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Top1. Introduction
The financial crisis of 2007-2008 exposed sustainability policies of the banking industry. That gave new spirit and direction for regulating economic sustainability of the banking industries (Clerc et al., 2014). Different guidelines and frameworks such as that of the Global Reporting Initiatives GRI were introduced to make the banking models more sustainable. Still the percentage of those organizations which maintain strong economic sustainability is limited (Leon, 2001). The debate on sustainable banking has already begun, as the autonomous network of banks, the Global Alliance for Banking on Values GABV have started its operations in May 2011 with the purpose to design and offer sustainable banking policies. Sustainable banking refers to the role of banks in the economy, environment and the society. It is known as the Triple Bottom Line up TBL approach.
The banking industries are believed to have a major share in the countries’ economies. Because of its major share and the central role in the financial system, the banking industries holds a pivotal position in the financial systems of the world. Holistically the economic growth of economies is tied to the successful sustainable operations of the banking industries (Brown, 2003; Jeucken & Bouma, 1999; Safiullah, 2010). But on the other hands, the banking industries can deteriorate the economic condition in case of its failure (Cecchetti, 2015; Iman van Lelyveld, 2006). Evidence shows that the world economy faced a large scale economic turmoil because of failure of the big international banks such as Lehman Brother’s investment bank, Citigroup New York etc.
Against this background, it is vital to regularly monitor and develop efficient sustainability measurement frameworks for the banking industries in order to avoid a future financial crisis (Jan & Marimuthu, 2015; Rashid & Nishat, 2009). Inline of the growing need and research on sustainability, studies found that sustainability reporting from the Islamic banking industry around the world is still low (Ahmed Haji & Anum Mohd Ghazali, 2013; Alsaadi, Ebrahim, & Jaafar, 2017; Belal, Abdelsalam, & Nizamee, 2015; Farook, Kabir Hassan, & Lanis, 2011; Haniffa & Hudaib, 2007; A. Hassan & Syafri Harahap, 2010; Mallin, Farag, & Ow-Yong, 2014; Meutia & Febrianti, 2017; Nobanee & Ellili, 2016; Yusoff & Darus, 2014).
The performance of the Islamic banking industry is studied from different angles such as the profitability determinants of Islamic banks (M. K. Hassan & Bashir, 2003). Liquidity risk management in the Islamic banking industry (Ismal, 2010). Insolvency risk management in Islamic banks (Čihák & Hesse, 2010). Productivity and efficiency of Islamic banking (El Moussawi & Obeid, 2011). Technical efficiency of Islamic banking (Sufian, 2007). Foreign vs. domestic Islamic bank performance (Muda, Shaharuddin, & Embaya, 2013). Islamic vs. conventional bank performance (Qureshi & Shaikh, 2012). Role of Islamic banking in the financial crisis (Said, 2013). And performance comparison among different Islamic banks (Saleh & Zeitun, 2006). However, all the previous studies of the Islamic banking industry were concerned with the ongoing performance of Islamic banking. The studies relating to future forecastings such as bankruptcy and sustainability are found rare in the Islamic banking literature (Čihák & Hesse, 2010; Jan & Marimuthu, 2015).