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Crowdfunding has become one of the preferred mechanisms to raise funds by startups and small entrepreneurs. As such, this paper aims to develop an appropriate framework for Sharīʿah-compliant equity-based crowdfunding (SEC) for entrepreneurship development in Malaysia.

The research begins by analyzing the intention of 200 entrepreneurs in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor regarding the use of crowdfunding to raise capital. The analysis is based on the theory of reasoned action (TRA), which is also associated with the technology acceptance model (TAM) and is effected by using structural equation modeling (SEM).

The entrepreneurs agree on the ease of use of crowdfunding in raising capital, although it appeared that they are quite reluctant to share their business ideas online. Subsequently, an SEC framework is proposed, to further enhance entrepreneurship development in Malaysia particularly in meeting the need for raising funds in line with Sharīʿah (Islamic law) principles.

This paper aims to contribute more to the development of a blueprint for an SEC platform for market players and regulators in Malaysia.

This paper also aims to highlight the growing needs of entrepreneurs, particularly in Malaysia to have a Sharīʿah-compliant alternative to raise funds via crowdfunding.

This paper makes two main contributions. First, it provides evidence on Malaysian entrepreneurs’ intention to use crowdfunding for fundraising through TAM and SEM analysis. Second, it proposes an SEC framework for the development of entrepreneurs in Malaysia.

This paper aims to critically evaluate whether the policies of green banking set by Bangladesh Bank are Shariah compliant; according to the main sources of the Shariah – Quran and Sunnah.

Green policy and guidelines have been divided into different categories such as environment protection, conservation of resources, risk management, educating people about green financing, transparency and disclosure and investing in green projects according to the common measures as stated in three different phases of the policy and guidelines. Subsequently, these major aspects of the green policy and guidelines are linked to the main references of the Shariah, i.e. the holy Quran and Sunnah of Prophet [peace be upon him (pbuh)].

Various verses of the holy Quran and teachings of Prophet (pbuh) related to the major categories of Green policy and guidelines are being presented to show the compliance with Shariah.

The Green policy and guidelines are very much in-line with Shariah. Though all types of banks in Bangladesh are bound to implement the green banking policy, however, Shariah compliance of green banking policy will be encouraging for all Islamic Banks of Bangladesh for their further and profounder involvement in it.

As green policies are found to be Shariah complaint, the Islamic banks are expected to contribute more to the sustainable economic growth of the country by successfully implementing the green financing policies compare to their conventional counterpart.

Verses of holy Quran and authentic Hadiths related to environmental sustainability concept show that Islam is a green religion as well as green banking policy is Islamic.

Market links (and price discovery) between financial assets and lead–lag relationships are topics of interest for financial economists, financial managers and analysts. The lead–lag relationship analysis should consider both short and long-term investors. From a portfolio diversification perspective, the first type of investor is generally more interested in determining the co-movement of financial assets at higher frequencies, which are short-run fluctuations, while the latter concentrates on the relationship at lower frequencies, or long-run fluctuations. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

For this study, a technique was employed known as the wavelet approach, which has recently been imported to finance from engineering sciences to study the co-movement dynamics between global sukuk and bond markets. Data cover the period from January 2010 to December 2015.

The results indicate that: there is no unidirectional causality from developed market bond indices to Malaysia and Dow Jones indices, which is promising for fixed-income investors of a developed market; and in relation to emerging markets, the Malaysian sukuk market has a bidirectional causality with Indonesia, Malaysia, India and South Korea bond indices but not China bond indices, while in terms of the Dow Jones sukuk index, there is no unidirectional causality between the listed emerging markets and the sukuk index except Indonesia’s market during the sample period.

This analysis provides evidence regarding the timely and appropriate measure of correlation changes and the behaviour of sukuk and bond indices globally, which is beneficial to the management of sukuk and bond portfolios.

The evidence hitherto unexplored, which was produced by the application of a wavelet cross-correlation amongst the selected sukuk and bond indices, provides robust and useful information for international financial analysts as well as long and short-term investors.

Sukuk is an innovative financial instrument with a flexible structure based on Islamic financial contracts, unlike a bond which is based on the structure of a loan imposed with interest. With the notion that sukuk differs considerably from the conventional bonds in terms of risks related to investment, this study aims to examine whether the sukuk market is different from conventional bond markets based on the value-at-risk (VaR) approach.

The VaR of a portfolio consists of sukuk and bond indices and is undertaken to determine whether there is any reduction in the VaR amount through the inclusion of the sukuk index in the portfolio. The analysis is undertaken based on the developed and emerging market bond and sukuk indices from January 2010 to December 2015.

This paper examines whether the VaR of sukuk market differs from conventional bond markets by using fundamental techniques. It was observed that the VaR amount of sukuk indices is comparatively much lower than the VaR of bond indices in all the cases. Including the sukuk index with each bond index can reduce the VaR of the portfolio by around 30 to 50 per cent for all the developed and emerging market bond indices.

This research is limited to covering six years of data. Nonetheless, it is able to provide findings which are believed to be useful for the market players.

This study unveils attractive opportunities in terms of diversification benefits of sukuk indices for international fixed-income portfolios.

The VaR method is a useful risk management tool. This study uses this method to emphasise the significant reduction of risks and diversification benefits that sukuk investment could offer by including it in the investment portfolio.

Currently, one of the most important dilemmas facing mankind is environmental degradation and natural resource shortage. The adoption of Green Banking practices has been identified as a solution to the growing environmental problems all over the world. However, an important issue being faced by both the conventional and Islamic banking industry is the creation of stakeholder engagement in Green Banking practices. The purpose of this paper is to propose the use of Islamic principles in developing an emotional attachment between Green Banking practices and the Muslim consumer market to facilitate Green Banking adoption.

Based on the theory of self-congruity, the authors have proposed a framework to analyze the congruity between Islamic principles and Green Banking. The argument is built on secondary data by identifying the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) dimensions of Green Banking and proving its congruence with teachings of the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah.

It is observed that the doctrine of Islam established for mankind 1,400 years ago consists of the same principles that are now being implemented in the shape of Green Banking. The dimensions of Green Banking are in line with Islamic teachings and, thus, can easily be adopted and marketed by banks, especially Islamic banks, targeting the Muslim consumers. The congruence of Green Banking with Islamic principles can play a major role in fostering the growth of this imperative ideology for the Green Muslim consumers. Islamic banks can market green products and services on the basis of religious congruity to the Muslim consumer market and create greater acceptability and loyalty.

The proposed model has not been empirically tested.

Limited research exists in the area of Green Banking adoption, especially in Muslim countries. Up until now, academic research has not been conducted on the congruity between the principles of Islam and Green Banking dimensions. This paper attempts to add to the unsaturated research area of Green Banking adoption by Islamic banks and how Islamic banks can gain a competitive advantage by building on the congruity between Green Banking and Islam.