ten years is approximately 30%. There are two reasons which account for this high level of financial performance. In terms of resources, Islamic banks have access to a vast amount of relatively cheap deposits (the current total amount of available savings in the Gulf and south-east Asia is estimated at around 5000 billion dollars). In the realm of employment, the price of Islamic products remains relatively high. The level of risk on the main market of Islamic banks - the retail market - is relatively low. [7]

bank muslim islamic economy

Table 1 provides an overview of the descriptive statistics for the values of variables used in the assessment of efficiency scores of Islamic banks. The statistics indicate that the sample is homogeneous, since the coefficient of variation remains stable over time. The coefficient of variation, represented by the у µ / , is included in a narrow interval: [1.25; 2.24] over the studied period. The interval is [1.28; 2.15] for 2005, [1.30; 2.15] for 2006, [1.19; 1.96] for 2007 and [1.01; 2.25] for 2008. Note that over the four studied years, the level of dispersion is significantly low for staff costs and operating costs (excluding staff costs). The highest level of dispersion was for the fixed assets. The other variables are characterized by an average level of dispersion. A two-stage approach was used to achieve the two objectives outlined above, i.e. the evaluation of the performance of Islamic banks operating in the GCC region and the identification of the explanatory factors of efficiency. The first stage involved elaborating a non-parametric frontier using the DEA method for the assessment of the various components of productive efficiency. The second stage involved explaining the differences in performance.

Table 2. Benchmark Performance Measures of Islamic Banks vis-a-vis Conventional Banks

According to the information given on the table 2 Average of Commercial Banks with similar asset size in the countries where Islamic Banks are present. Commercial banks are selected in a way they are similar to Islamic Banks in size, measured in total assets. All commercial banks are selected the third quartile by size in each country in 2001. The value of each ratio represents the average in the period 1994-2001. [8]

Figure 1. Share of Islamic Banks in Total Banking System in Selected Countries, 2006 (Percent)

Because the number of banks alone does not give a full picture of how important Islamic banks are, we compare the number of Islamic banks with the total number of banks across countries (Figure 1). Even in countries with only a few Islamic institutions, such as Brunei, Islamic banks have a strong presence. What we see is that in the Gulf region in general and in some African countries with sizeable Muslim population, the number of Islamic banks is relatively large. In other regions, the share of Islamic banks is in the single digits, indicating less importance. [8]

Deposit accounts

All the Islamic banks have three kinds of deposit accounts: current, savings and investment.

Current accounts. Current or demand deposit accounts are virtually the same as in all conventional banks. Deposit is guaranteed.

Savings accounts. Savings deposit accounts operate in different ways. In some banks, the depositors allow the banks to use their money but they obtain a guarantee of getting the full amount back from the bank. Banks adopt several methods of inducing their clients to deposit with them, but no profit is promised. In others, savings accounts are treated as investment accounts but with less stringent conditions as to withdrawals and minimum balance. Capital is not guaranteed but the banks take care to invest money from such accounts in relatively risk-free short-term projects. As such lower profit rates are expected and that too only on a portion of the average minimum balance on the ground that a high level of reserves needs to be kept at all times to meet withdrawal demands.