ISLAMIC BANKING IN TURKEY: POPULATION PERCEPTION AND DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES

Islamic banks have, over the last few decades, become very popular in the Gulf countries and in some countries in Southeast Asia with a majority Muslim population. They are on the rise even in some western cities such as London or New York which have witnessed a significant increase in their Muslim...

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Main Authors: István EGRESI, Rauf BELGE
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Editura Universitatii din Oradea 2017-05-01
Series:Revista Română de Geografie Politică
Subjects:
Online Access:http://rrgp.uoradea.ro/art/2017-1/RRGP_308_Egresi_Belge.pdf
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author István EGRESI
Rauf BELGE
author_facet István EGRESI
Rauf BELGE
author_sort István EGRESI
collection DOAJ
description Islamic banks have, over the last few decades, become very popular in the Gulf countries and in some countries in Southeast Asia with a majority Muslim population. They are on the rise even in some western cities such as London or New York which have witnessed a significant increase in their Muslim population. In this context, it is then surprising to see that in Turkey, a country in which almost 100% of the population is Muslim, the Islamic banking system is still in its incipient stage. This study has investigated the reasons for the underdevelopment of the Islamic banking system in Turkey. We found that, due to the long period of secularism, most Turks separate religion from business and select their bank based on financial advantages, diversity of financial products and quality of service rather than based on the need to adhere to Shari’a principles. Many people also do not trust that these institutions are really Shari’a-compliant and safe. This is partly due to the customers’ lack of understanding of how these banks operate and partly due to the numerous cases of bad practices reported by the media and the academic literature. We conclude that, while their assets and share will most probably increase over the next 10 years it seems very unlikely that Islamic banks will really become a sustainable alternative banking system in Turkey. The Islamic banking system will rather remain an additional or complementary banking system.
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spelling doaj.art-2b70d100bd434e89ad6a6b58c6df54d42022-12-21T21:18:31ZengEditura Universitatii din OradeaRevista Română de Geografie Politică1582-77632065-16192017-05-011913055ISLAMIC BANKING IN TURKEY: POPULATION PERCEPTION AND DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGESIstván EGRESI0Rauf BELGE1Ton Duc Thang University, Department for Management of Science and Technology Development Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, e-mail: istvan.egresi@tdt.edu.vnMarmara University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Geography Istanbul, Turkey, e-mail: rauf.belge@marmara.edu.trIslamic banks have, over the last few decades, become very popular in the Gulf countries and in some countries in Southeast Asia with a majority Muslim population. They are on the rise even in some western cities such as London or New York which have witnessed a significant increase in their Muslim population. In this context, it is then surprising to see that in Turkey, a country in which almost 100% of the population is Muslim, the Islamic banking system is still in its incipient stage. This study has investigated the reasons for the underdevelopment of the Islamic banking system in Turkey. We found that, due to the long period of secularism, most Turks separate religion from business and select their bank based on financial advantages, diversity of financial products and quality of service rather than based on the need to adhere to Shari’a principles. Many people also do not trust that these institutions are really Shari’a-compliant and safe. This is partly due to the customers’ lack of understanding of how these banks operate and partly due to the numerous cases of bad practices reported by the media and the academic literature. We conclude that, while their assets and share will most probably increase over the next 10 years it seems very unlikely that Islamic banks will really become a sustainable alternative banking system in Turkey. The Islamic banking system will rather remain an additional or complementary banking system.http://rrgp.uoradea.ro/art/2017-1/RRGP_308_Egresi_Belge.pdfIslamic bankingparticipation banksTurkeybank selection criteriaattitudes towards Islamic banksprospects for development
spellingShingle István EGRESI
Rauf BELGE
ISLAMIC BANKING IN TURKEY: POPULATION PERCEPTION AND DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES
Revista Română de Geografie Politică
Islamic banking
participation banks
Turkey
bank selection criteria
attitudes towards Islamic banks
prospects for development
title ISLAMIC BANKING IN TURKEY: POPULATION PERCEPTION AND DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES
title_full ISLAMIC BANKING IN TURKEY: POPULATION PERCEPTION AND DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES
title_fullStr ISLAMIC BANKING IN TURKEY: POPULATION PERCEPTION AND DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES
title_full_unstemmed ISLAMIC BANKING IN TURKEY: POPULATION PERCEPTION AND DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES
title_short ISLAMIC BANKING IN TURKEY: POPULATION PERCEPTION AND DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES
title_sort islamic banking in turkey population perception and development challenges
topic Islamic banking
participation banks
Turkey
bank selection criteria
attitudes towards Islamic banks
prospects for development
url http://rrgp.uoradea.ro/art/2017-1/RRGP_308_Egresi_Belge.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT istvanegresi islamicbankinginturkeypopulationperceptionanddevelopmentchallenges
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