As the Fintech evolution transforms the banking sectors worldwide, the players in the market are hard-pressed to experiment the tremendous opportunities that the application of the likes of Blockchain, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence et cetera would have on the financial world. As the volume of the data continue to expand, the possibilities that this raw data materializes in the form of opportunities lean towards limitless. Organizations such as financial institutions must be vigilant of the prospects that such data can reveal and the extend of leverage that they can exercise to build insights for their consumers, products, and services. Big data analytics have alone become the driving force for digital innovations and transformation of banks.

Shari'ah has specific rules for dealing in each class of assets and activities; i.e., cash, debt, goods, usufruct, and those classified as either halal (permissible) or haram (impermissible). These rulings can be easily applied when such an asset or activity is an independent subject matter of a transaction. However, the issue becomes complicated when an asset or activity is mixed with others and the combination is represented as a single subject matter. A fine example of this situation is shares of a joint stock company. A company share represents all the activities and underlying assets of that company. Some of the activities and assets of that company may be Shari'ah non-compliant while some may be Shari'ah compliant. Such assets can be in any form; i.e., cash, debt, goods, usufruct or rights. There are two main issues that need to be dealt with in considering a company's shares: (1) when it represents a mixture of halal and haram activities and assets, and (2) when it represents a mixture of ribawi and non-ribawi assets.

There is a strong theoretical foundation that demonstrates costs of switching as one of the main barriers in creating a healthy level of competition. Switching costs might even be more prevalent for Islamic banks due to Shariah dimension since Shariah driven customers are limited to only switch to banks that offer Shariah-compliant products. However, the banking market is not completely segmented as Islamic banking clients can switch to conventional banks, and vice versa. This paper examines the degree of switching costs in Islamic and conventional banks, and investigates its influence on bank competition in dual banking economies. We find that conventional banks inherit higher switching costs than Islamic banks. The finding is consistent for all countries in the sample except for Malaysia and Bahrain. We also find that switching costs during the global financial crisis are higher than the rest of the years. We further document a significant negative relationship between switching costs and bank competition, while this relationship is more pronounced for Islamic banks.

The Islamic banking sector has ascended to be systematically important in several OIC countries particularly in Malaysia and the GCC. Globally, the sector has recorded a double digit growth rate far exceeding the growth rate of its conventional counterpart. Its sustained growth in the provision of financial services founded on Islamic principles even during crisis episodes, especially duting the recent global financial crisis, makes Islamic banking gain traction even in the non-Muslim world. Over recent years, it has made its presence in such countries as Switzerland, the UK, and the USA.

The novel COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented human crisis around the globe. The necessary actions implemented to contain the virus have sparked both economic and social downturn. It shows the fragility and unpreparedness of the economy to face such a pandemic. Significant weakening of economic conditions has escalated the pressure on households, businesses and financial markets. Governments all over the globe are in the process of formulating and implementing appropriate policies to continue economic activities amidst this turmoil. Financial institutions are obligated to respond towards the policies adopted by respective governments.

Islamic banks have proliferated and emerged as important players in the global banking industry especially in the Muslim-Majority countries. The recent increase in the number and market share of Islamic banks has intensified the competition in this new industry. Despite its importance, the increasing competition in Islamic banking market not only from its own Islamic peers, but also from commercial banks has not been adequately addressed nor its consequences have been investigated. This summary aims to shed the light the market structure and the evolution of the competition under dual banking system.

Islamic banks have proliferated and emerged as important players in the global banking industry especially in the Muslim-majority countries. The recent increase in the number and market share of Islamic banks has intensified the competition in this new industry. Despite its importance, the increasing competition in Islamic banking market not only from its own Islamic peers, but also from commercial banks has not been adequately addressed nor its consequences have been investigated. This thesis aims to shed the light on this important issue by investigating the effect of competition on the efficiency of both Islamic and conventional banks ...

This paper assesses Malaysia's competition landscape and its risk implications subsequent to conventional banking consolidation and Islamic banking penetration in the aftermath of the 1997/1998 Asian financial crisis. Employing a panel sample of conventional and Islamic commercial banks, it arrives at the following conclusions. First, the consolidation exercise, which has led to a significant reduction in the number of domestic commercial banks, has not stifled banking competition. Second, the paper provides empirical support for the competition-stability relationship, particularly for the conventional banking sector. Islamic banking sector risk appears to be neutral to market competition or market power, although there is limited evidence that it increases with overall market concentration. Finally, the analysis uncovers the risk-increasing effect of the Islamic banking market structure on the conventional banking sector. By contrast, conventional banking market concentration tends to reduce the credit risk of Islamic banks

As the Islamic finance industry continues to gain popularity in the financial sphere, the number of faithful investors who are interested in Shari'ah-compliant avenues for their investments also continues to increase. One of the most important of these is the equity market. However, it is evident in today's world that it is hard to find a joint stock company whose activities are completely compliant to Shari'ah principles and rulings. As a share of a company represents all the activities and underlying assets of the company, the Shari'ah noncompliance issue can emerge in the share. While the primary activities of a company are Shari'ah-compliant, its peripheral activities may be impermissible from the Shari'ah viewpoint. Meanwhile, the assets of the company can also be in the form of cash, debt, goods, usufruct or rights, which can raise the issue of trading ribawi (interest-based) items. Thus, the study addresses the issue of Shari'ah compliance and tradability of shares that represent a mixture of halal (permissible in Islamic law) and haram (impermissible in Islamic law) activities and assets.

This study seeks to examine whether corporate environmental performance (CEP) and corporate social performance (CSP) affect stability of the banking industry. The topic is of much interest to researchers and policy makers considering the growing demand to integrate environmental and social practices into banking business model. Based on a panel dataset of 473 banks in 74 countries, this research finds that CEP is negatively related to bank stability as measured by non-performing loans (NPL). However, the impact is insignificant for small and large banks, as well as for banks in countries with low environmental scores. Furthermore, CSP does not appear to have a significant relationship with bank stability, but financial product safety, which is an aspect of CSP, does. The results are robust to a variety of econometric specifications and have significant policy implications for investors, bankers and regulators.

Islamic banking industry has unprecedentedly witnessed a rapid growth since its inception four decades back in the late 1970s. However, the prospect of this flourishing industry is fast becoming gloomy in recent years. The growth of Islamic banking almost matches the conventional banking, and their products are hardly distinguishable. Although the market growth slows down in the aftermath of the global financial crises in 2008, the Islamic banking market has witnessed increasing competition. Islamic banks become more competitive and they managed to increase their market share meanwhile, conventional banks have successfully responded to the challenge by launching Islamic windows and subsidiaries. The increasing competition is considered as one of the main challenges that face Islamic banks, specifically, their performance.