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The purpose of this study is primarily to implement the emerging market (EM) Z‐score model to predict bankruptcy and to measure the financial performance of major Islamic banks in the UAE. In addition, this study aims to introduce the Z‐score model to this industry as a beneficial diagnostic tool for possible causes standing behind the deterioration of financial performance.

The methodology that has been used in this study is based on Z‐score model for EMs developed by Altman. The related studies have proved that Z‐score has more than 80 percent accuracy and verified it is a robust tool and is useful in assessing the business performance and prediction of potential distress of firms. The approach determined in this study is to examine the financial statements of the UAE Islamic banks by calculating the EM Z‐score for the past three years and comparing it with the current year's score as an effort to measure the overall financial performance as well as the likelihood of bankruptcy of the UAE Islamic banks.

The paper finds that UAE Islamic banks should work on improving the ratios that are dragging their scores down to better understand their past performance and realize their current position in the industry; Z‐score can be adopted by the UAE Islamic banks as effective evaluation approach toward financing the potential long‐term partnership projects including small and medium business enterprises (SMEs); Z‐score model can be adapted by Islamic banks as an independent credit risk analysis approach to measure the competencies and financial strengths of potential projects; Islamic banks in the UAE are by and large financially sound and healthy and that Z‐score is a beneficial analytical tool that can be adapted by Islamic banks in the UAE to complement other financial analysis techniques to establish Islamic banking industry averages. The study also finds that the ratios used in calculating Z‐score can be considered to provide valuable instrumental indicators.

Z‐score model is a valid model to measure the performance of Islamic banks and the ratios used in calculating Z‐score can be considered to provide valuable instrumental indicators. Z‐score can be adopted by the UAE Islamic banks to finance long‐term partnership projects and SMEs. Limitations including the Islamic banking industry are still considered small size, which might has negative effect on the maximum outcomes of the study. Future studies are needed toward updating the coefficient values connected to each ratios in Z‐score model as per the inputs from the Islamic banking industry.

Z‐score model is a valid model to measure Islamic banks performance and the ratios used in calculating Z‐score can be considered to provide valuable instrumental indicators. Z‐score can be adopted by the UAE Islamic banks to finance long‐term partnership projects and SMEs.

The model is believed to widen the industry exposure in order to finance more projects and companies which is believed will reflect positively on the society welfare. By adopted Z‐score SMEs will be provided with all financings needed specially providing the microfinance for small projects.

Introducing Z‐score to the Islamic banking industry as crucial credit risk measuring tool.

The purpose of this paper is to identify any differences between the Islamic and non‐Islamic banks in the UAE on credit risk management.

The study uses survey based methodology for data collection. The sample for the study consists of six commercial banks from UAE with three non‐Islamic and three Islamic banks and with 148 credit risk managers as respondents for the survey. The study aims to investigate factors which distinguish between Islamic and non‐Islamic banks in UAE. This is achieved by fitting a binary logistic regression model.

The study shows that the managers in Islamic banks now do not rely only on personal experiences and simple credit risk analysis. The Islamic banks appear also to be developing and practising the newer and robust techniques, in addition to traditional methods, to manage their credit risk in UAE compared to non‐Islamic banks, which indicates a possibility of further improvement in their credit risk management.

The paper uses questionnaire‐based methodology, which has not been used previously in the UAE financial sector, as well as in studies of credit risk management. Therefore, this research could become the cornerstone of further academic research in other developing countries using this methodology.

This paper aims to investigate customer attitude towards the use of emerging social media platforms (SMPs) for promotional activities by United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based Islamic banks, particularly, in the post-COVID-19 era. The key drivers of this research include analysing, anticipating and providing recommendations to reinvigorate the marketing and promotional strategies of the UAE Islamic banks to spark renewed customer interest.

This study is anticipatory and descriptive in nature. Primary data is used to understand customer perception towards the use of emerging social media marketing tools by the UAE-based Islamic banks. Reliability, factor analysis and multiple regression analysis are applied to understand customer attitude. While focusing on the current COVID-19 scenario, the need for innovative structure is envisaged to meet the post-COVID-19 needs.

The findings of this research highlight the significance of emerging SMPs such as WhatsApp, TikTok, Pinterest, Viber, Snapchat and their application as promotional tools to inspire the purchase intention of customers in this virtual age. The results of the study reveal these emerging SMPs are predicted to be used as the preferred promotional tools for Islamic banks.

This paper is limited to the UAE Islamic banks and to a specified set of SMPs as promotional tools. Nevertheless, its findings have important implications that can be extended and validated through studying the post-COVID-19 customer attitude towards other innovative promotional tools used by commercial banks in general and Islamic banks in particular, in the GCC and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regions.

There is currently limited available research on the innovative social media marketing techniques and promotional strategies. This study is a novel attempt to examine the adoption of the emerging SMPs as promotional tools by the UAE Islamic banks. This paper extends value to the existing studies on the impact of the pandemic on the promotional activities of the UAE Islamic banking industry. Nonetheless, while regionally specific, it is valuable in its potential application to the Islamic banking sector in the entire GCC and MENA region in the post-COVID-19 era.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the direct and indirect moderation effects of demographic and socio-economic(s) factors on the adoption of Islamic banking in UAE.

Convenience sampling was done on the residents of Sharjah, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi. A closed-ended questionnaire with 30 items was designed and pre-tested before the start of the study. Path analysis and moderation testing were the main analytical approach. A total of 320 respondents completed the survey.

The research revealed that demographic and socio-economic(s) moderators may have direct and indirect moderation effects on the adoption of the Islamic banking in the UAE, which indicates the importance of these factors in the provision of Islamic banking products and services in the UAE.

This study further revealed that these moderators have huge practical implications for Islamic bank managers and marketers as they can exploit these demographics to enhance their market share in the UAE.

In UAE, minimal attention has been directed toward the role moderators would play in the criterion that individual investors would use in the adoption of Islamic banking products and services in a cosmopolitan environment that is experiencing competition from conventional banks.

An extensive review of the existing literature on the adoption of Islamic banking reveals that no empirical research has been undertaken to explore the role played by demographic and socio-economic(s) moderators in the adoption of Islamic banking in UAE and internationally. This study attempts to fill this gap.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the main factors that affect liquidity risk in the UAE Islamic banks.

The study examines the annual data of the seven UAE Islamic banks over the period 2008-2014. Random effects panel data model is used to estimate the impact of four bank-specific variables and two macroeconomic ones on the liquidity risk of the UAE Islamic banks via their impact on five alternative liquidity ratios.

The paper finds that bank size has a negative impact on liquidity risk according to two liquidity ratios only, and an insignificant impact according to the other three. Both capital adequacy and London interbank offered rate have significant negative impacts on liquidity risk for three liquidity ratios, and insignificant impacts on two. The effect of credit risk is negative for all adopted ratios, while that of return on assets is negative for one ratio only. Finally, real GDP has a positive effect on two ratios and an insignificant one on the others.

The study provides insights for policymakers and practitioners to choose appropriate liquidity management procedures. It emphasizes that identifying efficient procedures or policies depends on the liquidity ratio that is used as a proxy of liquidity risk and its definition, in addition to the correlation between the liquidity ratio and liquidity risk. The study also provides some guidance to Islamic banks in the UAE concerning the main factors impacting their liquidity, which can eventually enable them to support their liquidity management policies, in a way that would expand their customer base according to profitability aspects, and not only religious ones.

The paper adds to the relatively limited literature on liquidity risk in Islamic banks. It also is the first study that investigates the determinants of liquidity risk facing Islamic banks in the UAE using five alternative liquidity ratios.

This paper aims to investigate the differences in patronage factors influencing “retail customers” and “institutional clients” to bank Islamically and to identify the reasons bankers perceive that their customers’ bank with them in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

A total of 237; 416; and 70 balanced responses were collected from Islamic bankers, retail customers and institutional clients of UAE, respectively. Weighted average scores were computed for ranking the selection criteria factors across the data set and paired comparison analysis was conducted to analyse the variation of selection criteria between the data sets.

Empirical results indicate that Islamic banking practitioners maintain an identical perception with retail customers in relation to the selection criteria of Islamic banking products and services, with the “Sharīʿah-compliance” factor dominating other factors under examination. With respect to the perception regarding institutional/corporate clients, Islamic bankers exhibited a divergent perception in connection with selection criteria of Islamic banking products and services and the factor “cost and affordability” and “rates and return” are prioritized above factor “Sharīʿah-compliance”.

The scope of the study is limited to a single country. Hence, the finding of this study cannot be generalized to the other regions. Although the study covers a considerable sample from each segment, still there is an avenue for improvement by covering more respondents into the survey. Consequently, the results of this study should be read with these limitations. Further, analysis of the variation among intra divisions of each segment such as Muslim and non-Muslim with respect to retail customers; the different level of management at the banks and focusing the specific sector of the industry is beyond the scope of this study. These directions provide avenues for future research.

The study provides useful insights for bankers to revisit their marketing strategies to attract and retain more clients. Hence, the findings also suggest policy recommendations for nascent Islamic banking markets to move to the next stages of maturity. The findings of this study have implications for firms’ strategic directions and future investments of organizations, especially when the competition in the industry is intense. Future studies are recommended in other countries where the Islamic financial market share is significant.

While ample perception studies have carried out in the Islamic banking industry of the UAE, studies that focus on institutional clients, especially with reference to the factors that determine the selection criteria; studies examining banker’s perception towards Islamic banks and their clients (retail and institutional); studies that reconcile the perception of bankers and customers (retail and institutional) are all inadequately covered in existing literatures. This study attempts to fill some of these significant gaps.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of the following factors: image, awareness, Shariah compliance and individualism, on the attitude and intention of customers to use Islamic banking among Bank customers in UAE, and the mediating role of attitude in that model, using a theoretical model based on the multi-attribute attitude model, the theory of reasoned actions and the theory of planned behaviour.

The research will focus on surveying bank customers living in UAE. The researcher will use structural equation modelling to analyse the data.

Results show that attitude and awareness affect intention directly, while image, awareness, Shariah compliance and individualism affect attitude directly and intention indirectly mediated by attitude.

The sample size includes 178 bank customers living in three cities in UAE, hence, the rest of the country is not included.

The research shows the importance of Shariah compliance, individualism and image on attitude and intention and provides suggestions for banks to benefit from these aspects to widen their customer base.

The study provides an insight into individuals’ decision making and the importance of a social approach by banks when advertising.

The research is the first empirical attempt to test new factors affecting attitude towards Islamic banking in UAE.

Does Islamic finance affect economic growth? The empirical literature in this area seems to be in early stages and the results are often mixed and inconclusive. This paper aims to examine the causality between financial development in general, Islamic finance in particular and real economic growth in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Using time series data from 1990 to 2012, a bivariate vector autoregressive model was used to document the financial development-Islamic finance-growth causal nexus and to forecast growth under various scenarios. A composite indicator, as a proxy for financial development, was determined using a non-parametric approach: data envelopment analysis.

The direction of causality runs from financial development to economic growth and the reverse causality does not drive this relationship; however, the real gross domestic product (GDP) causes Islamic financial development with no reverse effect. Furthermore, the forecasting results indicate that the past relation has been a proxy for the future where financial development leads to better progress in real economic activity. This will likely continue to stimulate the development of Islamic finance.

Because the financial markets in the UAE were established in 2000, this study ignored Islamic bonds and equity product. The value of the Sukuk listed on Dubai’s exchanges is around US$36.75bn (Thomson Reuters, 2015), reinforcing Dubai’s position as an international center for Sukuk activity. Among the most important tools of the Islamic financial sector, Sukuk deserves a closer empirical study. This can set the agenda for future work.

The financial sector appears to be one of the main drivers of real economic activity. However, more effort in the area of Islamic finance is needed to promote Shari’ah-compliant economic activities and thus better contribute toward making Dubai-UAE the capital of the Islamic economy.

A new indicator was used to evaluate the financial strength of the UAE and analyze its effect on economic development. In addition, as one of UAE’ emirates, Dubai declared its vision in 2013 to become the “capital of the Islamic economy”, this study analyzed the finance, Islamic finance and growth relations over the period 2013-2022.

This paper aims to discuss the accounting treatment of one of the most popular instruments of financing in Islamic banks, which is Islamic leasing or Ijarah. This research undertakes an empirical investigation of the accounting practices of Ijarah followed by UAE’s Islamic banks. The main objective of this paper is to compare the accounting practices followed by UAE Islamic banks and accounting practices recommended by Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) for the accounting treatment of Ijarah.

This study also aims to examine the justification and explanation behind this practice and clarify the accounting treatment of Ijarah as defined in the regulatory framework and standards.

The author has found that the accounting treatment of Ijarah practiced by four UAE Islamic banks, it is clear that all of them are following IAS-17 and not FAS-8 of AAOIFI. The main difference is: FAS-8 issued by AAOIFI suggests that the accounting treatment for both Ijarah and Ijarah Muntahia Bittamleek be similar to operating lease transactions with certain exceptions. On the other hand, these Islamic banks are accounting for Ijarah as a financing transaction, just like finance lease – in accordance with IAS-17.

Taking out the right information from banks officials regarding Ijarah was a big hassle.

After considering the above-mentioned points, according to the researcher, Western accounting standards are not appropriate to be applied in Islamic financial institution because of their different nature and treatment of financial instruments. Therefore, Islamic banks and other Islamic finance professionals should consider making the standards of AAOIFI mandatory, and they should stick to these standards for information disclosure, building investors’ confidence, monitoring and surveillance. These standards would also ensure the integration of Islamic financial markets with international markets.

This study also aims to examine the justification and explanation behind this practice of bankers when the researcher approached these four banks, their officials mentioned that Ijarah contracts are similar to conventional form of financing, and it does not involve the central tenet of Islamic capitalism, i.e. to share risk and profit; therefore, they are justified and convinced to adopt IAS-17 in accounting for Ijarah transactions.

It is an original case study based on secondary research data.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between customer satisfaction and six dimensions of service quality (CARTER model) in Islamic banks of Pakistan, the UK and UAE.

This study uses a sample of 225 customers of Islamic banks; 75 responses have been taken from each country. Structured questionnaire technique has been used to collect data.

The paper's findings reveal that Pakistani and UK Islamic banking customers consider assurance, reliability and empathy as significant factors for customer satisfaction, whereas UAE customers consider assurance and tangible as significant dimensions of satisfaction.

The study's limitation relates to the sample size of the respondents.

This study is significantly important for the academic point of view, as well as for the practitioners, managers and policy makers to find out the pattern of customer satisfaction in terms of service quality for Islamic banks.

The current study is of particular value because it is a comparative study of customer satisfaction and service quality dimensions (CARTER model) of Islamic banks in Pakistan, UK, and UAE.