Roles of the Islamic banks in the monetary transmission process in Malaysia

Purpose - This paper aims to determine the importance of the Islamic banks in the monetary transmission process in the Malaysian economy. In particular, the paper analyzes the relevance of Islamic banks' financing and deposit in channelling the monetary policy effects to the real economy. Design/methodology/approach - The paper relies on the co‐integration test, impulse response functions, and variance decomposition analysis, focusing on the period from January 1994 to May 2007. Findings - The results show that both Islamic banks' financing and deposit play important roles in the monetary transmission process in the Malaysian economy. In particular, both Islamic deposit and financing are shown to be statistically significant in linking the monetary policy indicator to the real output. Practical implications - The results imply that the monetary authority should also consider the Islamic banks in the implementation of monetary policy in Malaysia. The results also imply that ensuring the stability of the Islamic financial institutions is just as important as that of the conventional counterpart to achieve an effective transmission of monetary policy in the economy. Originality/value - This paper is a pioneer study undertaking empirical investigation on the role of Islamic banks in the monetary transmission process in an economy.