Restructuring Sukuk for default risk management based on Shariah principles

Abstract

Islamic securities, like conventional bonds, are not safe from default. Therefore, it is important to provide solutions to manage this type of risk in the structure of Sukuk. One of the corrective measures used in Islamic countries to prevent default is the restructuring of the sponsor's financial obligations. The purpose of the restructuring is to give the debtor more time to settle his obligations. This descriptive-analytic study, while reviewing the experience of Islamic countries in restructuring Sukuk as well as experience in usury banking in Iran, introduces restructuring, its implementation process, and also mechanisms for restructuring various types of Sukuk and analyzes it according to the viewpoints of Sharia jurisprudents. These solutions include: extension of maturities, rate increase, and devaluation of debt, replacement of the new Murabaha contract, bankruptcy and debt swap with ownership. Finally, according to the jurisprudential nature of the basic contract of each type of Sukuk, the mechanism (s) appropriate to each one are presented.

Keywords

• islamic financial instruments
• sukuk
• restructuring
• default risk
• shariah principles