COPING WITH THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS OF BASEL COMMITTEE ON CORE PRINCIPLES ON EFFECTIVE BANKING SUPERVISION (BCBS): ANALYSIS AND REFORM FOR ISLAMIC BANKING

Abstract

Coping with international standards is not an easy task for Islamic banking. Surviving for years under the umbrella of Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), opens comprehensive avenues for Islamic banking to adopt conventional Core banking as a generic platform. Islamic finance, which spurns activities outlawed by Islam, is considered a viable ethical alternative to conventional financing. In order to be accepted and recognized as part of players in the industry, Islamic banking riding over the Banking Core Principles to guide businesses and operations. Eventually, this may leads to unpleasant legal and Shari’ah issues. Therefore, Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) has so far issued their own Core Principles in Islamic banking operations in addition to the BCBS Core Principles. The methodology chosen for this study is to undertake the direct observation from operations, legal and regulatory perspectives. The study finds that there is a pressing need of the consolidation of the existing bodies rather than duplicating efforts in the establishment of recognised international Standards for Islamic Banking. This paper aims to analyses the viability of the Core Principles applied in Islamic banking and proposes several proposals for considerations and direction for future research. The recommendations put forward for this study are expected to help enhancing the Islamic banking systems and operations and to uphold Shari’ah. It is hoped that this research brings a new way out for Islamic banking regulatory systems and operations.