Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, Macarthur, 2001. / A thesis presented to the University of Western Sydney, Macarthur, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, March, 2001. Bibliography : leaves 244-264.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of North Carolina Wilmington, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (February 22, 2010) Includes bibliographical references (p. 156-159)

A research report submitted In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Commerce University of the Witwatersrand / The purpose of this study is to analyse the operational economics of Islamic banking transactions in South Africa and to understand how the economics of these transactions lead to the IFRS accounting. The study also aims to highlight the similarities and differences of accounting for these transactions using IFRS, across the different South African banks. The transactions analysed are deposit products of qard and mudaraba and financing products of murabaha, ijarah and diminishing musharaka. The study was conducted through interviews with representatives from each of the four South African banks which offer Islamic banking products. Interviews were semi-structured and allowed for interviewees to voice their perspectives increasing the validity of the interviews. The study found that the specific Shariah requirements of Islamic banking transactions are considered and included in the structure of the contracts by all four banks offering Islamic banking products. However, the economic reality of these transactions closely resembles conventional banking transactions. The study also found that all four banks account for Islamic banking transactions using IFRS but the accounting does not match the Shariah requirements of each transaction, creating a cognitive dissonance between the accounting and the contractual form of the transactions. This study is the first of its kind in South Africa. The study adds to the IASB Consultative Group discussion on accounting for Islamic banking transactions under IFRS. Key words: Conceptual Framework, diminishing musharaka, IFRS, ijarah, Islamic banking, mudaraba, murabaha, qard / MT2017

Thesis (M.A.) - Carleton University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 103-113). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

LL M. (Commercial Law) / It is believed that Islamic banking and finance is currently the fastest growing system of banking in the world. In 2010, Islamic finance institutions reported an estimated USD 1 trillion in global assets, and an estimated growth rate of 15%.1 Many countries have taken notice of this growth, and have attempted to implement measures that will allow them to best reap their share of the spoils. This dissertation will attempt to explain the nature of Islamic banking, its history and development, as well as the main principles upon which it is based. The dissertation will then compare Islamic banking and its Western or conventional banking counterparts as well as advantages and drawbacks of both systems. The dissertation will attempt to provide an exposition of the current regime in South Africa and its impact on the functions of Islamic banks, as well as providing an explanation of how these banks operate within the South African legal framework. The dissertation will also explore the legal systems and regulation of Islamic banks and other financial institutions in other jurisdictions, and also attempt to provide a guide as to whether the South African position needs reform or whether it is sufficient to take advantage of this growing sector of finance ...

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Commerce Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy / Ethical investing has become increasingly prevalent in recent years and mirrors a rise in shareholder activism, consumer ethics and corporate social responsibility. Shariah funds are a subset of ethical funds. The rise in popularity of ethical funds has raised questions as to whether ethical funds perform better than conventional funds, and whether ethical funds are riskier than conventional funds. A number of studies have been carried out in different countries utilising the traditional performance measures as well as factor models to determine the risk profile and returns of ethical funds compared to conventional funds. These studies have shown that the results are country specific and hence each country needs to be analysed separately. The aim of this study is to investigate ethical funds (incorporating Shariah funds) in the South African context. The study examines the performance and risk profile of ethical funds relative to conventional funds utilising traditional performance methods as well as the CAPM model and Fama French 3-factor model. Furthermore, the study determines the factors that influence investors to invest in ethical funds and to examine their investment preferences when choosing between conventional funds and ethical funds through a survey of Muslim investors. Finally, the study examines the role of advertising in ethical fund investment and investigates whether the marketing material of ethical funds is aligned to investor requirements by utilising content analysis to compare the fact sheets of various mutual funds for the presence of factors identified as important by investors. The empirical results show that conventional funds outperformed ethical funds with a greater variability of return over a truncated time period. Both ethical and conventional funds were driven primarily by the market return with no clear style bias. In fact, ethical funds had a stronger beta to the ALSI than to the JSE SRI index. The qualitative analysis showed that the sampled investors perceived conventional funds as offering better returns, but being more risky. The sampled investors were willing to undertake financial sacrifice in order to invest according to their faith. The most important source of information regarding investments was cited as professional advice, followed by word of mouth and advice from family and friends. Advertising came in behind these factors and was not an influential source of information for the sampled investors. The factors most important to investors when deciding to invest in a fund was the philosophy of the fund (i.e. it’s investment strategy or ideology) followed by the risk profile of the fund and past returns of the fund. The content analysis showed that the factsheets of South African mutual funds were aligned to the factors identified by the sample of investors as most important with influencing their decision to invest. Moreover, conventional funds focused more on returns than risk, with ethical funds focusing more on risk than return – thus funds tended to emphasise their strong points most in their factsheets. / MB2016

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / The Islamic Banking industry has been one of the fastest growing industries worldwide with a compound annual growth rate of 28% between 2006 and 2009(Reuters, 2010). These growth rates were experienced amidst the worst economic meltdown the world has seen in decades. This is a clear indication that there is a high level of confidence in the industry. Although the industry has existed for centuries, the past few decades have brought about a revival in Islamic banking. Many Western countries are recognising the industry’s importance and have taken various steps in supporting the establishment of it. South Africa has also taken such steps and has a vision of becoming a hub for Islamic banking on the African continent. This mini thesis examines the differences in nature of the underlying principles of Islamic and conventional banking which then brings to the fore the various challenges that exist in the unhindered functioning of Islamic banks within Western countries. These challenges revolve around institutional and legal frameworks, regulatory and supervisory bodies, South African Reserve Bank requirements, interest, taxation and conceptual understandings. In order to provide recommendations to address these challenges, case studies of Islamic banking in both, Islamic and Western countries were conducted. These case studies provided insight into how countries have addressed similar challenges and to what degree were they successful. This provided the basis from which recommendations were made for Islamic banking to function efficiently and effectively in South Africa and for the country to achieve its goal of becoming a hub of Islamic banking on the African continent.

With the rapid development of the Islamic banking and finance in South Africa, the legal regime of South Africa, must be able to progress at the same rate of development. The recognition of a foreign legal system such as Islamic law in South Africa is challenging and difficult. South Africa, has an interest based insurance legislative framework and this is not aligned with the principles of the Islamic financial system. As a result of this, regulators have taken various measures to develop and promote the Islamic Industry. The amendment to the South African Tax legislation has created an equitable and level playing field for Islamic law. The South African government also has a further obligation which is to develop a legislative framework to govern Islamic law, as well as to enhance the regulatory and supervisory framework. The study of the development of the Islamic legal regime is an important area that aids legal practitioners in identifying and resolving legal disputes. The purpose of this paper is to examine the accommodation of the Islamic law of Takaful under the South African Insurance legal framework. / Public, Constitutional and International Law / LL. M. (Public, Constitutional and International Law)

Islamic banking in the United States of America, became recognized as an alternative to expand into the market of traditional Muslim consumers, living in the United States. Because of strict regulatory guidelines, no Islamic banks exist in the United States. Instead, conventional banks, Islāmic banking windows (IBW) and other financial institutions offer Shari‘ah compliant products by modifying classical Islamic contracts or attaching a rider to define contract verbiage. This study reviewed techniques of adapting contracts used for Shari‘ah compliant products in the United States to determine if the contracts maintain the true characteristics of the original classical Islamic contracts. Contracts in Islamic sacred law provide protections by ensuring wealth is not wasted, and no injustice is performed by either of the contracting parties. Wealth protection and justice are the inherit characteristics of contracts in the Islāmic law. Any changes or modifications may void or decrease the protections provided in Islamic law. This research reviewed the theoretical aspects of contract modifications, by analyzing the procedures used for the derivative Shari‘ah compliant product contracts used in the Islamic finance industry in the United States. Data was evaluated and compared with the requirements of classical Islamic contract equivalents, to determine the effects of these changes. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D. Phil. (Religious Studies)

The thesis analyzes macro-economic determinants and roles of financial sector development.<p> The literature argues that the size and efficiency of both banking systems and financial markets - the two major components of a financial system - matter for economic development. In the same vein, the quality of financial institutions and regulations are instrumental in the construction of a strong financial system.<p> We study several aspects of financial sector development in relation to three recent phenomena, namely, the rise of Islamic banking and finance, the increasing interest for emerging stock markets, and the growing remittance flows.<p> This thesis is made up of three essays.<p> The first essay extends the literature on the determinants of financial sector development, from the angle of culture. We show that, on average, Islamic finance favors the development of the banking sector in Muslim countries. We provide evidence that several countries have indeed been successful in launching a new, Shariah-compliant, banking system, while not harming the existing, conventional, banking sector. Our empirical analysis uses a newly-constructed original database on the size and performance of Islamic deposit banks globally over the period 2000 to 2005.<p> The second essay focuses on stock markets, in particular, the less-studied emerging equity markets. We confirm traditional literature findings on unconditional stock returns, over a panel of 53 Major and Frontier markets. Mainly, volatility is high, big surprises happen, and return correlations with the rest of the world are low but have been rising over the last decades. In spite of large differences in market size and liquidity, Frontier market returns are qualitatively similar to Major markets', except correlations, which are lower in Frontier markets. At current correlation levels, the latter continue to bring substantial diversification benefits to international investors.<p> The last essay examines the relationship between remittances and economic growth. It confirms that remittances are important for developing countries as they stimulate domestic investment. It then demonstrates, theoretically and empirically, that improving the access to bank deposit accounts is crucial to channel remittances to more productive uses. This is even more true when the access to international borrowing is costly.<p> The 2008-2009 financial crisis has propelled the improvement of financial systems to the top of policymakers' agendas. Our work contributes to a better understanding of the importance of finance in economic outcomes. It also brings a novel perspective on the determinants of financial systems./<p> Notre thèse a pour objet l'étude des déterminants et des rôles macro-économiques des secteurs financiers dans le monde.<p> Selon la littérature scientifique, la taille et l'efficacité des systèmes bancaires et des marchés financiers - les deux composantes principales d'un système financier - sont importantes pour le développement économique. Il apparaît également que la qualité des institutions et des régulations financières contribuent à la création d'un système financier fort.<p> Au travers de trois essais, nous examinons plusieurs aspects du développement du secteur financier, qui sont en relation avec trois phénomènes récents; à savoir: la croissance de la finance islamique, l'intérêt grandissant pour les marchés boursiers émergents, et l'augmentation des flux de transferts de fonds des migrants.<p> Dans le premier essai, nous nous intéressons aux facteurs culturels comme déterminants des secteurs financiers et, en particulier, au rôle de la religion musulmane. Nous montrons que, en moyenne, la finance islamique favorise le développement du secteur bancaire dans les pays musulmans. Plusieurs pays ont en effet réussi à développer un nouveau secteur bancaire compatible avec la Shariah, sans porter ombrage au secteur bancaire non islamique avec lequel il co-existe. Notre analyse empirique est fondée sur une base de données nouvelle et originale. Celle-ci a pour intérêt de fournir des indicateurs de taille et de performance des banques islamiques de dépôt dans le monde, pour la période 2000-2005.<p> Dans le deuxième essai, nous explorons les rendements inconditionnels obtenus sur les marchés boursiers, en particulier les marchés émergents d'actions. Notre analyse d'un large panel de 53 marchés émergents "Majeurs" et "Frontières" confirme les résultats traditionnellement observés dans la littérature. Ainsi, pour l'essentiel, les deux types de marchés sont volatils et émaillés d'événements extrêmes. De plus, les rendements des marchés émergents sont faiblements corrélés avec ceux du reste du monde, même si ces corrélations ont augmenté au cours des derniers décennies. Malgré d'importantes différences en terme de taille et de liquidité, les rendements sur marchés "Frontières" sont qualitativement similaires à ceux des marchés "Majeurs", à l'exception des corrélations. Ces dernières sont en effet actuellement plus faibles dans les marchés "Frontières", qui continuent dès lors à offrir d'importants bénéfices de diversification aux investisseurs internationaux.<p> Dans le dernier essai, nous examinons la relation entre les transferts d'argent des migrants et la croissance économique. Nous confirmons l'idée que les transferts de fonds des migrants sont importants pour les pays en voie de développement. Mais surtout, nous démontrons, de manière théorique et empirique, qu'il est crucial de faciliter dans ces pays l'accès aux comptes de dépôt bancaires, afin de transformer une plus grande part des transferts des migrants en investissements productifs. Ceci est d'autant plus vrai quand l'accès aux autres sources de capitaux internationaux est coûteux.<p> En conclusion, la crise financière de 2008-2009 a fait de l'amélioration des systèmes financiers la priorité de nombreuses politiques économiques. Dans cette perspective, notre travail apporte une contribution à une compréhension plus fine de l'importance de la finance pour l'économie, ainsi qu'une vision novatrice des déterminants des systèmes financiers. / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished