A UoB Study on MENA Banks: Advanced Contributions of Commercial Banks Towards Environmental and Social Practices and Governance

Sakhir – University of Bahrain (Khadijah Abdusalem)
8 November 2022
A study conducted at the University of Bahrain (UoB) confirmed that the commercial banks’ contributions are greater than the Islamic banks’ contributions towards the environment, society and governance in the Middle East and North Africa region during the period 2012-2021.
The study, titled “Environmental and Social Practices and Governance in Middle Eastern and North African Banks”, was prepared by Ahmed Jawad Ahmed, Master’s Student in Finance, and Dr. Yumna Ahmed Abdulla, Associate Professor in the Department of Economics and Finance, and has been published in IEEE Xplore, in the issue of the 2022 International Conference on Sustainability in Islamic Business and Finance.
In addition, the study – which was conducted on listed banks in the Middle East and North Africa between 2012 and 2021 – aimed to compare Islamic and commercial banks’ performance towards the environment, society, and governance, through a total number of points according to the Thomoson Reuters Refinitiv Database criteria and to find out whether Islamic banks are better than commercial banks in this aspect in the North Africa and the Middle East Region.
As the study found that the contributions of commercial banks are greater than those of Islamic banks towards the environment, society and governance in the Middle East and North Africa in the period 2012-2021.
Moreover, the study confirmed that banks in general, whether Islamic or commercial in the Middle East and North Africa, have witnessed a remarkable growth in environmental, social and governance practices during the study period.
The study recommended that Islamic banks give more attention to sustainability practices, to improve banking stability and risk exposure, in addition to increasing their investments in the pillars of environment, society and governance, because they are fundamental to improving performance, value and financial stability.
Furthermore, the researchers suggested conducting a study of profit and performance variables to compare the types of banks, and studying each pillar separately, to see if there is an impact of Islamic Sharia principles on any pillar, in addition to conducting the study on a larger sample, to obtain more reliable results.

• 
• 
• 
• 
•