Enhancing the Shariah Governance Framework for Malaysian IFIs through Effective Management Strategies

The Shariah Governance Framework (SGF) in Malaysia has approached its fifth year of implementation by Malaysian Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs). In ensuring its continuous effectiveness as well as in enhancing the governance robustness, any existing gaps must be tackled and resolved proficiently. Among the gaps recorded in the previous literatures directed to various areas such as the commitment of Shariah Governance body or management team towards its governance, Shariah Committee (SC) portfolio, competency, regulatory framework and so forth. This research paper explores the practical adoption which could be applied through theoretical analysis and viable recommendation for further enhancement of the SGF by all management teams in the IFIs. In complementing this study, a set of questionnaires is distributed to some selected group of staff in a Takaful Operator (TO) in Malaysia to gauge their understanding of the subject matter. The Shariah Governance Framework (SGF) in Malaysia has approached its fifth year of implementation by Malaysian Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs). In ensuring its continuous effectiveness as well as in enhancing the governance robustness, any existing gaps must be tackled and resolved proficiently. Among the gaps recorded in the previous literatures directed to various areas such as the commitment of Shariah Governance body or management team towards its governance, Shariah Committee (SC) portfolio, competency, regulatory framework and so forth. This research paper explores the practical adoption which could be applied through theoretical analysis and viable recommendation for further enhancement of the SGF by all management teams in the IFIs. In complementing this study, a set of questionnaires is distributed to some selected group of staff in a Takaful Operator (TO) in Malaysia to gauge their understanding of the subject matter.