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This paper aims to investigate whether the effect of competitive strategies on the performance is significantly different for fully fledged Islamic banks vis-a-vis conventional banks with Islamic window. Specifically, two competitive strategies namely the low-cost strategy and the differentiation strategy were considered. In addition, we examined further the competitive strategies–performance nexus by introducing enterprise risk management as a mediating factor.

This study used structured questionnaires to collect data from 506 respondents (251 from fully fledged Islamic banks and 255 from conventional banks with Islamic window). A disjoint two-stage approach was employed to analyze a hierarchical component model. Construct Level Correction and Measured Latent Marker Variable approaches were employed to assess the common method variance. As a robustness check, two-stage approach was used to explore the curvilinear relationship, and the Gaussian copula approach was adopted to address the endogeneity issue.

The findings show the evidence of complementary partial mediation in the relationships between low-cost strategy, differentiation strategy, and performance through enterprise risk management practices in both types of banks.

Competitive strategies are essential as they send signals to owners, managers, policymakers, and regulatory authorities. On the one hand, fully fledged Islamic banks face dual competition from pure conventional counterparts as well as conventional banks with Islamic window. On the other hand, Islamic window banks also face strong competition from the fully fledged Islamic banks due to their strong Shariah roots. Hence, this competitive pressure on both types of banks calls for more attention to focus on competitive strategies and enterprise risk management practices to accelerate their performance and overcome the bank risk. Moreover, these competitive strategies can be used as a tool to enter into a new market by reducing costs and risks. Besides, banks cannot achieve a competitive advantage without implementing enterprise risk management practices because competitive strategies are significant antecedents of enterprise risk management practices. Therefore, this study recommends both types of banks to focus on enterprise risk management practices to make these strategies successful.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the competitive strategies–performance nexus and the mediating role of enterprise risk management practices in an unexplored area of Islamic banking.

While the Noble Quran dictates the prohibition of interest, conventional banks promote Islamic banking by opening Islamic banking windows. Against this backdrop, this study aims to investigate the perceived gaps between managers and clients in Islamic marketing and banking, focusing on conventional banks’ Islamic banking windows.

Guided by a qualitative approach, semi-structured personal interviews and observations served as the data collection methods, involving 25 banks and 50 respondents in 3 different districts, namely, Shirajganj, Rajshahi and Chapainawabganj of Bangladesh from January to October 2023. The data were analysed using ATLAS.ti 2023 to explore codes and quotations derived from 14 interview questions. Further, ATLAS.ti 2023 facilitated synthesizing content, concepts, code occurrence, network analysis and thematic analysis.

Islamic and non-Islamic banks use Quranic verses, hadiths (prophetic traditions), images of mosques, the Kaaba and Arabic texts as Islamic marketing tools. These spiritual, divine and prescriptive tools are associated with Islamic banking. However, conventional banks receive criticism for having separate Islamic banking windows to serve religiously conscious clients, which generates tension among clients and bank managers.

The findings can theoretically assist academics in examining conventional banks’ Islamic marketing and banking practices, opening Islamic banking windows. Importantly, Shariah boards can play policy roles in safeguarding the function of Islamic marketing and banking. Managers can use the findings to anticipate client perceptions and enhance Islamic marketing and banking strategies. Likewise, the social implications include the explicit stance of Shariah to mitigate the mixture of halal and haram banking.

This pioneering study explores the perspectives of Islamic banking windows by non-Islamic banks. The combination of Islamic marketing and banking is a noteworthy novelty in this study and deserves recognition for its unique contribution to halal marketing and finance.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceived importance of management about various corporate governance dimensions being practiced in the Pakistani Islamic banking context.

AHP is applied to analyze the corporate governance indexes and its dimension of five Islamic banks and 12 conventional banks which are providing Islamic banking facilities (Islamic bank window) throughout Pakistan. These dimensions included board of directors (BOD), Shari'ah supervisory board (SSB), audit, investment account holders (IAH), and information disclosure & transparency.

The study reveals that the most significant dimensions which affect the corporate governance in Islamic banks are BOD and SSB, while the significant factors for Islamic banking windows are almost all dimensions of corporate governance. The correlation, regression, and ANOVA tests are applied to check the contributions of various factors of corporate governance mechanisms. These results indicate that there is a significant difference between Islamic banks and Islamic banking windows regarding the BOD and SSB. On the other hand, no significant difference is seen for the rest of the factors. The dissatisfaction level of customers reduces with the increase in the audit and BOD governance and all other factors have no impact in the case of Islamic banking windows; whereas in Islamic banks, in addition to audit and the SSB, information disclosure also significantly reduces the dissatisfaction level of customers. The concern of customers decreases significantly with the increasing level of IAH in the case of Islamic banking windows whereas in the case of Islamic banks a significant impact is seen for BOD, information disclosure, audit and IAH, but improvement in the governance of these rather increases the concern of customers toward compliance of Shari'ah and SSB has no contribution towards the concern of customers.

This study has practical significance for conventional and Islamic banking policy makers for understanding the requirements of their stakeholders and aligning them with the fundamentals of Shari'ah compliance according to the guidelines provided by the code of corporate governance so as to get better insight into the relationship between customers' motives behind using Islamic banking products.

This paper aims to investigate and provide an objective appraisal of the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on Islamic and conventional financial institutions and Islamic windows in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

The panel data techniques are conducted country-wise in each financial institution type: random-effect model, fixed-effect model and Hausman test.

The results of the first phase analysis that extends from 1 January 2020 to 30 October 2020 show that Islamic financial institutions are less exposed to the repercussions of the COVID-19 outbreak than the conventional and Islamic window financial institutions in Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE. Moreover, the Islamic financial institutions in Saudi Arabia and Oman have not been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. The second phase analysis for the COVID-19 outbreak that extends from 1 November 2020 to 17 March 2021 confirms the disappearance of the negative impact of COVID-19 on Islamic financial institutions in Bahrain and Oman.

The findings present that Islamic banks are not as resilient in the COVID-19 pandemic as in the 2008 financial crisis. It can be suggested that regulatory authorities, financial institutions and other key policymakers in the GCC countries should focus on implementing regulatory reforms related to human capital, innovative products, research and development to further develop individuals, societies and institutions within the framework of Islamic ontology to be more resilient in such crises.

This paper provides a different perspective from existing literature on the pandemics and financial institutions by comparing the stock prices in Islamic and conventional financial institutions and Islamic windows in GCC countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this paper should be considered as a contribution to filling a gap in the literature.

In an attempt to enrich the literature of the efficiency of Islamic banks, this study aims to empirically investigate the efficiency of the fully fledged Islamic banks as well as Islamic windows in Malaysia.

This study measures the technical and cost‐efficiencies of these banks using the non‐parametric frontier method, data envelopment analysis (DEA).

The findings show that, on average, the efficiency of the overall Islamic banking industry has increased during the period of study. The study also revealed that, although the fully fledged Islamic banks were more efficient than the Islamic windows, they were still less efficient than the conventional banks. Finally, Islamic windows of the foreign banks were found to be more efficient than Islamic windows of the domestic banks.

The findings of this study will provide some empirical insights as to how these two modes of Islamic banks had fared in the competitive environment from 1997 to 2003.

The purpose of this paper is to study earnings management practices of Islamic banks and conventional banks in the Middle East region. First, the authors examine factors that may influence Islamic banks managers' use of discretion in reporting loan loss provisions (LLP). Second, the authors investigate differences that may exist between Islamic banks and non-Islamic banks in terms of discretionary loan loss provisions (DLLP) used to manipulate accounting earnings.

This empirical study uses an unbalanced panel data of 21 Islamic banks, 18 conventional banks with Islamic windows and 33 conventional banks, from seven Middle East countries during a period that ranges from 2000 to 2008. The authors use a two-stage approach in order to examine factors that may influence the use of discretion by Islamic banks' managers.

The empirical results reveal that Islamic banks use DLLP for both earnings and capital management. External financing is also found to be a determinant of DLLP. Additional findings show no significant differences among Islamic banks, conventional banks with Islamic windows and conventional banks in using DLLP. These three groups of banks behave similarly in terms of discretion based on DLLP.

The findings are potentially useful for regulators, auditors and investors. This study provides regulators with insights to strengthen their financial regulations in order to improve accounting quality. In addition, it helps auditors when considering the provisioning policies adopted by banks in order to detect specific manipulations of accounting earnings. The results may also help investors to focus on the impact of managerial discretion on accounting earnings for evaluation purposes.

This study contributes to the literature on Islamic banking. On the one hand, it extends prior research by examining the discretionary component of LLP, instead of being restricted to total LLP. On the other hand, it compares the use of discretion among three groups of banks: full Islamic banks, conventional banks with Islamic windows and full conventional banks.

The purpose of this study is to establish whether religion (interest) is an impediment to Nigeria’s financial inclusion targets to be achieved by the year 2020.

The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and documentary evidence. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the interview responses.

It was found that all the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) programs that contribute toward achieving financial inclusion are interest-based ones. Further, none of them provides a non-interest window except Commercial Agricultural Credit Schemes (CACS). Even the CACS is not fully Shari’a-compliant, as it requires further modification. Despite the fact that interest is condemned in Islam, a majority of Muslims have been found to be accessing interest-based funds. Hence, interest is not a factor that hinders the achievement of reducing Nigeria’s financial exclusion rate to 20 per cent by the year 2020.

This study inquired into the programs under the Development Finance Department of the CBN by using semi-structured interviews and documentary evidence. Other programs of the federal government, state governments, NGOs and other private organizations and individuals are not considered. The findings have pointed out the areas to conduct future studies on religion and financial inclusion.

Although Muslims who complained about interest are a minority, there is the need to provide non-interest windows in the programs before they start shunning these programs, as a lot influential Muslim scholars are currently preaching against the interest.

The paper is one of the few studies that support the view that interest does not hinder the achievement of financial inclusion in a Muslim majority country.

Over the past decades, Islamic finance has expanded its presence to many countries including post-Soviet region. The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate this phenomenon in Kazakhstan by adopting qualitative sociological approach. The study also aims to provide vital information and propose recommendations for market participants to contribute to the development of Islamic finance industry in Kazakhstan.

Primary data were gathered using the qualitative method of in-depth expert interviews with nine Islamic finance professionals representing Islamic banks, ijarah companies, funds and development institutions in Kazakhstan who occupy senior positions (directors, managers, heads of departments, etc.). Furthermore, the primary data of interviews were analyzed and processed using another qualitative method of cognitive mapping, the essence of which is to graphically display the concepts that are most often used by informants.

The study has shown that first there is a demand for Islamic finance among Kazakh business and population. At the same time, Muslims are not the only consumers of Islamic financial services; therefore, it is affordability rather than religiosity that is an important criterion for choosing Islamic finance. Second, murabaha and ijarah are the two most popular Islamic financial products in Kazakhstan, while equity-based instruments are hardly ever used. Third, Kazakhstan government policy toward Islamic finance received controversial assessments of experts: the state support is declared, but specific actions required by the market participants are not taken. Fourth, key factors that significantly limit the development of the Islamic finance market in Kazakhstan include a shortage of supply, which, in turn, is strongly associated with the second factor – limited funding of local Islamic finance institutions, the absence of insurance (or guaranteeing) system of investment accounts of the local Islamic banks, insufficient economy of scale, lack of convenient service and weak marketing policy of the existing Islamic banks and, finally, lack of educational programs.

The study reveals the potential development of Islamic finance in Kazakhstan which is a rarely studied topic. The findings and recommendations of this study can be used by the regulators, market players and policymakers of Islamic finance industry in Kazakhstan, post-Soviet and other Islamic finance-oriented countries.

This study offers new insights on the future of Islamic finance in Kazakhstan: in long term, the development will be determined by new financial technologies – Islamic FinTech, but in short term – by Islamic windows (currently not allowed by Central Bank) that will help to significantly expand the audience, increase awareness and demand for Islamic finance among local businesses and public. The current study is original, important and up-to-date, as it uses an approach that sources primary data in the form of experts’ point of view instead of relying on literature or document analysis. It is not a mere theoretical study of the literature but an empirical investigation of the problem. Moreover, it seeks to contribute to the Islamic finance literature in the post-Soviet region, particularly from the experts’ perspective.

This paper investigates the financial strength of banks in Bangladesh and factors affecting the financial strength over the years 2010–2015 on 35 banks.

Additive value function with CAMEL rating (capital stength, asset quality, managerial efficiency, earning ability, liquidity) has been employed to calculate banks’ financial strength index (FSI). In the second stage, panel regression has been exercised to find out the determinants of banks’ financial strength.

Empirical finding exhibits that the Islamic banks of Bangladesh are financially stronger and outperform conventional and Islamic window banks with higher liquidity. In the ownership category, private banks have more financial strength with higher capital strength, asset quality, managerial efficiency and earning ability than public banks. Bank size, loan recovery, salary and banking sector development positively affect whereas the loan-asset negatively affect the bank’s financial strength in Bangladesh.

This study has its limitations despite its importance. CAMELS is a more improved form than using CAMEL. But because of the data deficiency on “S” which represents sensitivity, it would not be possible to use CAMELS framework. Further researchers could incorporate this.

Government and banks should allow Islamic banks to enter the market on easy terms because of their outstanding performance in the existing market. In addition, banks should provide loans with consideration so that they cannot create credit risk. In addition, they should calculate composite financial strength annually to understand which components they need to work on.

This study extends the extant result on the composite FSI. It is hard to examine the financial strength of banks using only ratio value, which misleads most of the time. The study offers evidence on how the FSI provides more rigorous results and what are the factors contribute most to the financial strength of banks.

Over the past decades, Islamic finance has expanded its presence to many countries including Muslim-majority post-Soviet Central Asian and Transcaucasian region. Undoubtedly, this expansion has aroused keen interest among the representatives of a range of areas such as science, politics and business. The purpose of this paper is to describe the scope, the key players and the main investment strategies of the Islamic finance market based on the evidence obtained from Kyrgyzstan.

The main empirical corpus was formed from Bureau van Dijk’s databases (Zephyr and Orbis) and includes approximately 80 deals involving Shariah-compliant investments in Kyrgyzstan from 1991 to 2020. The initial corpus was then significantly expanded by means of content analysis of open media sources. Being still insufficient for deeper generalization, these data were further complemented by the analysis of an array of corporate information (press releases, presentations and financial reports) related to the identified deals. To ensure the credibility of the conclusions to be made on the nature of Islamic finance in Kyrgyzstan, the desk analysis was also complemented with field research using qualitative method of in-depth expert interviews.

This paper has shown that despite the yet modest market volumes represented by Islamic bank, Islamic windows, Islamic leasing company and microfinance companies, Islamic finance in Kyrgyz Republic has further growth prospects, which are associated with the arrival of large foreign Islamic banks that bring innovative financial products, the issuance of Islamic securities (sukuk) and launch of Islamic insurance (takaful). Being more open and consistent in the development of Islamic finance industry, the authorities of Kyrgyzstan understand the need for the initial development of the market by their own forces.

This paper is original and up-to-date, as it contains new and significant information. Suggesting a new approach to studying Islamic finance in post-Soviet area, this paper identifies the most active Islamic investors in Kyrgyzstan, classifies them, reveals their investment strategies and assesses the financial performance of Islamic investors as well as the total volume of Shariah-compliant capital in Kyrgyzstan. The findings of this paper can contribute to shaping policies toward Islamic finance in the post-Soviet region and, therefore, may be beneficial to the development of Islamic finance industry.