Islamic Finance in the Global Economy, by Ibrahim Warde. Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh University Press, 2000. 252 pages. Notes. Gloss. Index. $90. Reviewed by Clement M. Henry Ibrahim Warde has written a forthright and scholarly survey of a subject that deserves the attention of both international bankers and area specialists who are interested in Islamic culture or political economy. Islamic Finance in the Global Economy documents the evolution of Islamic banking over the past quarter of a century, from the go-go era of abundant oil revenues that readily supported a new commercial adventure to the current decade of accelerated globalization, especially of financial institutions. It offers a much-needed introduction to a highly complex set of economic, cultural, and political phenomena. Dr. Warde's definition of Islamic financial institutions is that they be "based, in their objectives and operations, on Koranic principles." Typically they will have a religious board that decides what is properly Islamic, although Warde notes that there are exceptions and that "no definition.. is entirely satisfactory" (p. 5). Throughout his survey, the author is at pains to emphasize that Islam admits of many interpretations, that Islamic banking should not be confounded with Islamist politics, and that political Islamism comes in many shapes and forms. He cites Aziz al-Azme's "Islams" approvingly (p. 17) but, perhaps for the benefit of his banker readers, devotes more space than they deserve to criticizing journalists like Steven Emerson who conjure up pictures of terrorism and money-laundering (pp. 218, 222). Warde himself has an excellent command of the serious literature on political Islam, including scholars like Olivier Carre, who should be better known in the United States. References to Richard Bulliet and Ernest Gellner might have further enriched his discussion of contemporary Islamism and its possible convergence with economic liberalism. After an initial take-off in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Islamic banks stagnated. Declines in oil revenues, coupled with a financial crisis in Kuwait, put many of these new banks at risk. Unlike the anti-Islamic propaganda of the popular press or the equally uninformative apologetics written by dedicated Islamists, Warde frankly discusses issues of Islamic "moral hazard" and financial mismanagement that have plagued a number of these institutions. Host governments have been obliged to bail out a number of them, including the Kuwait Finance House in 1984, the largest Islamic bank at the time, and, in 1998, the most venerable of them, Dubai Islamic Bank, which was founded in 1974. Despite their growing pains and although oil revenues stagnated until quite recently, after this book went to press, Islamic financial institutions got a second wind (or "aggiornamento" as the author calls it) with the intensified pressures on the region to integrate into the global economy. As times became more difficult, with the poorer, heavily indebted countries in the region obliged to engage in financial structural adjustment, Islamic financial institutions paradoxically took off once more. Warde highlights the congruence between the new international financial environment and these culturally specific banks. …

Islamic Finance in the Global Economy

Local heat, local food: integrating vertical hydroponic farming with district heating in Sweden.

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Book Review - Credit Risk Management: Basic Concepts: Financial Risk Components, Rating Analysis, Models, Economic and Regulatory Capital

Decarbonizing strategies of the retail sector following the Paris Agreement

The aim and purpose of this paper is to point out to the quality of financial performance and efficiency of food retailers in Serbia, as well as measures for improvement in the future, based on theoretical knowledge and empirical analysis using AHP-TOPSIS methods. The problem of analyzing the financial performance of all companies, which includes trading companies, is very topical, significant and complex. Consequently, mathematical methods and models have lately been increasingly used. With this insight in mind, this paper investigates the financial performance and efficiency of food retailers in Serbia using AHP and TOPSIS methods. Of all the observed optimization criteria (cost of goods sold, operating costs, gross margin and net profit), the most significant was the cost of goods sold. The most efficient food retailer in Serbia is Aman. The Mercator-S Company is inefficient. In order to improve the efficiency of food retailers in Serbia, it is necessary to apply the Western business models (private brand, multichannel sales, organic food sales and others), the concepts of strategic management accounting and to strengthen the digitalization of business.

/pdf/analyzing-financial-performances-and-efficiency-of-the-1zj1q4ahqr.pdf

Analyzing financial performances and efficiency of the retail food in serbia by using the ahp – topsis method

The analysis of the effects of applying the concept of
sustainable development in retail has been attracting interest
recently. In that context we have considered greenhouse
gases emission in retail. This is achieved by using modern
ecological technology in business – through the whole food
value chain. The goal is to achieve the planned reductions
of carbon dioxide in retail food, which positively reflects
the overall performance of food retailers. This empirical
research is mainly based on the analysis of the original
sustainable reports officially disclosed by selected food
retailers. These reports are now an integral part of the
integrated reporting on performance of global food
retailers. Having been universally important, harmonized
regulations on sustainable retail food reporting are being
increasingly applied as a data source for more efficient
environmental management. In the future, this will enable
the comparative analysis of the carbon dioxide emission of
global and other food retailers.

/pdf/carbon-dioxide-emissions-in-retail-food-57t74oj5ed.pdf

Carbon dioxide emissions in retail food

Islamic economic model, especially it's most developed part
Islamic banking, is known as interest free. Beside this characteristic it
includes several moral and ethical dimensions based on Islam as a
foundation of this business activity. In this aspect, Islamic banks should be barriers of sustainable development because public interest is the basics of its foundation. The aim of this paper is to analyze the degree of involvement of Islamic banks regarding sustainable development in forms of disclosure of their activities. Emphasis is placed on economic, social and environmental disclosure. This paper is focused on theoretical background considering the disclosure practice among Islamic banks, especially within the three basic pillars of sustainable development goals.

Sustainable development and disclosure practice among Islamic banks

The aim of this paper is to present how credit scoring models can be used in financial institutions, in this case in banks, in order to simplify credit lending.
Unlike traditional models of credit analysis, scoring models provides valuation based on numerical score who represent clients’ possibility to fulfil their obligation. Using credit scoring models, bank can
create a numerical snapshot of consumers risk profile. One of the most important characteristic of scoring models is objectivity where two clients with the same characteristics will have the same credit rating.
This paper presents some of credit scoring models and the way that financial institutions use them.

Scoring Models of Bank Credit Policy Management

Islamic banks are financial institutions operating in accordance with religious Islamic law (Sharia) Although it is familiar as non interest banking, because the interest is forbidden, Islamic banking represents a complete set of moral and ethical activities that must be taken into account when making investment decisions and financing business activities Share of Islamic banking in Islamic finance is around 80% with the value of approximately $ 157 trillion by the end of 2015 (IFSI Stability Report 2016) Islamic banking in Western Balkan is present only in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) that has one Islamic bank, Bosna Bank International (BBI) established in 2000 Serbia, as a country that has attracted many Arab investors, doesn’t have any Islamic bank operating in the country The aim of this research is to explore is there a public interest in Islamic banking, especiallyamong the commercial banks in Serbia and are there possibilities for development of Islamic banking in this country To explore these two main questions, author conducted a research by using a questionnaire among the chairmen and members of the administrative Board of 12 commercial banks in Serbia The result of the research show that commercial banks in Serbia are not interested in this type of a banking activity On the other hand they are also not sufficiently familiar with the concept of Islamic banking The research showed that process of internationalization of Islamic banking is not present in Serbia

Process of Internationalization in Islamic Banking: The Case of Serbia

The financial system in Bosnia and Herzegovina is bank centered which follows the continental model, where banks play a leading role and in the case of BiH it means the bank participation of over 80%. The continental model assumes that banks are universal - financial supermarkets among others offer broadcasting services and sales of securities, finance and financial management. Previous research show that banks in BiH offer currency forwards, currency swaps and interest rate forwards which means that financial derivate market is organized as OTC market. Comparing to development countries, this market is not developed yet. The main reason can be found in the facts that BiH is a small country with economy in transition where non-financial firms are still not aware of the benefits in the use of these types of financial instruments and are focused on other ways of mitigating the risk. Also it is important to notice that most of the business operations are done in euro and because of the currency board regime, agency regulations on banks' net open position and a relatively small exposure to foreign currencies, except the euro, foreign exchange risk in BiH is low. Nevertheless, risk management is important for every firm so the main focus of this paper will be how BiH nonfinancial firms manage the risks that they are exposed to in terms of the use of financial derivate in their transactions.

Aida Hanić

Papers

Carbon dioxide emissions in retail food

Sustainable development and disclosure practice among Islamic banks

Scoring Models of Bank Credit Policy Management

Process of Internationalization in Islamic Banking: The Case of Serbia

The use of financial derivatives in risk management purposes of non-financial firms in Bosnia and Herzegovina