Consequences of Lack of Sharia Supervision on Iran's Banking System and its Policy Implications

"Shariah supervision" in the banking system refers to all regulatory measures in order to ensure the compliance of banking system operations with shariah. The lack of shariah supervision in the banking system can lead to riba in the bank-customer relations, or invalidity of shariah contracts and the endangerment of property relations in the economy. In Iran in spite of the existence of “The Law for Usury (Interest) Free Banking law” since 1362, the lack of specific standards and institutions for shariah supervision, have caused several cases of non-compliance of operations, contracts and accounting methods in the banking system with shariah.
In this paper, using descriptive and analytical methods, after illustrating the importance and necessity of shariah supervision in the banking system and its various levels, we analyze the state of shariah supervision in Iran and clarify the weakness of Sharia supervision in legal, institutional and administrative aspects, which lead to many challenges in the banking system.
The main consequences of weak shariah supervision in Iran, which are considered in this paper include: bank's non-compliance with Wakalah contract requirements and transformation of Wakalah contract to ownership, obliterating the content of participatory contracts (such as Mudharabah and Musharakah). Exchange contracts (such as Ju’ala and Salam), non-compliance of accounting standards in foreign exchange operations and in the income statement of banks, with interest free banking criteria are the other factors.
Finally, based on the evolution of the global Islamic financial architecture, patterns of shariah supervision in the banking system in different countries, and relevant international standards in the shariah supervision of Islamic financial institutions, Proposals for enhancing the status of the Shariah supervision Council of the Central Bank are presented.