Institutional Mediation of Sharia Compliance in Islamic Bullion Banking: Indonesia, Malaysia, and Turkey
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21580/economica.2026.17.1.31485Keywords:
Comparative Institutional Analysis, Islamic Bullion Banking, Macroprudential Regulation, Sharia Compliance, Sharia GovernanceAbstract
Gold is a rare commodity. Trade must happen according to rules of equality and delivery. But many Islamic banks accept gold as deposits and use it for liquidity. Research on Sharia compliance in this regard is mainly at the product level. This paper explores the question of how compliance is shaped at the level of institutions. It uses qualitative comparison of fatwa, regulatory, and central bank documents pertaining to gold in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Turkey, then analyzes them using three approaches: fiqh, institutional, and functional. Three configurations are identified: precautionary-hybrid (Indonesia), integrated-statist (Malaysia), and market-oriented mobilization (Turkey). The paper explores ribā rules, constructive possession, and shared ownership as creations of institutions, and proposes a bullion governance typology. Based on available evidence, how Sharia authority is constituted and how closely it is integrated with supervisory authority is more important for expanding bullion banking than doctrinal stringency; only Turkey relates gold to monetary policy. For Indonesia, the verification of custody and the development of electronic ownership records are worth exploring.
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