Islamic banking in Pakistan: A history of emergent accountability and regulation

What is it about?

This study presents a history of the Islamic banking sector, its accountability and regulation in Pakistan, set in its contexts of the rise of Islamic banking internationally in a global finance marketplace alongside the localized Islamization of Pakistan’s economy. The historical analysis is informed by the Economic Theory of the State and the principles of Islamic theocracy, and examines the events leading to the establishment of the Islamic banking system in Pakistan, government accountability and regulatory strategies, and the market response. The findings reveal the complexity of attempts to reform Pakistan’s banking sector into a purely Islamic-based system and the contests between government, the central bank and religious authorities for the sector’s accountability, regulation and control. The re-emergence of a dual banking system and its accountability and regulation for both economic management and theocratic purposes illustrates the ongoing compromise and accommodation between national religious culture and a global financial environment.

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