• Asian Journal of Business Environment
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.35-42
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• 2020

Purpose: Islamic banking products and services have always claimed to be unique from its traditional interest-based counterpart. However, in practice, many Islamic banks are alleged to have drifted away from its paradigm version. The purpose of this study is to gauge the perception of university students in Malaysia towards Islamic banking products. Research design, data and methodology: Data were collected from 250 Malaysian university students. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was performed to test proposed hypotheses to identify factors influencing customers' perception toward Islamic banking products. Results: The main finding indicates that most of the respondents are familiar with Islamic banking products and consider Islamic banking products as useful as its conventional counterparts. The regression results show that respondents are less convinced of adherence to Shari'ah, efficiency and helpfulness of existing Islamic banks. Conclusions: This is a cue to the Islamic banks' stakeholders that they need to realign their practices in an ethically responsible way in accordance with Shari'ah if they wish to secure existing customers and attract potential ones. In a competitive banking environment, most banks provide efficient and readily available service; thus, focusing on this as a strategy hardly distinguishes an Islamic bank from an interest-based bank.

• Asian Journal of Business Environment
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.5-13
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• 2018

Purpose - The aim of this study is to investigate the problems, challenges, opportunities and future prospects of Islamic banking and finance in the UK. However, this study brings forward into 3 main purposes. Firstly, to explore the development of financial institutions, products and regulatory reforms. Secondly, to find out the performance of Islamic banking institutions. Lastly, to identify the problems, challenges and Islamic banking future prospects. Research design, data, and methodology - An in-depth literature review was carried out to fulfil the research objectives. Results - The findings point out the basic problems of Islamic banking industry in UK such as unfavorable regulatory environment, unfamiliarity with the Islamic Banking System, lack of portfolio management, absence of liquidity instruments, in need of professional bankers, and blending of approach of Islamic scholars with the approach of the conventional bankers. The findings also indicate that there are greater opportunities in the UK for development and growth of Islamic financial system because Muslim community is eager to take financial products. Conclusions - It is hoped that issues pertaining to Islamic banking products can be resolved through consensus of Shariah scholars. There is need to educate the Muslim community about Islamic financial products and service.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.169-175
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• 2019

Service quality has been a point of discussion from the decades as it is important for customer satisfaction, loyalty and retention. Various models have been proposed to measure the quality in the service sector. Models are modified in accordance with context and geography to assess the quality of service better. This study aims to investigate the impact of the modified e-SERVQUAL model on the customer perception about the existing relation and potential scope of doing business with a bank which in-turn will decide the performance of the bank. Statistical data was analyzed through various tests like reliability analysis, correlation and regression analysis using SPSS 25.0. The primary data of e-SQ and performance was gathered from 721 internet banking users using 32 item questionnaire, representing 72% response rates, of four selected Islamic banks of Malaysia. E-SERQUAL was modified by adding Shariah Compliance information about banks and products for Islamic banking customers. The finding specified that efficient & reliable services, fulfillment, security/trust, and Shariah compliance information have a significant association with the performance of Islamic banks. The research is original and its implications will be helpful for Islamic banks across the world to enhance the online experience of customers, which will help them to retain the customers in the rapid changing virtual environment.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.10 no.8
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• pp.25-34
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• 2012

Understanding customer' lifestyles important for banks because it will guide in determining marketing policies, such as services, pricing, service delivery and promotion decisions. From the customer' lifestyle, banks will know what kind of customers' attitudes, interests and opinions, so they also will understand what the costumer' needs and what services needed by them. For Islamic banks, customers understanding are important because, nowadays, the competition of the banks is not only with other Islamic banks but also with the well-established conventional banks offering Islamic products or services The aims of this research paper are to describe what factors underline the customer's lifestyle of both Islamic and conventional bank, to segment the bank customers based on their lifestyles and investigate the profile of each segments, to compare the characteristics of the segments, and to identify marketing policies based on the characteristics. The population of the study is banking customers in Indonesia, in which the researchers have used judgment sampling as sample selection. There were 186 customers of Islamic banks and 244 customers of conventional bank as respondents in this study. Statistical methods employed were exploratory factor analysis and cluster analysis. The finding of the study shows that there are twelve factor underlining the customers' lifestyle, namely: factor of fashion conscious, internet usage, sports spectator, financial and technology optimism, price sensitivity, independent, compulsive housekeeper, new brand tryer community activities, opinion leader, credit usage, and homebody. In addition, for Islamic banking, there are two market segments, namely fashionable-independent and innovative-social segment. Based on the lifestyle characteristics, the first segment has higher level in factor of fashion conscious, homebody, independent, optimism and price conscious, which is therefore called fashionable-independent segment. On the other hand, the second cluster has higher level in factor of new brand tryer, community minded, sport spectator, credit user, internet usage, opinion leader, and compulsive housekeeper, which is therefore called the innovative-social segment. Furthermore, for conventional banking, there are also two segments, namely persuasive-optimistic and sensitive-independent segment. The first segment has higher level on some factors, namely: opinion leader, optimism, internet usage rate, credit usage level, sport spectator, and new brand tryer. On the other hand, the second cluster is characterized by higher level in factor of price conscious, confidence, community minded, homebody, fashion conscious, and compulsive housekeeper. Managerial implications for the management of Islamic banks could be identified in this study as follows. Firstly, the twelve lifestyle factors of this study could be an alternative view in observe Islamic banking customers. The domination of both the fashionable conscious and the internet usage factor show that the aspects are quite instrumental in perceiving the customer' lifestyles, in which reflects the importance of these two aspects to customers. Secondly, in serving their customers, Islamic banks need to understand the customer lifestyle, in which the lifestyle segments found in this study provide a guide of how their needs were reflected. Finally, by understanding the segments and the characteristics each segment of the conventional banks, Islamic banks could adjust their marketing strategies differently from the conventional banks.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.287-298
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• 2022

Indonesia is an agrarian country with the significant development of Shariah banking. This study aimed to estimate the effect of Third Party Funds (TPF), Non-Performing Financing (NPF), Exchange Rates (ER), and Bank Indonesia Shariah Certificates (SBIS) on the Sharia Agriculture Sector Financing in Indonesia during 2014-2020. This study used the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) technique to analyze the data. The coefficient of determination test showed that 99.19% of Sharia financing in the agricultural sector was influenced by TPF, NPF, Exchange Rate, and SBIS variables. The estimation results showed that the variables of TPF and ER significantly affected Sharia Financing for Agricultural Sector (PP). Meanwhile, the NPF and SBIS variables had no significant effect on PP. This research showed the resilience and accuracy of Islamic banking in selecting financing and can support the development of other Islamic financial instruments such as SBIS. Simultaneous test results demonstrated the existence of the estimating model. Because of the character of the Indonesian nation as an agricultural country, this study advised Sharia banking to prioritize the usage of third-party funds from the public for the agricultural industry. Sharia banking also needed to produce Islamic finance products that fit the agriculture business sector's needs.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.12
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• pp.721-730
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• 2020

This study investigates the impact of the country's governance on the revenue efficiency of 108 Islamic banks from 26 countries offering Islamic banking and finance products services. The technical efficiencies of individual Islamic banks have been analyzed using the Data Envelopment Analysis method. The data will be pooled across the selected countries and utilize the intermediation approach. The Ordinary Least Square estimation method is employed to examine the impact of country supervision and regulation on the technical efficiency of Islamic banks. As robustness check, the study examines the impact of the level of bank regulations and supervision on the efficiency of Islamic banks operating in different income-level countries. The results found that the stricter the supervisory power, the less strict capital requirement, the tighter the restrictions on non-banking activities, and the stricter the private monitoring enhance statistically significantly the level of efficiency of Islamic banks. In upgrading the regulations and supervision of the Islamic banks, the existing regulatory framework based on the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) must be complemented with the prescriptions on Islamic banking or Shariah compliance diligently, so that the Islamic banks could be regulated accurately and further improve the technical efficiency of their operations.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.725-735
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• 2021

This study investigates whether the Islamic Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) provide significant benefit to investors relative to conventional ETFs. Six pairs of Islamic and conventional ETFs with 10-year daily price data from 2010 to 2019 have been selected from major market indices like MSCI World Index, MSCI Emerging Markets, MyETF Dow Jones Islamic Market Malaysia, MSCI South East Asia and Wahed FTSE Shariah USA Index for this study. For ETFs that are launched after 2010, the price data from launch date to 2019 are used. Our results show: First, Islamic ETFs are more likely to trade at a premium rather than at a discount, implying the investors are willing to pay a premium. Second, it is also found that Islamic ETFs have a relatively shorter period of price deviation from the benchmark, implying more price stability. Third, conventional ETFs have higher return and lower tracking errors relative to Islamic ETFs. These new findings add to the stylized facts of Islamic ETFs in the extant literature for investors, plan sponsors and regulators as to the differences between the ETFs. As policy suggestion, asset management companies can design new investment products to bridge the gap between conventional and Islamic finance.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.11
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• pp.747-757
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• 2020

This study investigates the impact of bank regulation and supervision on the efficiency of banking sectors on 108 Islamic banks from 26 countries offering Islamic banking and finance products and services. The technical efficiencies of individual Islamic banks have been analyzed using the data envelopment analysis method (DEA). The ordinary least square estimation method is employed to examine the impact of country supervision and regulation on the technical efficiency of Islamic banks. The empirical findings suggest that supervisory power, activity restrictions and private monitoring positively influence the efficiency of Islamic banks. The study revealed that Islamic banks that are operating in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and middle-income countries are more technically efficient given the less stringent rules on capital requirement and we found that there is statistically significant evidence that higher capital requirements are negatively associated with the efficiency of Islamic banks. The empirical findings of this study are expected to help policy-makers and government officials to better understand how their decisions affect the performance.