A study of liquidity and profitability in Malaysia Islamic Banks

Abstract

This thesis engages in a comparative analytical study of the liquidity and profitability management performance of Islamic banks in Malaysia. It seeks to explore the developments and growth of Islamic banks since the formation of Muslim Pilgrim Savings Corporation in 1963 which later metamorphosed into a full-fledge Islamic bank. The research begins with a short history of Islamic banks with special focus on the Malaysian examples. It then examines the profitability and liquidity management over a period of five years - 1999 -2003 of thirteen Islamic banks in Malaysia so as to locate the impact of its legacy on the prevailing economy of Malaysia. In doing so, it adopts the Ordinary Lease Square regression statistical methods to examine the management and performance of these Islamic banks. Different types of internal and external variables which consist of bank characteristics and financial structure variables including tax were employed in this study to examine performances and efficiency of these banks as far as liquidity and profitability are concern. It focuses on both full-fledged Islamic banks and banks with Islamic banking windows. Finally, the study reveals and discloses the impact of the Islamic banking activities on the Malaysian economy. All things been equal, our regression result revealed that Malaysian Islamic banks are liquid but not really in excess as could be found in the Mid-eastern banks. This shall be partly due to varieties of liquid assets created in this region to employ idle funds. Tax and overhead were found to have a positive relationship with Islamic banks' profitability. This confirms previous findings on this subject. It concludes on the need for a complete upgrading of Islamic banking activities which will meet Muslim aspirations.