Market Values of Islamic Banks and Ethical Identity

Ethical identity briefly refers to the collection of guidelines that promote ethical practices within and by the organization. The concept of ethical identity is embedded in the Islamic teaching. This study examine the ethical identity of Islamic banks in Bangladesh, Malaysia and Arab gulf states under eight distinctive dimensions to explore the difference between ideal and communicated ethical conducts via annual reports. Banks in the Gulf Region maintained a high standard of reporting in all dimensions; however, performed poorly in information disclosure regarding board of directors and top management, and commitments towards debtors. Banks in Bangladesh did not clearly indicate the status and role of board of directors and top management. Ethical identity has not been properly understood by the Banks in Malaysia; even though, banks in this region consistently reported few ethical identity issues rather clearly. Among the best and the worst performers according to their respective Ethical Identity Index (EII), Shamil Bank and Al-Rajhi Bank became the best and the worst bank respectively in the Gulf Region. Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited topped the list in Bangladesh. Based on our findings, commitments towards society, clarity in mission and vision statements and updated role and attributes regarding Shariah Supervisory Boards (SSB) were the areas of limited reporting. The findings of the study reveal an immediate appeal to develop ethical identity disclosure requirements for Islamic banks. Other areas of special importance include focused social and developmental goals, putting Islmaic Shariah strategically in the mission and vision statements, enhanced employee welfare policy and effective Shariah monitoring over banking operation