I personally didn’t accept this type of argument:
“Islamic banking is more expensive because it is halal. Halal product is always expensive.”
This is not a good argument to me but it is more as an excuse to justify themselves.
Remember, Islamic banking is not a welfare body. It is a business entity. When it is a business entity, we shall look it from a business point of view together.
As an analogy, have you ever heard any nasik lemak makcik says something like,“I have to sell 50 cent higher than Ah Chong’s because I have no pork inside meh..”
Nasik lemak seller will put a right price according to the market price. RM 1 for nasik lemak biasa. RM 1.50 for nasik lemak telur mata. RM 3.50 for nasik lemak ayam kukus. But if any wholeseller nasik lemak producer come into the market, he could push the price lower than small retail seller because he can control the market.
To make it clearer, have you ever think why you make your monthly or weekly grocery shopping, you prefer more to shop at Tesco, Carefour, Giant, Econsave or any local wholesale supermarket rather than kedai runcit Pak Abu? You simply know that goods prices at Kedai Runcit Pak Abu is higher than Tesco right? No kedai runcit owner dare to put a banner such, “Everyday Low Prices, Big Variety and Great Value.”
And from business point of view, wholesale supermarket is having greater assets and capital to offer cheaper prices for their customer. It is a matter of lead, conversion rate, margin, turnover, operation costs, salary, profit and others.
It is same with Islamic banking because it is business. Perbankan Islam is really new in the market. Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad (BIMB) just get in as a player in 1983, and got listed in Bursa Malaysia in 1992. As a simple comparison with Public Bank Berhad (PBBANK), founded in 1966 and got listed in Bursa Malaysia in 1967. BIMB almost lagging 20 years behind and just 24 years in the market for banking industries is not really enough yet to mature and be really competitive.
Financial Highlights as at 2005:
Assets:
BIMB: RM 15.8b
PBBank: RM 111.6b
Loan / Financing:
BIMB: RM 9.2b
PBBank: RM 61.8b
Deposit:
BIMB: RM13.5b
PBBank: RM84.1b
By looking at those numbers and from a business point of view, you might understand better why Islamic Banking sometime more expensive. They have no choices to cover all the expenses incurred or maybe they need more business driven person to lead them to be as creative as possible.
Hey, I just make simple comparison with Public Bank, all those foreign banks like Citibank, Standard Chartered, HSBC etc are not included in this short article. They are all even more bigger than Public Bank and even Maybank in term of capital & assets.
I don’t want to write on other things. I have faith to all Shariah Advisors to make Islamic banking far more better, and the journey is still very long. You, a Muslim shall always support Islamic banking. This article is only meant to nullify the argument like,
“Islamic Banking is more expensive because halal product is always expensive.” or,
“Why question Islamic Banking more expensive and not thinking about the expensive of Allah’s reward in the hereafter?”
For me that is just an excuse.
References:
1. Public Bank Corporate Profile
2. Bank Islam Financial Information
11 Comments
analogi yang sangat baik.
orang kita sendiri masih pandang rendah bilamana ada istilah Islam. sebab tu depa cuba cari salah. tak reti nak tolong menolong ke arah kemajuan.
aku suka satu pendapat dari forumer BJ, yang cakap kita generasi sekarang kena berkorban untuk generasi akan datang.. lebih kurang camtulah katanya.. trylah semak-semak thread kat BJ tu.. (aku malas :P)
Pakdi: Tolong menolong atas perkara kebaikan
hmm.. terbukak minda skit di petang2 sebegini..
Mencari halal kan adalah fardu bagi seorang mukmin, kan?
P/s: sedapnye nasi lemak tu…ish.. meleleh airliur.. ; )
Pakdi: Yup, mencari yang halal itu fardhu. Dan dalam artikel ni saya cuma bagi better answer kepada persoalan kenapa perbankan Islam mahal, yang lebih explanatory.
pada saya yg mahal itulah yg berkualiti,tahan lama,ada jaminan dan paling penting keberkatan…
Pakdi:
good argument. Cuma saya berharap orang2 yg bekerja dalam bidang perbankan Islamik atau produk2 kewangan Islamik ni lebih mesra pelanggan berbanding konvensional kerana banyak sangat kes kita dengar mengenai masalah2 yg timbul bila berurusan dengan mereka.
Pakdi: Anto je surat pembaca
I’ve heard Prof. Dr. Razali Nawawi once said, he prefers conventional banking over Islamic Banking.Any comment on that?
oh, btw, I’ve answered ur question pasal duduk kat mane tu. =)
Pakdi: Hearsay on Prof. Razali or when you attended his class? Never become his student la
dengar personally from him. Die ckp mase kasi lecture. Lps dgr die ckp - agak confuselah.
Pakdi: MA class? subject banking eh? I think I know why tapi tak boleh cakap openly here. Nanti ada yang label saya anti-Islamic Banking
I understand the flow of money, the game played, yet i couldn’t say much. hehe… asne! boleh emel me or add YM ke to discuss more.
sy dok pahe sgt bab2 banking ni tapi stkt pmhmn sy.. sy stuju dgn pakdi.. biz is biz.. kalu kte x support islamic banking smpai ble islamic banking leh improve n seiring dgn conventional banking.
Pakdi: Main stuju je. mana boleh gitu. kang jadi taqlid pun bahaya jugak. hoho
bkn main stuju je.. sktkt pmhmn sy yg kurang ni.. g2 la.. hihi.. tunggu la post yg x stuju lak.
Pakdi: Hehehe
Mmg perbankan Islam nampak gaya mcm nak terikut-ikut trend bank konvensional. Mereka bersaing nak untung sbb BIMB pun nak untung lebih dahsyat dari bank biasa.. Byk para sarjana perbankan/ekonomi Islam di Malaysia berbeza pendapat dalam hal instrumen kewangan seperti Bai’ul Innah yang ternyata akad/kontrak dan caranya boleh dipertikaikan.. Malah para fuqaha mazhab syafie di timur tengah menolak konsep bai’ul innah krn rupanya spt riba’ cumanya diislamikkan.. kalo ikutkan Islam agama yg sejahtera ia byk membantu dgn konsep qardhul hasan dan hibah, nabi sendiri pun kalo nak bantu ummat takkan kenekan charge yg tinggi, tiada hidden charge atau lain2 yang membebankan… yg peliknya perbankan Islam ni masih belum open sepenuhnya.. Gov still berhati-hati beri lesen perbankan kpd pihak luar negara krn mahu protct kepentingan bank2 islam tempatan yg sedia ada… Kita pun tahu istrumen perbankan Islam di timur tengah lebih telus, baik dan berkualiti daripada BIMB… cuma kita tunggu dan lihat perkembangan perbankan Islam di Malaysia dalam beberapa tahun lagi.. jika ada perkembangan positif ini bermakna kebajikan rakyat lebih terjamin…
Pakdi: Semoga perkembangan Bank Islam tempatan dan global semakin baik dan baik
Maybe kita boleh melihat cara pelaksanaan Al Rajhi bank dari negara Islam yg mula membuka cawangannya di Malaysia,the biggest bank in Saudi and Middle east.Ia juga menawarkan perbankan Islam yg sebenar mengikut apa yg ditawarkan semuga Bank Islam Malaysia boleh menjadikan ia satu saingan yg sihat kearah memperbaiki mutu perbankan Islam.
Pakdi: Persaingan sihat kena sentiasa ada baru lah sentiasa ke hadapan
salam,
i’m from singapore…
great article…
my mom open BIMB…which shows we support them…
though they are really2 lagging behind other banks
have a great day