Reinforcing policy and legal framework for Islamic insurance in Islamic finance: towards achieving Saudi Arabia Vision 2030

Abstract

Purpose Conventional insurance creates a gap in the financial system across the world that manifests from the global financial and economic crisis. There is an increasing demand for insurance schemes that will bridge the gap of financial and economic crisis globally. More recently, there is an advocacy in Saudi Arabia for achieving Vision 2030 by various facets of human endeavours such as strengthening financial markets and boasting economic development. The purpose of this paper is to deeply explore policy and reinforcement of the legal framework of Islamic insurance as essential bedrocks in Islamic finance that are Shari’ah compliant to achieve Saudi Vision 2030 for overall sustainability of all spheres of human endeavours in the country. Design/methodology/approach Content analysis and systematic literature review are used as methodological approaches in this paper. There are various sources of accessing secondary data used in this study such as online peer review, journals and library-based sources. Through the exploration of various secondary data, five major themes were identified in this study, namely, policy, legal framework, Islamic insurance, Islamic finance and Saudi Vision 2030. Analysis of various themes were done systematically in this paper. The methodology provides theoretical and practical foundations for reinforcing policy and legal framework for Islamic insurance, specifically in Islamic finance to achieve Vision 2030 in Saudi Arabia. It is the policy and legal framework that can provide necessary dynamics for strengthening Islamic insurance in particular and Islamic finance in general towards attaining sustainable Vision 2030 in the country. Findings The paper demonstrated that policy period is explicitly associated with Islamic insurance, whereby Takaful insurance is regarded as policyholder rather than shareholder-oriented. Similarly, it is established that there is need to specifically mention the policy period and the nature of contract in Islamic insurance should not be limited to only mutual cooperation among the participants in connection with the losses but it should capture element of sharing income generated from investment between insurer and policyholders using predetermined ratio for such as provided with theoretical legal framework (Shari’ah) in connection with Islamic insurance model as an integral part of Islamic finance. Research limitations/implications It will depart completely from conventional insurance where borrowing of funds and investment are put at fixed interest (Riba), uncertainty (Gharar) and speculative ideas (Maisir). Avoidance of different elements ascribed with conventional insurance would enable Saudi Arabia to strengthen financial system and boast economic development with an emphasis on an effective policy and efficient legal framework towards attaining Vision 2030 in the country. Practical implications The methodology provides theoretical and practical foundations for reinforcing policy and legal framework for Islamic insurance, specifically in Islamic finance to achieve Vision 2030 in Saudi Arabia. Social implications Conventional insurance creates a gap in financial system across the world that manifests from the global financial and economic crisis. There is an increasing demand for insurance scheme that will bridge the gap of financial and economic crisis globally. More recently, there is an advocacy in Saudi Arabia for achieving Vision 2030 by various facets of human endeavours such as strengthening financial market and boasting economic development. Originality/value With this emphasis, it will depart completely from conventional insurance where borrowing of funds and investment are put at fixed interest (Riba), uncertainty (Gharar) and speculative ideas (Maisir). Avoidance of different elements ascribed with conventional insurance would enable Saudi Arabia to strengthen financial system and boast economic development with an emphasis on an effective policy and efficient legal framework towards attaining Vision 2030 in the country.