A DISSERTATION ON Liquidity Risk Management in Islamic Banks: An Empirical Study with Special Context of Pakistan

Abstract

According to the general perception there is a close contact among finance, financial institutions and economic development. An improvement in a country‟s money-related framework would provoke economic development and an increase in its national income. The money related framework is based on Islamic and Conventional banking in Pakistan. Liquidity is an important aspect of Pakistani Islamic banking system. In liquidity management system, deposits and Islamic bankers are involved. This research is aimed at analyzing the behavior of Islamic depositors and the management techniques of Islamic bankers to adjust liquidity issue along with the factors that affect the liquidity of the Islamic banks of Pakistan. The main aims of the research are to analyze the liquidity behavior of depositors of Islamic banks of Pakistan, secondly to examine the Islamic banks‟ liquidity management system (i.e. current practices to manage liquidity) and organizational structure and to identify the factors that influence liquidity of Islamic banks. For the accomplishment of the said aims first of all, a conceptual framework was developed through a literature review. Then this conceptual framework was tested using primary and secondary data along with interviews conducted with depositors of Islamic banks and Islamic bankers of Pakistan. Three types of data were collected for the study: quantitative data from the annual reports of the Islamic banks, quantitative data from close-ended questionnaires from both depositors and Islamic bankers in Pakistan, and qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with both depositors and Islamic bankers in Pakistan. after the collection of data different tests were applied to the primary and secondary data to derive the results. These were Descriptive Tests i.e. Mean, Median, Mode, Standard Deviation, Pool Unit Root Test, Panel Data Analysis (for each of the three models separately), Regression test i.e. Simple and multiple regressions using Fixed effect and Random effect. The findings of the study Page | xix indicate that Islamic banks rely on various formal and informal mechanisms in order to manage their liquidity. Both investment and deposit sides are managed in this regard whereby the deposit side is mostly managed by attracting more depositors. In this regard there was an indication of two types of cohorts of Islamic banks‟ depositors. The first cohort has a religious orientation and is attracted towards Islamic banks because of their Islamic image and the second cohort has profit orientation and is attracted in expectation of higher returns. In order to yield higher profits banks have to invest more in long-term investments based on Mudarabah and Musharakah. Further, in order to maintain liquidity, banks also invest in NOP options. The more the liquidity of the bank, the more it would be able to invest in long-term investments. There are cost implications as well, as profit-oriented customers require higher returns and, thus, the cost of banking operation increases with depositors having high profit orientation. Religious depositors, on the other hand, are easy to attract and retain without any significant operating cost. Such depositors just assess the operations and investments of the banks on Islamic standards and deposit their money in the Islamic banks. In the broader context the main recommendations are, Islamic banks should strengthen their Islamic image and customer service along with profit sharing. Key Words: Islamic Banking, Liquidity Risk, Liquidity Reserves, Shariah Principles, Demand for Liquidity.