Bank selection criteria for Muslims in Mauritius : an analysis of future prospects for the Islamic banking industry

Abstract

Mauritius is a small secular country situated off the south east coast of Africa. The launch of the Islamic banking industry was done in 2007, however being a Muslim minority economy till now the industry has not been able to see proper growth. Based on the literature it can be seen that Islamic bank selection criteria in other countries be it Muslim or Non-Muslim are mainly religion and other factors such as profitability and service quality. Therefore, this study aims at investigating bank selection criterion in Mauritius and attempt to determine whether religion can in fact influence a customer’s choice of bank. The findings show that religion is one factor which draws customers towards Islamic banking. However, along with religion, other several factors such as privacy, transparency, facilities offered and service quality also play a big role in attracting a Muslim banking customer. Furthermore, the research also resolves which aspects of service quality are more important based on the results of an importance-performance analysis.