Hedging Against Rate of Return Risk in Islamic Banks with Special Reference to GCC Islamic Banks

This research is concerned with hedging against rate of return risk in Islamic banks with special focus on GCC Islamic banks. The research relies on content analysis of three existing streams of literature on this topic. The first stream supports the use of conventional derivatives, the second supports replication of these products and the third discourage the use of both and suggest other alternatives This research also attempts to find out whether GCC central banks have issued specific instructions with regards to the risk of concern to Islamic banks and finally it attempts know what are the rate of return hedging practices as disclosed in the annual reports of selected banks from the GCC.