ISLAMIC BONDS IN FINANCIAL CRISIS

Abstract

The financial crisis in 2008 is widely viewed as the most serious since the Great Depression. Facing a severe market reaction to the failure of AIG and Lehman Brothers, the US treasury Department put forward a bold and massive program of spending up to $700 billion on purchasing “troubled assets’ from financial institutions. The financial institutions need a finance product that which could decrease the risk borne by financial crisis.
The Sukuk (Islamic Bonds) products are asset-backed, stable income, tradable and Syariah compatible trust certificates. Having Sukuk in the portfolio diversifies the holdings which could decrease the risk borne by the financial institutions.
The first finding of this research, since Islamic bonds are more stable than conventional bonds and are less affected by the crisis hence many countries (whether Moslem or non Moslem countries) start to prepare to use Islamic bond system. The second finding is Malaysia become the largest Sukuk issuer by three reason, first is The Malaysian government fully support for Islamic financial system, especially for Sukuk, second is Sukuk in Malaysia have high rating provided by RAM ratings’ so both Muslim and non Muslim investors would like to invest in this market and third is Malaysia has a good relationship with Islamic Investor (which prefer to choose Islamic bonds)