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This paper aims to understand corporate social responsibility (CSR) narrative under the Islamic banking paradigm by three aspects, narrative review of the literature, review of the definitions of CSR and review of factors that cause divergence from conventional percepts.

This is a theoretical paper based on literature and aims to understand the CSR narrative under the paradigm of Islamic banking.

Religion brings new dimensions of ethics and expands the scope of morality in business. Islamic banking is a new wave of corporation whose social goals are as much important as making profit. There are diverse narrations and definitions prevailing in the literature of CSR under the Islamic paradigm which also encounters the aspects of divergence from conventional percepts. The academic debate of CSR-Islamic banking brings on surface a plausible CSR paradigm, that is to guide the role of Islamic banking in society under the Islamic provisions, ethics and axioms. This paper also paves the way for future direction, particularly in terms of a holistic understanding of CSR narrative under the Islamic banking paradigm.

This is a theoretical paper; it primarily discusses the theoretical aspects of CSR narrative under the paradigm of Islamic banking, while it does not give insight into the empirical narrative or disclosure of CSR in Islamic banking.

The theoretical review of literature brings plausible understanding, that Islamic banking is a new wave of corporate and has standings on divine guidance. The structure of the institution in its foundation insists on real economic activity. The legitimacy of Islamic banking has roots in ethical compliance and in inculcating the broader interests of stakeholders. There are several social responsibilities, which are expected from the practitioners of Islamic banking. The practitioners as well must understand that the CSR of Islamic banking is far beyond the conventional percepts of CSR.

There are several normative and theoretical studies in the domain of CSR-Islamic banking. It is hard to find a comprehensive narrative review of such literature. This review is unique, which brings a holistic understanding of CSR narrative under the Islamic banking paradigm.

This study aims to examine whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) of Islamic banking is delivering financial returns or otherwise enhancing the cost.

The methodology of this study includes the content-analysis approach with aid of the CSR disclosure index, and it deploys the partial least squares regression to examine the CSR-financial performance relationship. Regarding CSR disclosure and financial measures, this study takes the data from the annual reports of Islamic banking of Pakistan, from the year 2003 to 2017.

The results of this study indicate that there is a significant positive relationship exists between CSR and financial performance of Islamic banks, consistent with the instrumental-stakeholder theory. These results imply that Islamic banks, which ensure that CSR is practiced extensively, and aim to positively affect their stakeholders, perform well. Hence, the CSR engagement by Islamic banks yields instrumental returns rather it is a cost.

Islamic banks of Pakistan must work on a better CSR policy, it would enhance the reputation of Islamic banks, on the other hand, it would also increase their capabilities to cope with future reputation damage and negative news, thus it would protect and secure the financial results. In addition to these, investors of Islamic banks must also look at the social and ethical engagements of Islamic banks of Pakistan, while making investment decisions.

In general, there is a dearth of research in the domain of CSR-financial performance regarding Islamic banking. This is one of the studies which contributes to this area.

This paper aims to gauge the level of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure of Islamic banks of Pakistan.

The annual reports of Islamic banks of Pakistan from the year 2003 to 2017 were considered as the source of data. The content analysis method was used to gauge the level of CSR disclosure with the help of the CSR disclosure index. Islamic banks proclaim religiously motivated and ethical institutions; hence, full disclosure was expected from Islamic banks in the domain of CSR.

The average level of CSR disclosure of Islamic banks after a one-and-a-half decade of Islamic banking in Pakistan is 31.23%, which is far below the expected level of CSR disclosure and even below the mean level. The mean comparison analyzes show that the level of CSR disclosure differs among the Islamic banks, old and large Islamic banks are disclosing more information, in addition, the local Islamic banks have a relatively high level of CSR disclosure as compare to the foreign Islamic banks.

The current CSR disclosure policy of the government regarding corporations in Pakistan is insufficient. There is a need to revise this policy which may result in higher CSR disclosure. The results indicate, that there is a difference in CSR disclosure among local and foreign Islamic banks, so this policy must address this aspect as well.

Islamic banking proclaims a new wave of the corporate that has higher social objectives, but a contradiction exists among the ideology and reality of social responsibility of Islamic banks. Then, this study also supports that the same dilemma of low CSR disclosure also prevails in the Islamic banks of Pakistan.

This paper begins with a challenge to explore the scope and dimensions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Islamic banking and design a CSR disclosure index, which may gauge the level of CSR disclosure in Islamic banking.

It adopts a two-fold approach to develop the CSR disclosure index for Islamic banking, such as “identification” and “prioritization.” In the ambit of identification, it relies on the existing literature related to CSR and Islamic banking. However, it undertakes analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method for prioritization through the sample of 104 experts related to Islamic banking of Pakistan.

It concludes the CSR index for Islamic banking contains five dimensions, including 79 items across 20 sub-dimensions. The results of AHP indicate that the CSR dimensions are important for Shariah governance, employee, community, customer and environment. Moreover, within dimensions, the most important sub-dimensions are Shariah compliance, customer service and quality, green investing/banking, customer relationship, training and development and poverty alleviation.

The CSR disclosure index of this study has important implications for academicians, such as it paves the ways for further investigations and practical usage of index to gauge the level CSR disclosure of Islamic banking. Moreover, it delineates the spectrum of responsibilities for managers of Islamic banking under the domain of CSR.

The proposed CSR disclosure index is comprehensive and stresses on the social responsibility of Islamic banking toward stakeholders. In nutshell, this study offers what is expected from the practitioners of Islamic banking in the domain of social responsibility.

The Government of Malaysia has developed an Islamic Interbank Money Market since January 1994 with the objective to facilitate funding for the Islamic banking sector in the country. This platform also enables Islamic banks to obtain Sharīʿah-compliant funds from other Islamic banks. This study aims to examine the effects of interbank investment and financing risk on the financing decisions of Malaysia’s Islamic banks between 1994 and 2015. The financing decisions are used as financing measures to determine the effect of investing in the interbank market and financing risk indicators on financing.

The descriptive, correlation and dynamic panel analysis results are derived with the help of LIMDEP 9.0 software.

The study found a negative relationship between the interbank investment variable with the financing decisions of Islamic banks. This reflects that an increase in interbank investment leads Islamic banks to reduce their level of financing. These findings prove that the investment activities between Islamic banks had a “substitution effect” and decreased their capability of financing because of their tendency to maintain liquidity.

Islamic banks are confident that they will generate higher profits in the coming financial year. The economic conditions of Malaysia do not influence Islamic banks’ financing decisions, whereas Islamic banks in this study are more dependent on the balance sheet indicators.

Purpose – This research analyses the stability of a number of banks operating in Malaysia by using descriptive statistical analysis based on internal variables. These include the characteristics of the bank, capital adequacy ratio, ratio of profitability, liquidity ratio and the ratio of bank operations.

Methodology/approach – Each bank’s stability is studied using z-score analysis. Data are sourced from the balance sheets and income statements of the banks from 2000 to 2011.

Findings – The results indicate that characteristics of a bank do influence a bank’s performance. There are significant differences in financial ratios between Islamic and conventional banking. Islamic banks provide a lower loan loss of capital to cover impaired loans than conventional banks. This provides high capital based on the mean value obtained. The capital ratio allows both sets of banks to meet the capital adequacy ratio set by the Central Bank of Malaysia. Meanwhile, in profitability ratios, conventional banks have higher returns on higher assets, whereas Islamic Banking has higher returns on higher equity. Only 8 Islamic banks and 11 conventional banks are highly stable banking institutions in Malaysia.

Originality/value – Islamic and conventional banking systems in Malaysia need further improvement to deal with unexpected economics crises and increased competition between the two. Hence, Islamic banking must be refined, especially for improving their stability to attract more investments for further development and performance.

The aim of this paper is to empirically test the presence of the bank lending channel for the Islamic banking system in Malaysia.

Distributional effects from monetary policy changes were analyzed by three bank characteristics such as size, liquidity and capital. Using the econometric model by Kashyap and Stein (1995), the implementation of a policy contraction leads to reduction in loan supply because some banks may not able to offset a reduction in deposits. The paper explores the response shown between domestic and foreign Islamic banks in Malaysia using bank-level data from 2005 to 2010.

The empirical result indicates presence of the bank lending channel in the Islamic banking system in Malaysia, size and liquidity as sources of difference response of financing supply in domestic bank and capital for foreign Islamic bank and Islamic interbank rate as an efficient tool in conducting monetary policy especially in the Islamic banking system.

The paper manages to explore the effectiveness of Islamic the monetary policy tools in the Islamic Banking system in Malaysia. Using Islamic interbank rate as a policy tool, it provides valuable view to policy makers, who are analyzing for efficiency of transmission channel.

Purpose – This study investigates the management of asset structures in Malaysia’s commercial banking sector.

Methodology/approach – The study uses unbalanced panel data from 17 Islamic banks in Malaysia, covering the period 1997 to 2012. All significant data have been taken into account in analysing whether there is a relationship between asset structure management and certain factors involving bank-specific financial conditions and macroeconomic features. These include financing, deposits, profits, money supply, gross domestic product (GDP) and composite indices.

Findings – The results reveal that asset management structure is significant for total financing, total deposits, money supply, GDP and composite indices. In conclusion, the management of asset structures acts to efficiently prevent any unexpected crises that may affect banking operations.

Originality/value – The structure of asset management in Islamic banking is influenced by internal and external factors which have the most impact on asset management by Islamic banks. Islamic banking also provides more financing to reduce their risk and at the same time they attempt to increase deposits and investment in due to interest rate volatility in conventional banking.