Alternative dispute resolution in Islamic banking and finance

Abstract

Islamic banking and finance is relatively a new component in the contemporary financial industry and growing fast across the globe. Consequently, like in any other area of business, occurrence of disputes that arise among stakeholders is unavoidable and normal. However, resolution of such disputes without prejudice to the business relationship is imperative. The deficiencies that exist in the litigation process necessitate the industry players to find alternative ways of dispute resolution which is cheaper, protects privacy and is less formal. This chapter examines the possibility of application of various ways of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) for Islamic banking and finance disputes. A number of ADR mechanisms have been developed besides litigation across the globe. ADR includes a number of out-of-court conflict management and dispute resolution mechanisms such as negotiation, ombudsman, mediation, arbitration, fact-finding, dispute resolution boards, and other related dispute resolution processes. ADR is widely encouraged for Islamic banking and finance disputes in many countries such as Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, etc. where Islamic banking is extensively practised.1 Hence, this chapter focuses on a few ADR mechanisms such as arbitration, mediation and ombudsman only as the scope does not allow covering all of them.