A case study on the non-Muslims perception on Islamic finance

It has been a hectic year 2009 for me but somehow it gonna finish in 3 more days. Anyhow, I have finally completed my thesis title “The non-Muslims perception on Islamic financial products: A case study in Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia.”

Below is the abstract of my research:

This study is about the non-Muslims perception on Islamic financial products. These products have shown tremendous growth in the past 20 years. Islamic financial products are based on Shariah and Islamic accounting principles unlike conventional financial products that based on interest. Shariah applicable principles are Mudharabah, Musyarakah, Murabahah, Al-Bai Bithaman Ajil, Al-Ijrah etc.

Finding the non-Muslim perceptions are important in order to strategise effective solutions like marketing, services quality, finance returns etc. The main objective is to find out the non-Muslims opinions towards Islamic financial products. This study also tries to determine the non-Muslims preferences between Islamic and conventional financial products. The other element is to study the factors could influence the non-Muslims selection criteria about Islamic financial products in dual banking banks.

This study could benefit the non-Muslims customers as knowledge on Islamic finance and the banks to understand the non-Muslims customers’ perception; hence to improve on the areas needed and eventually lead to effective marketing.

This study had been conducted by choosing 100 customers of Maybank and CIMB Bank as the respondents. However, the limitation of this study is only concern to a small number of respondents. Personal interviews have taken place to get the primary data.

Findings show that the non-Muslims have moderate awareness about Islamic financial products. Many do believe that there is some benefit to use Islamic financial products but not doing so yet due to unfamiliarity. Generally, the non-Muslims have positive perceptions towards Islamic financial products but still lacking confidence at the moment.