Malaysia: 30 Years of Islamic Banking Experience (1983-2012)

Malaysia proved to be at the forefront of Islamic banking and finance by adopting a dual banking system where the conventional and Islamic banking systems co-exist. The Islamic banking has been in operation since 1983 and offers a variety of Islamic financial instruments. In such a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country, customers get the financial products and services they like. In the early 1980’s, the government encouraged all Malaysians to be involved in the fast-track development process with a vision to make Malaysia a fully industrialized country by the year 2020. Actually, the development of Malaysia’s dual banking system is tied up with its social and economic policy and that is why it was fully supported by the country’s top leadership in addition to the Central Bank, the Parliament, and the public in general. Islamic banks can motivate Muslims to increase savings and reduce hoarding. This kind of motivation was expected to enhance their participation in the development process contributing to savings mobilization and capital accumulation in order to improve their standard of living and bring them up to par with their countrymen of Chinese origin. Among the countries with a free market economic system, Malaysia has emerged as the first country to implement a dual banking and financial system. The Malaysian model has been recognized by many Islamic countries as the model to emulate

Islamic Banking And Economic Growth: A Review

Many previous studies have focused on the impact of finance on economic growth. However, few studies have examined the impact of Islamic banking on economic growth. To fill this gap in literature, this paper investigates the potential effects of Islamic banking on economic growth. The paper has two main results. The first result is that previous studies show mixed support for the hypothesis that Islamic banking is a main channel of economic growth. The second result is that previous studies on the impact of Islamic banking on growth are single-country studies and their findings are difficult to generalize. In addition, the results of this paper point to several implications for policy. One of its implications for policy is that Islamic banking positively contributes to countrys macroeconomic stability

Types of Banking Institutions and Economic Growth: An Endogenous Growth model

There is mixed support for the hypothesis that the banking sector is a channel for economic growth. While most studies on economic growth in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have not distinguished between conventional banks and Islamic banks, this study contributes to the empirical literature by comparing the respective impacts of Islamic banks and commercial banks on economic growth among GCC countries during the period 2001–2009, bringing out policy implications. The main result of panel data regressions is that both conventional and Islamic banks have fuelled economic growth, with the latter having a more significant impact. These results contradict the findings of some single-country studies that have examined the impact of Islamic banking on economic growth