Islamic Banking windows Vs Islamic Banking Subsidiary: Educators’ Opinion In Bahrain

Abstract

Since its inception in the late 1960’s, Islamic banking industry has been growing significantly and now has been spread all over the world both in Muslim and non-Muslim majority countries. In addition, there are many countries interested in introducing Islamic banking in their banking systems. In order to do so, they are considering two approaches namely Islamic banking windows and Islamic banking subsidiary. This study aims to compare the two approaches in terms of their advantages and disadvantages using literature/library based method which is a kind of qualitative research approach. In addition, structured interviewed with 3 Islamic finance educators in Bahrain were made to gather their opinion about the subject matter. Based on the available literature and results of the interview, the study finds that there are advantages and disadvantages of both approaches. In terms of efficiency and other economic benefits, an Islamic banking windows is found to be preferable especially in the early phase of Islamic banking industry development. However, in term of shariah compliance, an Islamic banking subsidiary is found to be better than Islamic banking windows. This study is expected to help banking regulators and market players in countries that are interested to establish and develop Islamic banking industry in their jurisdictions by providing them with beneficial inputs to make decisions.This study can also be used by Islamic finance educators as a source of reference for them in the teaching and learning process.