ABSTRACT

The General Agreement on Trade-related Services (GATS) contained twelve sectors within which is the service sector. The service sector composes of the financial services, financial markets and insurance. The agreement has well contributed to financial liberalization towards the banking sector formally named the financial globalization. This dissertation is founded to study the power of the Islamic Banks in facing the international competition in the context of the International liberalization of the Banking Services Agreement.

The dissertation is comprehensively studied and analyzed the general context of the banking service agreement as well as the obligations' models offered by some of Islamic countries. The current reality of the Islamic banks compared with the traditional banks (local and international). Then it analyzed the available options and forecasting with the expected effects on the Islamic banks according to each option.

The Banking Trade Services Agreement imposed a number of unavoidable challenges on the Islamic Banks and, unless these challenges are faced through building efficient strategy based on offering a comprehensive banking services and cope with the technological innovation development to fulfill with the international criteria requirements and documenting the relations with the corresponding foreign banks with branches and Islamic windows. Moreover, it addressed the implication of getting into merger option and integration of Islamic Banks for benefiting from large-scale economies.

The dissertation recommends the necessary insertion of Islamic Banking Services in the obligations' schedules and benefit from the facilities offered by the agreement. Moreover, it recommends creating giant banking institutions able to face the international competition.

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