The main objective of this research is to examine whether the current practices of Islamic banking and financial activities in Saudi Arabia are compatible with the principles of Shariah. This examination includes the current uses of sukuk (Islamic bonds), the models of takaful (Islamic insurance) and accepted risk transfer mechanisms in Islamic structured finance (Islamic derivatives). The second purpose is to investigate the basic laws of banking and financial activities in Saudi Arabia and examine whether they are compatible with Shariah principles. The final aim is to suggest solutions to the absence of regulatory and supervisory systems of Islamic finance in Saudi Arabia by proposing a legislative and regulatory framework for Islamic banking and finance in Saudi Arabia. The research findings show that there are no specific laws and regulations governing Islamic banking and financial activities in Saudi Arabia. In addition, there is no independent central Shariah board to regulate and supervise Islamic banking and financial activities in Saudi Arabia, nor are there are any specialised commercial courts to look into banking issues. The research finds that there are some articles in the law of supervision of cooperative insurance companies in Saudi Arabia, and its implementing regulations, which do not comply with Shariah, and in addition, there is some incompatibility between the law and its implementing regulations. The final finding is that the issuance of sukuk and Islamic financial derivatives in Saudi Arabia are not consistent with Shariah requirements, due to the absence of regulatory policies and supervisory harmonisation, while Islamic insurance needs to amend some articles of the law of supervision of cooperative insurance companies in Saudi Arabia, and its implementing regulations, in order to comply with Shariah and also to avoid incompatibility between them.

An adaptable service system adjusts to the operational-level environments of organisations to enable heterogeneous services. This adaptation is important for sustainability and contextual-value (benefit) creation in a service system. Academics, such as those related to the current service-ecosystem concept, acknowledge the significance of this adaptation. However, little is known about a comprehensive adaptation process and how that integrates within a design for a service system. Also, practitioners are inclined towards this development, as the financial regulator in Pakistan has established an “evolutionary framework”. This framework encourages financial institutions to design Shariah finance services (SFS) which respond and evolve to the emergent market environments. The existing SFS models take benefit from Islamic jurisprudence and economics literatures to provide designs for transactions of financial and physical assets. However, the SFS models de-emphasis the intangible service-elements, where the adaptation is more likely to occur. Currently there is a great need for models that could explain the detailed adaptation process and its placement in an SFS design. The aim of this research is to develop, evaluate and theorise a model for conceptualising a holistic adaptable service-system design. The research aim is achieved through the proposal of a novel deferred service-system design (DSD) model. The DSD conceptualises a service-system design that adapts to the operational-level environments of SFS organisations in Pakistan. The DSD has seven constructs: (i) the service creators apply centrally-planned designs to create a service ii) they adapt these designs to meet the requirements of emergent contexts (iii) the service personnel, customers and aiding parties co-create a service by integrating their (iv) roles and actions, (v) resources and usufructs, (vi) rules and control to generate (vii) value. DSD is based on service-system design (SSD) literature, SFS literature and theory of deferred action (TODA)  a theory of system and organisation design. A multiple case study strategy is employed to evaluate, extend and theorise the DSD developed in phase I. Qualitative data are collected in four SFS organisations: Islamic commercial bank, Islamic life Takaful, Islamic mutual fund, and Islamic leasing organisation. Thirty-two in-depth narrative interviews of SFS personnel are conducted and analysed using a narrative discourse analysis method. The findings are triangulated by adding focus-group discussions, visualisations and service offering documents. The empirical findings are synthesised with the extant literature to develop a novel and comprehensive DSD in phase II. The findings show that the service co-creators apply a centrally-developed planned design typology (PDT). PDT includes different blends of SFS models (e.g., partnerships, sales, leases, agency and endowment), expected varieties (list, range and negative) and addable-deductible modules. The service co-creators and their inclusive systems (e.g., families, societies, markets, regulators and other government agencies) affect the planned service-system design to adapt or migrate. The service co-creators follow a novel six-step deferred adaptation process (DAP): emergence locale, information diffusion, knowledge diffusion, indexation, specifics evaluation and adaptation/migration. The empirical findings advance our understanding of a service-system design by showing how a planned design enables adaptation through PDT. More importantly, how the service co-creators follow a systematic process, DAP, to attain the desired adaptation or migrate off the scene. The findings also broaden the conceptualisation of SFS by showing how it is co-created by the financial institutions, customers and aiding parties. This is due to the SFS being perceived as a product of financial institution alone. This research also makes a contribution to service visualisation method by extending and using the service blueprint as an additional data-collection and analysis tool. This study provided fourteen implications for the practitioners.

This research investigates how Islam is informing capitalism in Indonesia through an analysis of the Baitul Maal wat Tamwil (BMT) model of Islamic microfinance and how it operates as a local variant of the global phenomenon of microfinance. Using an ethnographic case study of BMT Solo, in Colomadu, Surakarta, Indonesia, this thesis examines the relationship value between Indonesia’s historical religious tensions and the influence of this form and practice of Islamic microfinance in Indonesia. This is a qualitative study for which original data was collected through field work conducted from August to November 2013. Qualitative methods and narratives were employed to ensure that the voices and stories of the participants, as they see the issues from their perspective, are heard. Field observations, event analysis and data from 14 semi-structured interviews reveal that: while global conventional microfinance aims to eradicate poverty by providing the poor with access to credit, BMT Solo does not issue loans to the poor but rather works to combat poverty through the baitul maal function. As the data demonstrate, the way in which BMT Solo administers their baitul maal function results in the exclusion of the poor non-Muslim community in Colomadu reinforcing already delicate religious tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims in Indonesia. The data also elucidate the three main reasons for which founders, managers, staff and customers became involved with BMT Solo. One pattern that can be identified from the analysis, is that generally, with a few exceptions, founders and managers were motivated by reasons of faith while staff primarily by reasons of accessibility and customers by both reasons of accessibility and diplomacy. Diplomatic reasoning refers to community diplomacy and the elements of social pressure and conformity which are often associated with maintaining peaceful and harmonious relations. The reasons of diplomacy bring new insights into how the few non-Muslim BMT Solo customers are using Islamic microfinance to diplomatically co-exist in a majority Muslim community and to manage delicate religious tensions to mitigate potential difficulties. / Graduate / 0318 / mlholden@uvic.ca

The non-interest and profit-loss sharing schemes of Islamic finance (IF) are attracting increasing global attention. Despite exposure to the similar opportunities as other Western countries that have adopted the financial business model there is little evidence of Islamic finance windows operating in the conventional institutions in Canada. This thesis takes a qualitative approach to bring the issue forward in Canadian social science literature by exploring the perceived challenges to, and the potential of, the development of IF offerings with a focus on factors affecting the supply and management decisions in the industry. The study used an inductive approach with archival data and critical survey of literature to arrive at the hypotheses surrounding the challenges. These were tested deductively by semi-structured interviews and panel discussions both in Canada and the US on a sample of senior officials involved in both IF and conventional financial institutions. Using a thematic analysis the study arrived at findings supporting the hypotheses related to awareness, regulation, management intent and internal resources. In the external environment, factors affecting strategic decision on offering IF services are mainly due to regulation, lack of awareness, even among Muslim communities, or misgivings about Sha’riah authenticity. Internally, highly customized IT infrastructures, lack of funds and foreign investment make it unfeasible. Management interest when proposed with the concept is high but not in a top-down manner and there is an overall uncertainty avoidance culture and little proactivity with market research. Access to specific Sha’riah knowledge is not considered a hurdle anymore. It is apparent that investments in Sha’riah compliant stocks would be easiest to set up. Mortgage structures can be affected by the capital market structure, even if not tax structures. Knowledge on this can have implications for banks seeking to expand their investment portfolios and aid government policies.

The non-interest and profit-loss sharing schemes of Islamic finance (IF) are attracting increasing global attention. Despite exposure to the similar opportunities as other Western countries that have adopted the financial business model there is little evidence of Islamic finance windows operating in the conventional institutions in Canada. This thesis takes a qualitative approach to bring the issue forward in Canadian social science literature by exploring the perceived challenges to, and the potential of, the development of IF offerings with a focus on factors affecting the supply and management decisions in the industry. The study used an inductive approach with archival data and critical survey of literature to arrive at the hypotheses surrounding the challenges. These were tested deductively by semi-structured interviews and panel discussions both in Canada and the US on a sample of senior officials involved in both IF and conventional financial institutions. Using a thematic analysis the study arrived at findings supporting the hypotheses related to awareness, regulation, management intent and internal resources. In the external environment, factors affecting strategic decision on offering IF services are mainly due to regulation, lack of awareness, even among Muslim communities, or misgivings about Sha’riah authenticity. Internally, highly customized IT infrastructures, lack of funds and foreign investment make it unfeasible. Management interest when proposed with the concept is high but not in a top-down manner and there is an overall uncertainty avoidance culture and little proactivity with market research. Access to specific Sha’riah knowledge is not considered a hurdle anymore. It is apparent that investments in Sha’riah compliant stocks would be easiest to set up. Mortgage structures can be affected by the capital market structure, even if not tax structures. Knowledge on this can have implications for banks seeking to expand their investment portfolios and aid government policies.

This dissertation assesses how Islamic finance fares as an example of 'civil compromise' in Islamic law. By focusing on the Islamic project finance sector, my research examines how the industry's main stakeholders (representing faith, capital, and power) cooperate and compete to bring about this compromise through the 'Game of Islamic Bank Bargains'. The Islamic finance industry is a work in progress, and while it has made some significant strides, it is still a niche in the global conventional financial order rather than an alternative to it. It has fallen short of fulfilling its originally-stated social justice aspirations, but has provided a previously unavailable form of banking and finance for Muslims to transact, at least formalistically, in accordance with widely-believed tenets of their faith. Thus, those who hold up Islamic finance as a universal panacea or dismiss it outright as a fraud have both got it wrong. It is neither. It is, rather, a complex myriad of incentives and aspirations of a multitude of stakeholders muddled together across numerous geographies and evolving incrementally and constantly. The state of the industry is the result of how the stakeholders (the shariah scholars, lawyers, bankers, government officials, and customers) have pursued their self-interest in the Game of Islamic Bank Bargains. My research examines who are the 'winners' and 'losers' of this game, and what religious, commercial, and political factors have influenced this outcome. I assess what may incentivise the incumbent 'winners' to guide the Islamic finance industry away from a formal and legalistic approach towards one that also incorporates principles from Islamic economics. I explore how the 'losers' - whose interests are not accounted for due to their lack of sufficient financial and political clout - can sway the outcome of the game in their favour.