Islamic structured product is a shariah-compliant asset class that is considered as a recent innovation in the financial market. In view of the increasing presence of Islamic finance in the global financial scenario, research on Islamic structured product has captured substantial interests among the investment community searching for new alternatives, particularly during uncertain market conditions. This study aims to serve as one of the pioneering empirical references for investors to evaluate Islamic structured investments, and for the regulators to strengthen the regulatory framework for such products in order to continuously protect investors interests and provide a conducive environment for further growth of the industry

Purpose This paper aims to critically evaluate whether the policies of green banking set by Bangladesh Bank are Shariah compliant; according to the main sources of the Shariah Quran and Sunnah. Design/methodology/approach Green policy and guidelines have been divided into different categories such as environment protection, conservation of resources, risk management, educating people about green financing, transparency and disclosure and investing in green projects according to the common measures as stated in three different phases of the policy and guidelines. Subsequently, these major aspects of the green policy and guidelines are linked to the main references of the Shariah, i.e. the holy Quran and Sunnah of Prophet [peace be upon him (pbuh)]. Findings Various verses of the holy Quran and teachings of Prophet (pbuh) related to the major categories of Green policy and guidelines are being presented to show the compliance with Shariah. Practical implications The Green policy and guidelines are very much in-line with Shariah. Though all types of banks in Bangladesh are bound to implement the green banking policy, however, Shariah compliance of green banking policy will be encouraging for all Islamic Banks of Bangladesh for their further and profounder involvement in it. Social implications As green policies are found to be Shariah complaint, the Islamic banks are expected to contribute more to the sustainable economic growth of the country by successfully implementing the green financing policies compare to their conventional counterpart. Originality/value Verses of holy Quran and authentic Hadiths related to environmental sustainability concept show that Islam is a green religion as well as green banking policy is Islamic.

Development of the global sukuk market has been pioneered by Malaysia with the launch of the first sovereign 5-year global sukuk of US$600 million in 2002. Since then, the sovereign sukuk market has developed rapidly, with sovereign sukuk being issued by the Governments of Turkey, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Indonesia to name a few. In view that sovereign securities are not totally free from default, there is also a great deal of concern associated with them as some of the issuing countries have experienced major debt servicing problems in the past such as the Greek debt crisis. As such, it is essential to analyze whether the sovereign sukuk yields do reflect the macroeconomic fundamentals of the issuing country. Based on the analysis of five countries in Asia and the Middle East, this study employs panel data from 2006 to 2013 and shows that only the inflation rate is able to explain the movement of sovereign sukuk yields. The insignificance of other macroeconomic variables such as GDP growth and money supply indicate that tagging the economic growth of the issuing country onto the pricing of sovereign sukuk yields may not be feasible at this juncture. Hence, it is concluded that in order to develop a standalone pricing mechanism different from the one used by the conventional bond market, more efforts are needed so that the sukuk market will expand with even more market player participation to create the liquidity needed for it to develop its own pricing mechanism.