As someone actively involved in promoting and marketing Islamic finance, I’ve seen how far we’ve come in product development and regulatory structure. But I’ve also noticed a creeping shift that demands urgent attention. The normalization of aggressive sales targets in Islamic banks mirroring conventional financial practices we once sought to reform.
In many Islamic financial institutions today, frontline marketers and officers are handed monthly quotas onboarding numbers, deposit goals, or financing volumes sometimes without adequate alignment to ethical selling practices. These expectations, though useful for business monitoring, often create a tension between performance and principle.
Islamic finance is not just about Shariah-compliant products; it is about delivering those products with sincerity (Ikhlas), fairness (Adalah), and trust (Amanah). When a marketer feels pressured to push products to hit a target even when a customer’s understanding or interest is minimal we risk undermining these foundational values.
Thankfully, our industry has guidance. The Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) Code of Ethics for Islamic Finance Professionals (2021) offers clear direction. It urges professionals to act with Taqwa (God-consciousness), avoid misrepresentation, and ensure their decisions serve the public interest not just institutional gain. It also encourages institutions to create environments that support ethical behavior not pressure-based performance systems.
Additionally, the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB)’s Guiding Principles on Conduct of Business (IFSB-9) outline ethical duties for institutions offering Islamic financial services. These include truthfulness in communication, suitability of advice, skill and diligence, and adequate disclosure. While neither AAOIFI nor IFSB specifically mention “sales targets,” the spirit of their principles is clear: customer interest must not be sacrificed for commercial performance.
The reality is this, if our KPIs reward volume is without ethics, we silently encourage mis-selling. And if we assess marketers solely on numbers without considering how those numbers were achieved, we betray the trust that Islamic finance is built upon.
Some institutions are already moving in the right direction. Banks like ADIB have adopted ethical performance metrics. Regulators in the UAE are piloting frameworks like the Ethical Banking Index to evaluate institutions beyond profit. But industry-wide adoption is still limited.
I believe the time has come for AAOIFI, IFSB, and Shariah Supervisory Boards to formally address this issue not just by reinforcing principles, but by guiding Islamic banks on how to ethically structure sales incentives and KPIs.
Because in Islamic finance, what matters is not just what we sell but how we sell it.
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