Going beyond convention

Статья посвящена исламскому банкингу. Рассматриваются принципы исламского банкинга и финансовых отношений в соответствии с исламским правом, а также распространение исламских финансовых институтов по странам мира, в особенности, после экономических кризисов. В заключение автор показывает те трудности и противоречия, которые существуют в исламских финансовых отношениях в связи с подчинением их законам шариата. Настоящая статья привлекает особенный интерес, поскольку в ней представлена финансовая система, альтернативная привычным финансовым системам западного образца.

Islamic finance is increasingly viewed as an ethical alternative to established banking, especially since the financial crisis. Malaysia is seen as a role model, but can it maintain its position as the sector expands?

Global Islamic banking assets achieved an annual growth rate of approximately 17 per cent between 2009 and 2013, according to a December 2014 report by Ernst & Young. This figure was double that of the growth rate for conventional banking assets, and could not have been achieved without increasing interest from beyond the Muslim community.

Islamic finance is founded on Sharia law and based on five key principles: a belief in divine guidance; the prohibition of interest: the prohibition of haram – or forbidden – investments: the encouragement of risk sharing: and financing based on real assets. Equity, therefore, is favoured over the kinds of intangible debt so closeh associated with the financial crisis.

From its origins as an alternative finance system developed for Muslims in the 1970s. the sector has diversified to incorporate fields such as Islamic insurance and capital markets. The most important financial instrument of the latter is the bond structure, which complies with Sharia law because it derives its return from the performance of the asset, rather than from interest.

The preferred hub

Approximately 80 per cent of Islamic banking is focused on the Southeast Asian and Gulf markets of Indonesia, Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

Malaysia is by far die largest sukuk centre, accounting for more than 50 per cent of total global issuance. This segment of its economy has certainly benefited from the post-2008 admiration for ethical banking. However, the sustainability of Islamic finance in the country is well manifested: it previously survived and overcame the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s.

Malaysia issued the world’s first sovereign sukuk in 2001 and its clear and transparent legal framework has attracted the likes of the International Finance Gorp, the Asian Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank and a host of Japanese companies.

While cities such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Istanbul, London and New York have all attempted to consolidate their positions as international financial centres by jumping on the sukuk

bandwagon, they all refer to Malaysia as the role model for Islamic finance. ‘Everybody is trying to find their own niche and position themselves as the preferred destination,’ says Madzlan Hussain, Kuala Lumpur-based Zaid Ibrahim &: Co partner and head of Islamic financial services, i feel that the competition is healthy.’

The challenge in Malaysia is maintaining human capital needs. ‘Our talent is pinched by other centres,’ says Hussain. ‘The brain drain is not at an alarming rate, but we have a need for more Sharia scholars and the industry needs to find new ways to allow talent to develop.’

One initiative designed to develop not just qualified and experienced Sharia scholars in Malaysia, but also more Islamic asset managers, bankers and lawyers, is the establishment of the International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance in Kuala Lumpur. To date it remains the only university in the world dedicated to Islamic finance.

Despite concern that it is losing talent, Hussain argues that because ‘Malaysia has a small economy, its market can only absorb so much. We therefore need to internationalise our Islamic finance sector by exporting our institutions.’

This arguably began back in ‘2008, when Maybank, the country’s largest bank, acquired Bank Internasional Indonesia and converted it into an Islamic bank. Since then, Malaysian companies Khazanah and Axiata have issued sukuks in Chinese RMB, while Bank of Tokyo-Mi tsubish i issued the first Yen- denominated sukuk as recently as September last year.

While accompanying a trade delegation from Malaysia’s central bank to Australia, Zaid Ibrahim & Co partners noted the tremendous interest in Islamic finance and Sharia-compliant advisory services as a means of helping to finance major infrastructure projects. The firm subsequently opened offices in Sydney and Melbourne towards the end of 2009.

Although Islamic finance is still very much a nascent industry in Australia, its government is hoping that the sector can help reinforce its carefully crafted image as an Asian financial hub – particularly as the country has a larger Muslim population than some other Asian nations, notably Japan and Hong Kong.

Islamic finance practitioners also point to the Malaysian government’s drive over the last few years to position Kuala Lumpur as an Islamic finance hub. This investment has included a ream of incentives for potential issuers – such as neutralising the tax treatment of Islamic finance transactions and reducing die stamp duty on refinancings – to ensure that it competes with conventional financing. ‘The government allows companies issuing sukitkslo recover documentation costs, such as the legal fees, printing costs and prospectus distribution,’ says Hussain.

Malaysia has also licensed foreign Islamic banks in a bid to encourage information sharing. Although its recent initiative to allow five foreign law firms to practise local law (restricted to Islamic finance transactions) was not fully embraced, it is indicative of the country’s determination to remain the Islamic finance hub of choice.

Criticism and challenges

There has been some criticism of Islamic finance. For example, that its products comply only with the letter of Sharia law, rather than with the true spirit and intent of the Koran. In particular, critics argue that conventional bankers have reverse-engineered a number of existing financial products into Sharia-compliant ones, and that the modern Islamic finance industry is full of such compromises.

‘Part of the ethical argument with Islamic finance is that the financiers should share the risk by investing in the financing itself,’ says Alan Rodgers, Dubai Head of Banking and Finance at Hadef & Partners and Chair of the IBA Islamic Finance Subcommittee. ‘But when I look at the structures and risks that the Islamic financiers take, to some extent they do take risks… but in other cases I’m not sure that they [do].’

Islamic finance faces a unique set of challenges. Perhaps the most significant is the lack of binding global standards. ‘The problem you have with Islamic finance is that it is very much legislated by scholars and Islamic boards attached to particular financial institutions in different parts of the world,’ says Rodgers. ‘This sometimes leads to a lack of uniformity of philosophical views and of agreement on documentation.’ In an effort to provide some harmonisation, the Bahrain- based Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions has published Sharia standards, which Rodgers says ‘are followed bv a number of scholars in my jurisdiction’.

Dubai-based Morgan Lewis &: Bockius Managing Partner and Young Lawyers’ Liaison Officer for the IBA Arab Regional Forum Ayman Khaleq says the biggest challenge facing the Islamic finance industry is the need for more products. ‘We need to ensure that Islamic investors have available to them a similar product base to what a conventional investor has access to, while taking into account the differences between the two.’

And new products, he adds, will require innovation to be encouraged and Sharia scholars to be involved directly. ‘The industry can achieve a lot simply by focusing on innoration, transparency and adopting best practices in governance issues.’ In encouraging the kind of innovation and academic excellence Khaleq emphasises, Malaysia may be well on its way to securing its position as role model for the sector.

Автор: Stephen Mulrenan

Источник: IBA GLOBAL INSIGHT. – 2015. – October/November. – P. 51 – 52.

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