Relationship between sharia supervisory board attributes and sustainable development goals (SDGs) financing in Islamic banks

It has been widely believed that Islamic finance holds a potential role in achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs). Hence, considering the power of the Shari'a Supervisory Board (SSB) to approve or reject Islamic banking products, this paper investigates the association between SSB attributes and Islamic banks' SDG financing. The study utilized unbalanced data generated from a sample of 32 fully Sharia-compliant Islamic banks across nine (9) countries between 2013 and 2021. The findings reveal that SSB size and SSB financial expertise significantly reduced Shariá-compliant financing for agriculture, education, and health economic activities. Besides, while SSB foreign scholars have an insignificant association with agriculture and education financing, they significantly reduced financing for health. In contrast, SSB meetings and SSB gender diversity significantly increased funding for these activities. These findings could assist regulators in revising the SSB codes of governance to enhance their effectiveness in supporting Islamic banks' activities aimed at achieving SDGs.