Oman rules may spur reform of Islamic finance scholars

31/01/2013 07:22 AST

Oman's new Islamic banking rules could encourage the development of a larger pool of sharia scholars and ultimately help to raise operating standards for them around the world, according to bankers and scholars.

Last month, the sultanate's central bank released an extensive Islamic banking rulebook which included provisions for sharia scholars, such as fit-and-proper criteria and term limits on scholars' appointment to sharia boards, which decide whether products and activities obey Islamic principles.

Oman is the last country in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council to introduce Islamic banking, but the level of detail in the rules could help set it apart from the others, and even give it some influence over global trends in the industry.

"I admire the positive spirit behind many articles in the law, which aims to achieve a higher level of good governance and avoidance of conflicts," said Washington-based scholar Muddassir Siddiqui, president and chief executive of ShariahPath Consultants LLC.

"Oman came from behind but it is now among the very few jurisdictions to introduce such a comprehensive set of rules. I am sure it will inspire others to follow."

The objectives behind the rules include enlarging the pool of qualified scholars as well as addressing issues of scholar capacity and conflict of interest, Siddiqui added.

Capacity refers to the amount of time scholars can devote to each of their board appointments; multiple commitments raise concerns that scholars may not be able to carry out their supervisory roles effectively.

In an attempt to build a larger talent pool, Oman's rules state that scholars can only be appointed for three-year terms and serve a maximum of two consecutive terms, thus requiring banks to hire new scholars periodically.

Such term limits are rare in Islamic finance, where scholar appointments have often been considered long-term or even permanent.

"I believe this is a good practice as it will provide an avenue to more scholars to share their expertise in the deliberation of a sharia supervisory board (SSB)," Mohamad Akram Laldin, executive director at the Malaysian-based International Sharia Research Academy for Islamic Finance, told Reuters.

Both Laldin and Siddiqui are members of the sharia standards committee at the Bahrain-based Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI), a major standard-setting body.

AAOIFI, recognising that lengthy appointments "could lead to a close relationship which could be perceived to be a threat to independence and objectivity", recommends that institutions rotate at least one sharia board member every five years. But Oman's rules go further by applying term limits to all members.

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Reuters