Maldives Islamic Bank (MIB), the nation's first full-fledged Islamic bank, is celebrating its 15th anniversary, marking a significant milestone in the development of Shariah compliant banking in the Maldives. Established in 2011 and officially launched on the 7th March in Male, MIB has played a pioneering role in delivering ethical, interest-free financial services grounded in principles of fairness, transparency and responsible finance. Over the years, the bank has expanded access to Islamic banking across the atolls through innovation, digital solutions and an extensive service network, contributing meaningfully to financial inclusion and national economic growth.

While Islamic banking's significant market share and systemic importance within the banking system are often highlighted as notable achievements, a troubling reality undermines this success: a substantial portion of investments in several Islamic banks are non-performing. To contain systemic risks and avoid destabilising the banking system, the central bank has merged five of the 10 full-fledged Islamic banks into the state-backed Sammilito Islami Bank. With a large volume of non-performing investments (NPIs), the Islamic banking sector's urgent priorities include asset recovery, liquidity management, and restoring confidence.

Your career uniquely bridges experience across international markets and Bangladesh. How have these dual experiences shaped your understanding of the practical and theoretical challenges involved in developing robust sukuk markets? International experience offers valuable insights into how more mature jurisdictions facilitate sukuk through clearer regulatory frameworks, stronger market infrastructure, and well-defined governance arrangements. However, the realities in emerging markets, such as Bangladesh, are materially different. Regulatory regimes are still evolving, technical capacity among stakeholders remains nascent, and supporting market infrastructure is limited.

In Malaysia, conversations around financial consumer protection have gained momentum in recent years. Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has strengthened policies to safeguard customers disadvantaged by age, disability, literacy gaps, or socioeconomic barriers. The March 2024 revision of the Fair Treatment of Financial Consumers Policy Document was a milestone, offering a more comprehensive definition of "vulnerable consumer". Yet one form of vulnerability remains missing from the regulatory conversation: financial abuse.

This study aims to examine the implementation of core banking systems (CBSs) in Islamic banking windows (IBWs) in Bangladesh, where conventional and Islamic banking coexist. It explores how IBWs balance operational efficiency with Shariah compliance when choosing between a standalone Islamic banking CBS (IB-CBS) and an Islamic banking module (IB-Module) within a conventional banking CBS (CB-CBS). The research analyses the technological, operational and governance aspects of CBS adoption. This study uses a qualitative research design that integrates survey responses from Islamic banking professionals with data on CBS adoption across IBWs in Bangladesh, further supported by semi-structured interviews with senior IBW executives. This triangulated approach enhances the credibility of the findings and ensures that operational realities are accurately captured. The thematic analysis focuses on Shariah compliance, operational efficiency, system integration and governance oversight. Despite practitioners' preference for IB-CBSs for Shariah compliance and flexibility in product development and innovation, most IBWs adopt IB-Modules due to institutional priorities, vendor dynamics and cost considerations. Middleware and application programming interface (API) driven integration is identified as potential solutions for reconciling efficiency with compliance in the implementation of IB-CBSs. The study's limitations include a small sample size, reflecting limited access to senior IBW executives and its focus on Bangladesh, which may limit generalisability across different jurisdictions. Nonetheless, the triangulated methodology enhances validity and provides a foundation for future comparative research. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to systematically examine the adoption of CBS in IBWs. By integrating practitioner insights, it identifies how CBS design influences both operational efficiency and Shariah compliance in dual-banking contexts, while also highlighting limitations in current systems. By focusing on the "engine room" of IBWs - the CBS - the study addresses a critical gap and advances the understanding of Islamic banking infrastructure, providing insights for regulators, practitioners and policymakers on strengthening compliance, efficiency and market credibility in Islamic banking.