Bank financing is an important external source of financing for SMEs. However, banks often considered SMEs as riskier than large enterprises and therefore use various tools to mitigate their risks in SME lending / financing such as imposing collateral requirement, higher pricing and credit rationing. This may limit access to finance for the SMEs. By understanding SME default risk better, banks may reduce or eliminate the collateral requirement, lower the pricing or avoid credit rationing thus improving access to finance for the SMEs. Studies have considered various risk factors and their impact on default. However, none, to the best of my knowledge has considered religion as a risk factor. Religion has been shown to influence individual decision-making that affects economic outcomes. Thus, this thesis postulates that religion may have an effect on SME default risk too. The thesis examines religion from four perspectives; as a loan characteristics i.e. Islamic financing and conventional loan, as a firm characteristic i.e. Muslim and non-Muslim owned SME, as a brand and religiosity ...

There has been more concern with meeting immediate needs in the Islamic world than with longer-term issues of sustainability, as much of the region remains poor. Debate and writing on environmental issues in this region has therefore largely lagged behind elsewhere. It is worth noting that the 1.2 billion Muslims account for only 10 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions, while the United States, with less than a quarter of that population, is responsible for 20 per cent.

This title examines the resilience of Islamic banking during the global financial crisis and the subsequent recession. Do Islamic financial institutions perform better during periods of financial stress? How do Islamic financial institutions manage risk, given their unique characteristics and the need for Shari'ah compliance? This volume looks at the challenges for Islamic financial institutions in an international post-Basel II system where banks are required to have more capital and liquidity. It also examines the influence of governance on client and investor perceptions and their implications for institutional stability and sustainability.

This book presents a detailed examination of the use of common and civil law to license and govern Islamic financial institutions. Making international comparisons, it discusses specific laws from Iran, where all banking is Shari'ah compliant, to Malaysia and the Gulf, where Islamic financial institutions compete with conventional banks. As most Islamic banks operate under national banking laws, consideration is given as to how - and indeed whether - these need to be amended.

Microfinance involves the provision of financial services for those too poor to have access to banks. Although microfinance schemes have been operational since the 1960s, they mostly involve conventional finance whereas many low-income Muslims would prefer to have shari'a-compliant finance. The aim of this chapter is to explore how microfinace could be provided on a shari'a-compliant basis and what instruments and structures could be used. The literature in this area has been very limited, but there have been a number of recent notable contributiions indicating the increasing interest in the topic.

Against the backdrop of a comatose or almost non-existent waqf system or institution in the Nigerian state, the thesis was designed with an wholistic objective of enhancing the operability of waqfs in Nigeria by ultimately prescribing policies and writing a waqf law for Nigeria such that will expedite establishing a sound and well-functioning waqf system in the country. Adopting qualitative research; in-country case studies, interviews, legal reasoning, descriptions and narratives, we studied the classical waqfs in Islam as well as the historic and modern experiences of waqf in selected countries of the (Muslim) world ...

The Russian Federation is emerging and yet, according to some experts, potentially successful marketplace for Islamic financial system development and it is in the stage of choosing the path it should take to achieve this goal. It is essential to determine the best possible option that could be suitable for it to adopt as the reputational risk is very high (and moreover, unfortunately it has already faced the compelled termination of several Islamic finance projects in its history). Should the Russian Federation learn from the experience of other Muslim-minority countries (there is also a misconception revealed in this paper that it is not correct to put Muslim-majority ...

A good financial sector is an important requirement in any country in achieving economic growth. Withour proper regulations, a financial sector will not be deemed productive. The Somalia Federal Government has identified the development of the banking sector as one of the six crucial factors for reviving the country's economy. Hence, the federal government has allocated more than $2.5 million to regulate this sector. The Central Bank of Somalia Act 2011 states that all the banks should comply with Shariah laws, as Somali society being one hundred percent Muslim. However, with the absence of any Islamic bank regulations in Somalia, it enables the country to develop or adopt any regulation that is deemed workable ...