The Reasons Behind the Absence of a Comprehensive Shariah Governance Framework of Islamic Banks in Bangladesh

Abstract

Purpose:The main objective of the study is to examine the reasons behind the absence of a comprehensive Shariah Governance Framework (SGF) of Islamic banks in Bangladesh. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study has covered 17 respondents through semistructured interviews from the Islamic banks and the Central Bank of Bangladesh with a combination of Shariah supervisory board members, Shariah department executives, Central Bank executives, and banking experts. Findings: Based on findings, this study outlines that the knowledge gap of management, unqualified Shariah supervisory boards members, executives in Central Bank and Islamic banks, and intention of the regulators, policymakers, Shariah experts, government executives, Islamic bankers, Board of directors, stakeholders and civil societies are responsible for the absence of a comprehensive SGF. Practical Implications: The study has significantly contributed to the national regulators, government, and the Central Bank of Bangladesh on the subject for developing a comprehensive Shariah Governance Framework. Originality/Value: The study highlights the reasons for the absence of a comprehensive Shariah Governance Framework which was unexplored for more than 30 years.

Shariah audit of Islamic Banks in Bangladesh: the present practice and the way forward

“…They have a good command of the subject, familiarity, and practical experiences in the area of Islamic banking products and services as well as the SG of IBs. The researchers have conducted interviews with a total of 17 participants by using face-to-face, semi-structured interview questions following the prior studies (i.e., Alam, 2021; Alam et al ., 2020a, b, c, d; Alam and Miah, 2021) as data were saturated. In contrast, some of the previous researchers completed their investigation within 10 participants (e.g., Crabtree and Miller, 1999), and 9 participants (Ayedh and Echchabi, 2015).…”

Independence and effectiveness of Shariah department officers to ensure Shariah compliance: evidence from Islamic banks in Bangladesh

“…Besides, earlier researchers suggest that 5-8 respondents are sufficient for homogeneity and up to 12 to 20 participants for a non-homogenous sample (Crabtree and Miller, 1999). We completed our interviews with 17 respondents as our data was saturated within 17 respondents (Alam, 2021b;Alam et al, 2020aAlam et al, , 2021a. The study of Alam (2020a, b, c, d) illustrates the overall data collection and saturation process of the development of the centralized SGF for Islamic banks in Bangladesh.…”

Proposing an organizational framework for the Sharīʿah Secretariat of Islamic banks in Bangladesh

“…In their research, they investigated the causes for the absence of a comprehensive SGF for IBs in Bangladesh (Alam et al, 2020b), the formation of a central Shar ıʿah regulatory authority (Alam et al, 2020c), the influence of board of directors (BoDs) and management on SG guidelines of IBs in Bangladesh, and problems of SGF of IBs in Bangladesh (Alam et al, 2020d). They found that the main reasons for the absence of a comprehensive SGF for IBs in Bangladesh are the intentions of regulators and concerned stakeholders and the lack of qualified Shar ıʿah scholars (Alam et al, 2020a) although the prior research suggested the formation of a central Shar ıʿah regulatory authority for IBs in Bangladesh (Abdullah and Rahman, 2017;Hassan et al, 2017;Alam et al, 2019Alam et al, , 2020bAlam, 2020). Along with this, it is a requisite that BB or a third party conduct an external Shar ıʿah review and audit to provide greater assurance on the aspect of Shar ıʿah compliance (Alam et al, 2020e).…”