Corporate governance of Islamic banks: a sustainable model to protect the participatory depositor?

Methodology: analysis of two case studies
The research methodology adopted is the Case Study [
41
], 
a qualitative method based on the analysis of information 
derived from documents collected during the research, from 
conducting semi-structured interviews and, in general, from 
qualitative techniques. The current work is characterized by 
the study of two cases. This methodology has made it pos-
sible to carry out an in-depth analysis of the two different 
selected cases and to support the verification whether the 
participatory depositor, in view of the risk to which he is 
exposed with the stipulation of participatory Islamic finan-
cial contracts, needs greater protection than other stakehold-
ers and, if so, how could this protection be implemented.
In particular, the aim of this paper is to highlight the 
specific corporate governance regulations of Malaysia 
and Morocco countries with respect to the development of 
Islamic finance, as well as the factors that have favored (or 
could favor) the flourishing of this financial model, with 
a view to conducting an objective comparison between 
analyzed cases. Two countries that have opted for a central 
regulation of the Islamic Finance sector: Malaysia is in an 
advanced state of this topic and Morocco is still in an adjust-
ment of its own position in the international Islamic finance 
market and integration with its own conventional financial 
system.
The first is Malaysia, a country characterized by a con-
solidated existence of Islamic finance and strict regulatory 
standards of the Islamic financial sector. To date, Malaysia 
recognizes itself as an international hub of Islamic finance 
in continuous growth, thanks to its commitment to the pro-
motion and development of this sector by offering a variety 
of competitive and innovative financial products both in its 
local and international markets. The data reported in the lat-
est annual report on financial stability and payment systems 
for 2017, “Financial stability and payment systems report 
2017”, published in March 2018 by the Malaysian central 
bank, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), confirm this continu-
ous growth of Islamic finance equal to 9.4% (34.9% of the 
total of the Malaysian banking system).
The second, Morocco, a country that despite being Mus-
lim is at an early stage and launching its first Islamic Banks. 
In 2014 the Moroccan Parliament established, with the bank-
ing law n. 103.12 “Etablissements de credit et organismes 
assimiles”, the institution of Islamic Banks. The legisla-
tor introduced the model of Islamic Banks with the name 
of “