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Islamic Finance and Investment

Level of program/audience: Advanced undergraduate and postgraduate.

Intermediate and Advanced Finance, Economics, Islamic Economics & Finance, Islamic Banking & Finance, Islamic Capital Market and other relevant courses.

Capital markets instruments, conventional or Islamic.

This case focuses on Tracoma Holding Berhad Bai Bithaman Ajil Debt Securities (BaIDS) amounting to RM 100 million which was issued by Tracoma Holding Berhad in 2005. It was the first issuance of a sukuk (Islamic debt securities or bond) by the company. The proceeds were used to finance its growth and to repay existing bank borrowings and capital requirements. This case is interesting, as it allows students to study the bai bithaman ajil sukuk structure and issuance process in the Malaysian capital market. It also provides basic financial transaction and credit rating of sukuk which requires analytical skills. Being a debt-based facility, the sukuk was subjected to credit rating evaluation by the MARC, the rating agency appointed by the company. Further downgrading of the sukuk meant it would lead to the worst-case scenario. Some actions needed to be taken to solve this issue; therefore, the CFO suggested an urgent meeting with the sukuk holders.

The students should be able to: understand the issuance process and the principle of BBA (bai bithamin ajil) in sukuk structure; understand reason(s) methods of fund raising by firm and the allocations of fund; understand the sukuk default issue; analyze the reasons for sukuk default; understand the importance of debt securities credit ratings; and identify investors' protection in the case of sukuk default.

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This chapter provides a case study on a Sharīʿah-compliant home facility contract based on the Bai Bithaman Ājil (BBA) contract, generally used by Islamic banks in Malaysia. The study emphasises on the need to comply with the existing legal framework and execute relevant contracts in line with the Sharīʿah resolutions of the Sharīʿah Advisory Council of Bank Negara Malaysia without causing harm (ḍarar) to the customers or introducing uncertain elements or procedures (gharar) in the execution of the agreements. This chapter is based on doctrinal analysis of the relevant issues as well as a qualitative legal research through content analysis of relevant BBA agreements, case law as well as statutory provisions. The case study used in this chapter is completely anonymised. The study finds that the execution of BBA agreements in Malaysia leaves much to be desired. Even though the regulatory framework for Sharīʿah-compliant home financing in Malaysia is robust, there are some legal and Sharīʿah considerations which the stakeholders need to look into in order to project Malaysia as the main global hub of Islamic finance. This study demonstrates the need for proper Sharīʿah auditing of the practical execution of BBA agreements to avoid an incorporated element of gharar at the time of execution of the agreements, which might ultimately lead to unforeseen reputation risks for the bank. Though there are several studies on the Sharīʿah, financing and accounting aspects of the BBA home facility agreement, this study focusses on both Sharīʿah and legal issues, using the case study approach. The recommendations are expected to provide a good policy framework for the stakeholders in the Islamic financial services industry in Malaysia.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the meaning, nature and measurement of Shariah non-compliant risk faced by Islamic banks.

Al-bai-bithaman ajil (BBA) contract documentation is analyzed in the light of the legal environment in Malaysia and measurement of Shariah non-compliant risk based on constructed or hypothetical cases.

Shariah non-compliant risk will adversely affect bank’s earnings when BBA contracts are deemed invalid in the court of law, either in a foreclosure or ruling via court declaration.

The paper is written based on content analysis, Malaysian legal cases with hypothetical examples for better understanding.

Islamic banking should be able to use the findings to estimate potential loss from Shariah non-compliant risk and make the necessary provisions.

This paper provides new insights of risks faced by credit-intensive Islamic banks, that when relinquishing critical requirement of Islamic contract such as ownership risk will suffer loss.

The purpose of this paper is to understand consumers’ willingness to choose Islamic mortgage products as a way to help Islamic banks tap into the Islamic mortgage sector in Malaysia.

Using the Theory of Interpersonal Behaviour as a point of departure, this study proposes a framework that examines factors influencing consumers’ willingness to choose Islamic mortgage products. A total of 282 usable surveys are obtained from customers of Islamic banks and the data were analysed using partial least squares.

The results indicate that affect, social factors, and facilitating conditions influence willingness to choose Islamic mortgages. Besides these factors, the added factors, namely, perceived risk and perceived financial benefit, significantly influence consumers’ willingness to choose Islamic mortgages.

This study is confined to two public universities in Malaysia. Further testing of the proposed model across different population groups is necessary to determine the generalisability of this study’s findings. This study applies consumer factors such as affect, social factors, facilitating conditions, perceived risk and perceived financial benefit. Further testing on other factors is needed to expand the findings in this area.

The results could help bank managers make improved decisions about the factors which they need to effectively market Islamic mortgage products. This study provides insights and guidance for bank managers to manage Islamic mortgage products.

The main contribution of this paper is a proposed framework of consumers’ willingness to choose Islamic mortgage products which takes into account the key factors necessary to predict consumers’ demand.

This study aims to examine the factors influencing the consumer acceptance on Islamic home financing products amongst clients of Islamic banks. For the purpose, the study extends the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) in explaining the Islamic home financing adoption along. Further, the study also intends to analyze the effects of “Islamicity of product” and seven demographic factors on the consumer acceptance of Islamic home financing products.

Using the TPB model as a baseline theory, data are collected from bank customers in East Malaysia involving two cities, namely, Kota Kinabalu and Labuan, using self-administered questionnaires. A total of 300 questionnaires are distributed; however, only 278 are found usable. We use ordered probit model to analyze the effects of attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, Islamicity of product and demographic factors.

Using the ordered probit model, this study finds that attitude, subjective norm, perceived control and Islamicity of product are instrumental in determining the consumer acceptance of Islamic home financing products. Concerned with demographic items, the study finds that marital status, ethnic, occupation and religion are influential. It is also discovered, however, that gender, academic qualification and monthly income have little effects on the consumer acceptance.

Three limitations are available for future studies. First, the current work does not include the experienced users who patronize Islamic home financing products. Second, the contribution of the present study is confined to the analyzed explanatory variables. Third, this study also has geographical constraint in which it is conducted in East Malaysia whilst samples from West-Malaysia are overlooked. These limitations, however, provide directions for further future research.

Essentially, this study is a pioneering effort in applying the TPB model to the new context of Islamic home financing products in Malaysia. The study integrates the effects of Islamicity of product and demographic factors on the consumer acceptance on Islamic home financing products. The TPB model is proven valid and is reliable in predicting the consumer acceptance on Islamic home financing products.

This study introduces Islamicity of product and demographic factors in explaining the consumer acceptance on Islamic home financing products. Most fundamentally, this study proposes a modified theoretical framework that is of paramount importance to predict the demand of Islamic home financing products in the future.

The purpose of this paper is to examine customers' perception on two modes of home financing namely Bai Bithaman Ajil (BBA), debt‐based financing, and diminishing partnership (DP), an equity‐based financing, focusing on the concepts used, methods of computation and pricing, Shariah compliant, justice and equality, societal well being and equitable distribution of wealth and income and preference for the products.

The perception of respondents towards BBA and DP home financing were obtained by distributing a self‐administered survey questionnaire to a sample of 320 postgraduate students from three universities. Postgraduate students are considered suitable samples for this study because they are educated and own a house or intended to own one in the future.

Customers are dissatisfied with the prevailing mode of BBA financing as the bank's profit is computed upfront resulting in high pricing, injustice and a burden to individuals and society. On the other hand, the DP home financing mode is more preferred as profit and risk is shared between the customer and bank resulting in greater fairness, justice and equity. Its features also meet the purpose of the Shariah (Maqasid al Shariah).

The use of convenience sampling and postgraduate students may not sufficiently capture the variations that could potentially exist in the market.

There is a need for Islamic banks to move away from their dependence on debt mode of financing such as Murabahah and BBA to equity financing. The latter mode provides them with greater flexibility and innovation which can be used to fulfill customers' needs and wants.

The paper provides empirical evidence on the viability of home ownership based on equity financing which reduces customers' debt over a long period. This is due to the flexibility of purchasing the bank's share to own the house earlier. The DP model can also be used for the purchase of equipment and vehicles. It can also be applied to joint ventures and private equity arrangements.

The purpose of this paper is to find out the existing practices of the Islamic banks in providing financing to the customers who have a requirement to purchase a finished property and to examine the existing products used by the Islamic banks in this regard by providing an insight into the modus operandi of these products. In doing this, attempt is made to find out the most famous product offered by the Islamic banks in this regard and to find out whether in reality, Malaysian Islamic banking industry has moved away from Bai Bithaman Ajil (BBA) or not.

This is a qualitative research, largely library-based, and it will consist of secondary sources such as books, journals, articles and other sources related to the Islamic house financing in Malaysia for finished properties. Recent information of the practises of the banks in this regard is obtained from the official websites of the banks.

It is found from this study that majority of Islamic Banks in Malaysia prefer to use the Commodity Murabahah facility for finished property. This finding contradicts with the observations made by some scholars who state that in Malaysia, BBA was initially used, and nowadays, the use of Musharakah Mutanaqisah is more common. The reason why Commodity Murbahah has gained popularity is because of the fact that via the Bursa Suq Al Sila platform, it is easy, swift, reliable, profitable, cheaper, convenient and has zero risk to do this type of transaction at the comfort of the office. It is recommended in this paper to use Musharakah Mutanaqisah, as this contract is an innovative contract that is classified as an equity contract under shariah where risk is shared between the parties. There is need to conduct further research to implement Musharakah Mutanaqisah in Malaysia, specifically to reduce the risk that Islamic Banks will bear by practicing this contract.

The findings of this paper might create confusion among readers, as some may perceive that the finding of the paper is not new as BBA has been dominating Islamic house financing industry from the inception of Islamic banking in the country, and BBA and Murabahah are similar in nature, and as such, commodity Murabahah is also a Murabahah transaction. The reality that needs to be understood is that the way BBA was or is practised in Malaysia in relation to Islamic house financing is that in the name of BBA, the transaction actually followed the Bai’ ‘inah contract, which is a controversial contract among the shariah scholars. Likewise, commodity Murabahah is also a different contract than Murabahah, as it actually refers to tawarruq. As such, this research finding is important to the Islamic banking industry to understand that Malaysia has moved away from the Bai’ ‘inah contract practised in the name of BBA in Islamic house financing, and there are new products introduced by the Islamic banks in Malaysia to replace this practice which were criticised by Shariah scholars.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the development of Islamic home financing and some of its practical issues. In addition, the study also intends to draw attention to some recommendations to the issues highlighted from the viewpoint of industrial experts.

The methodology for this study follows the qualitative research approach which aims to capture the thoughts and extensive knowledge of a few related experts in the field. Eight respondents who are mainly scholars and bankers in Islamic banking were selected for the interview purpose. A semi-structured interview was adopted to investigate a series of themes concerning the Islamic home financing in Malaysia.

In terms of development, the findings showed that a majority of the participants agreed that the Islamic banking and finance (IBF) is developing in line with its counterpart – the conventional banks. This is due to its innovation in products as well as offering a variety of financial products including home financing. Some of the practical issues highlighted by the respondents include pricing, adherence to conventional framework and interest rate movement. Islamic home financing is argued to be much more expensive and faces difficulty in working within a conventional framework. The issue of interest rate movement is also becoming a major hurdle in Islamic banking due to the absence of a proper benchmark for IBF. At present, IBF still follows the benchmark set by its conventional counterpart. Furthermore, the respondents also believed that the product of home financing, together with other financial products, are not in line with the teaching of Shariah principles and guideline. In addressing those issues, the respondents provided some suggestions to counter those problems, which include promoting Islamic home financing, particularly in terms of Musharakah Mutanaqisah (MM), ensuring the transparency of products, strengthening due diligence, legal aspect and others.

This study is limited in terms of the relatively small number of respondents used to generate its findings. Time constraint is another limiting factor of the research. Additionally, potential respondents in a higher position were unable to take part in the study. Due to these factors, the generalisation of the study’s findings will be visibly restricted.

This paper is expected to generate several practical implications. Firstly, the study’s exploration of the issues surrounding home financing will likely provide a general overview of the recent development in Islamic banking and the challenges it faces. Consequently, this will indirectly help policymakers and bankers alike to design a better policy when dealing with Islamic home financing issues. In the review of various literatures in the field, a majority of research studies were observed to mainly focus on a quantitative approach. Hence, in terms of methodological innovation, the study’s use of qualitative inquiry based on an interview method may provide a deeper understanding of the matter. The resolutions proposed by the various experts are hoped to contribute to shaping a better framework and system in Islamic and conventional home financing in Malaysia.

Despite having many literatures revealing mixed results concerning Islamic home financing, especially the Bai Bithaman Ajil and MM, addressing the issues of Islamic home financing, particularly from an expert perspective, has been lacking. The majority of research studies claim those issues from a theoretical viewpoint rather than a practical one. With this gap and lack of initiative, the current study is motivated to undertake an in-depth analysis on the issues of Islamic home financing and how to address those arising issues from an industrial expert’s point of view via a qualitative approach.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of subjective norm, relative advantage, simplicity, compatibility and perceived behavioural control on the Islamic home financing adoption. It also examines the effects of subjective norm, relative advantage, simplicity and compatibility on attitude. Analyses of attitude as a mediating factor are also provided.

Survey data from 237 usable questionnaires are employed to test the hypothesized relationships. The proposed hypothesized relationships are examined using partial least squares (PLS). Similarly, PLS is also extended to analyse attitude as a potential mediator for the relationships between subjective norm, relative advantage, simplicity and compatibility with the Islamic home financing adoption. Baron and Kenny's (1986) procedure is used to evaluate the role of attitude as a potential mediating factor in the research's framework.

This study discovers an integrative approach that is valid in the case of Islamic home financing. The paper's results, however, have not supported the effect of compatibility on attitude towards Islamic home financing preference and it is also reported that attitude does not mediate for the relationship between compatibility and the Islamic home financing adoption.

This study, however, suffers from three limitations which further stimulate new researches in this area. First, this research does not consider additional measures to capture Islamic home financing adoption. Second, this study discovers attitude does not mediate the relationship between compatibility and the Islamic home financing adoption. Third, there is a possibility that attitude also serves as a moderator, however, but it is presently unconsidered.

This study has several implications for Islamic banks to develop proper planning for Islamic home financing products. Those implications are provided.

This study is the first research in Islamic home financing's area to integrate two models namely the theory of planned behaviour (the TPB) and the innovation diffusion theory (the IDT) in a single research in order to expound Islamic home financing adoption. This study contributes to the literature by examining an integrative approach for understanding Islamic home financing adoption in Malaysia.