7.2 Value-Based Intermediation (VBI) & Social Finance

Value-Based Intermediation (VBI) & Social Finance

For several decades following its contemporary re-emergence, the global Islamic banking industry focused heavily on establishing legal validity and commercial viability. This developmental phase was characterized by mechanical "negative screening"—designing financial contracts that avoided forbidden elements (Riba, Gharar, Maysir, and illicit commodities) while replicating the economic payoffs of conventional debt instruments. While this achieved institutional survival and statutory recognition, it frequently attracted criticism for prioritizing legal form over socio-economic substance.

To move beyond formal compliance and realize the higher objectives of Islamic jurisprudence (Maqasid al-Shariah), Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), working with a founding VBI Community of Practitioners of Islamic banks, issued its Value-Based Intermediation (VBI) Strategy Paper on 12 March 2018 after an industry consultation. VBI reorients the Islamic financial sector toward generating tangible, positive, and sustainable impacts for the real economy, society, and the natural environment.

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Conceptual Definition & Philosophy of VBI

BNM's VBI Strategy Paper formally defines Value-Based Intermediation as:

"An intermediation function that aims to deliver the intended outcomes of Shariah through practices, conduct, and offerings that generate positive and sustainable impact to the economy, community, and environment, consistent with the shareholders' sustainable returns and long-term interests."

The Paradigm Shift: From Negative Screening to Positive Impact

VBI represents a fundamental philosophical maturation within Islamic finance:

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     THE EVOLUTION OF ISLAMIC FINANCE                   │
├──────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Phase 1: Halal Legitimacy│ - Focus on negative screening (avoiding harm)│
│ (Bare Shariah Compliance)│ - Contractual mechanics & fatwa compliance   │
│                          │ - Replication of conventional debt benchmarks│
├──────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Phase 2: Value Delivery  │ - Focus on proactive positive social impact │
│ (Value-Based Intermediation) - Fulfilling Maqasid al-Shariah objectives │
│                          │ - Alignment with ESG & the Triple Bottom Line│
└──────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Under VBI, financial transactions are not evaluated merely by asking: "Is this contract technically halal?" Instead, institutions must ask: "Does this financing generate real socio-economic welfare, empower communities, protect the ecosystem, and prevent unjust wealth concentration?"

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The Four Underpinning Thrusts of VBI

The Strategy Paper sets out four underpinning thrusts, each with suggested indicators for measuring progress:

Thrust 1: Entrepreneurial Mindset

The Strategy Paper cites the entrepreneurial spirit encouraged in Islam. Banks are pushed to understand business challenges that go beyond access to credit, such as weak management, inadequate technology, or limited market access, and to design offerings that address them.

Thrust 2: Community Empowerment

Those who are capable bear a collective responsibility to assist those who are not. Banks balance commercial and social considerations, for example by integrating waqf and sadaqah into financial transactions, so that giving back goes beyond ordinary corporate social responsibility.

Thrust 3: Good Self-Governance

Governance has historically been driven mainly by regulation. VBI asks banks to adopt good governance proactively. Under inclusive governance, decisions consider customers, investors, employees, and communities, not only shareholders. Under self-governance, a culture of integrity and accountability is embedded in daily operations.

Thrust 4: Best Conduct

Best conduct means safeguarding stakeholders' rights through fair, transparent dealing, so that important information is available to the contracting parties and information asymmetry does not lead to disputes. It links directly to BNM's fair treatment requirements in section 7.1.

Climate Risk: BNM's Climate Change and Principle-based Taxonomy (CCPT)

VBI's environmental ambitions are reinforced by a separate BNM framework that applies to all financial institutions, Islamic and conventional. The CCPT, issued on 30 April 2021, sets five guiding principles:

1. climate change mitigation;
2. climate change adaptation;
3. no significant harm to the environment;
4. remedial measures to transition;
5. prohibited activities.

Exposures are classified into three broad categories: Climate Supporting (C1), Transitioning (C2–C3), and Watchlist (C4–C5). Financial institutions use the taxonomy in customer due diligence and report the classification of their portfolios to BNM.

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The Triple Bottom Line (TBL) in an Islamic Paradigm

VBI harmonizes modern sustainable development with classical Islamic economic theory through the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) framework: People, Planet, and Prosperity.

                                  PROSPERITY
                             (Sustainable Wealth)
                                 /        \
                                /          \
                               /            \
                              /              \
                         PEOPLE  ──────────  PLANET
                     (Social Equity)    (Ecological Balance)

1. People (Social Equity & Human Dignity): Rooted in the Shariah objectives of preserving Life (Hifz al-Nafs) and Lineage (Hifz al-Nasl). Wealth must not become a monopoly circulating exclusively among the rich (Quran 59:7). Financing must alleviate poverty, eliminate economic oppression (Zulm), and restore human dignity.
2. Planet (Ecological Stewardship / Khilafah): Rooted in the theological doctrine that humans are appointed vicegerents (Khulafa') and fiduciaries of the Earth. Causing environmental devastation, deforestation, pollution, or resource depletion constitutes corruption on Earth (Fasād fi al-ard), which is strictly forbidden (Haram).
3. Prosperity (Shared Economic Vitality): Rooted in the preservation of Wealth (Hifz al-Mal). Islam encourages enterprise, commerce, and fair profit-making, provided wealth is generated through real asset creation, shared commercial risk, and productive economic contribution.

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Integration with Islamic Social Finance

A transformative dimension of VBI is the seamless operational integration of Islamic Social Finance into the commercial banking sector. Rather than treating charity and commercial finance as mutually exclusive domains, VBI combines them to address complex socio-economic challenges.

1. Zakat (Mandatory Wealth Redistribution)

Zakat is the third pillar of Islam—a mandatory religious levy (typically 2.5% per lunar year) imposed on qualifying surplus wealth meeting specific exemption thresholds (Nisab) and holding periods (Hawl). It serves as a divinely decreed mechanism to purify wealth and redistribute capital directly to eight Quranic recipient categories (Asnaf) enumerated in Surah At-Tawbah (9:60):

In modern Islamic banking, institutions calculate and pay Corporate Zakat (typically 2.5% of net accounting equity or working capital) and operate digital portals enabling retail and corporate depositors to seamlessly calculate and disburse their personal Zakat to State Islamic Religious Councils (MAIN).

2. Waqf (Perpetual Charitable Endowments)

Waqf involves detaining a durable, productive asset (Mawquf) in perpetuity so that it cannot be sold, gifted, or inherited, while dedicating its ongoing usufruct or financial returns (Manfa'ah) perpetually to charitable or public welfare purposes. While classical Waqf focused on physical land, mosques, and wells, modern Islamic banking has revitalized Waqf through liquid capital instruments:

• Cash Waqf: Pooling monetary donations from millions of retail citizens to establish large endowment funds that finance universities, hospitals, and low-cost housing.
• Waqf-Featured Unit Trust Funds: Mutual funds where retail investors retain the capital units but assign all or a portion of periodic dividend distributions as Waqf to designated social projects.
• Social Sukuk and Waqf-Linked Sukuk: Malaysia's government-issued Sukuk Prihatin (2020, about RM666 million) funded COVID-19 recovery measures, and investors could choose to donate their principal at maturity to the government's COVID-19 fund. Indonesia's Cash Waqf Linked Sukuk invests cash waqf in sovereign sukuk and channels the returns to social projects.

3. Sadaqah & Blended Finance Models

Unlike Zakat, Sadaqah is voluntary charitable giving unrestricted by Nisab, Hawl, or rigid Asnaf categories. Under VBI, Islamic banks deploy Sadaqah through:

• Fintech Crowdfunding Platforms: Enabling customers to round up card transactions or make recurring micro-donations to vetted social impact campaigns.
• Blended Finance Architecture: A cutting-edge structure where philanthropic capital (Sadaqah donations or first-loss Cash Waqf funds) is blended with commercial Islamic bank financing (e.g., Murabahah or Musharakah):
  1. The philanthropic tier provides a "first-loss" guarantee or interest-free concessional grant.
  2. The commercial banking tier provides the primary funding tranche.
  3. This blended de-risking allows Islamic banks to extend affordable financing to high-risk micro-entrepreneurs and underserved communities without violating institutional risk-weighting parameters.