This study aimed to investigate the association between corporate governance characteristics, shariah governance characteristics, and the credit rating of Asian Islamic banks. To do so, we collected data from 22 banks during the 2006–2018 period. In total, we observed 286 data points. Credit rating was measured through an adaption of the credit rating scale that measured the long term credit of Islamic banks on an ordinal scale. From these data, 19 scores (Aaa) were considered high credit ratings and 1 score (C) was considered a low credit rating. Descriptive statistics, correlations, and the ordered logit regression model were applied in a panel setting. We found that the board interlock, board independence, CEO duality, and board foreign directorship negatively affected credit ratings. We also found that the board size, board accounting, finance knowledge, presence of women on the board, shariah board size, presence of supervisory shariah board, the shariah board interlock, and presence of female shariah scholars all were positively associated with credit ratings. This study suggests that Islamic banks can access more funds with higher shariah compliance. As such, we concluded that evaluating organizations’ credit ratings must consider shariah governance attributes as determinants of the credit rating of Islamic banks.

Shariah Governance is an essential characteristic that differentiates Islamic financial institutions from Conventional financial institutions. The study’s purpose is to explore the effect of corporate governance attributes and Shariah board attributes on the long term and short-term credit rating of Islamic banks in Pakistan. The study develops six different models based on corporate board characteristics, Shariah board attributes and credit ratings, and collected data from annual reports of Pakistani Islamic banks for the period 2013- 2019. This study used Long term credit rating scale used by Grassa (2016) and, Ashbaugh-Skaife, Collins, and LaFond (2006), and developed a Short term credit rating scale. The study applied descriptive statistics, correlations and ordered logit regression. The results confirmed that corporate governance and Shariah governance attributes are significantly associated with the long term and short-term credit ratings of Islamic banks. The study concludes that credit rating agencies in Pakistan i.e. PACRA and JC-VIS, and other international credit rating agencies including Fitch, Moody and Standard & Poor’s must consider Shariah governance attributes as key determinants while assigning long term and short term credit ratings to Islamic banks.

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A more regulated and better working financial sector contributes toward achieving monetary growth based on proficient resource allocation and reducing information asymmetries. Current trends in research highlight the significance of factors determining the financial sector’s development; therefore, this study explores the institutional drivers, which are indispensable for developing the financial industry in the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) region. Specifically, it examines the impact of institutional factors, trade openness, real output, legal origin, and inflation on the financial sector’s development. By employing the panel data method of generalized method of moments (GMM), the study concluded that trade openness, institutional factors, legal origin, and real gross domestic product (GDP) have a positive and significant impact on financial depth. However, the inflation rate has been found to affect it negatively. Finally, the study presents policy recommendations based on empirical findings.