CA-3.3.1

This section sets out the minimum capital requirement to cover credit and market (price) risks arising from entering into contracts or transactions that are based on the Shari'a rules and principles of Salam. The Islamic bank licensee is exposed to the (a) credit (counterparty) risk of not receiving the purchased commodity after disbursing the purchase price to the seller, and (b) price risk that the Islamic bank licensee incurs from the date of execution of a Salam contract, which is applicable throughout the period of the contract and beyond the maturity date of the contract as long as the commodity remains on the balance sheet of the Islamic bank licensee, in the absence of a hedge in the form of a parallel Salam contract covering the subject matter (A parallel contract may also be used to hedge part of the exposure).

CA-3.3.2

This section is applicable to (a) Salam contracts that are executed without any Parallel Salam contracts and (b) Salam contracts that are backed by independently executed Parallel Salam contracts.

CA-3.3.3

A Salam contract refers to an agreement to purchase, at a predetermined price, a specified kind of commodity¹⁰ which is to be delivered on a specified future date in a specified quantity and quality. The Islamic bank licensee as the buyer makes full payment of the purchase price upon execution of a Salam contract or within a subsequent period not exceeding two or three days as deemed permissible by its Sharia Supervisory Board (SSB).

¹⁰ A commodity is defined as a physical product which is and can be traded on a secondary market, e.g. agricultural products, minerals (including oil) and precious metals. The commodity may or may not be traded on an organised exchange.

CA-3.3.4

In certain cases the Islamic bank licensee may enter into a back-to-back contract (Parallel Salam) to sell a commodity with the same specification as the purchased commodity under a Salam contract to a party other than the original seller. The Parallel Salam allows the Islamic bank licensee to sell the commodity for future delivery at a predetermined price (thus hedging the price risk on the original Salam contract) and protects the Islamic bank licensee from having to take delivery of the commodity and warehousing it. As noted above, such a parallel contract may also be used as a partial hedge.

CA-3.3.5

The non-delivery of the commodity by a Salam seller (i.e. counterparty risk) does not discharge the Islamic bank licensee's obligations to deliver the commodity under a Parallel Salam contract, and thus exposes the Islamic bank licensee to potential loss in obtaining the supply elsewhere.

CA-3.3.6

The obligations of an Islamic bank licensee under Salam and Parallel Salam are not inter-conditional or interdependent, which implies that there is no legal basis for offsetting credit exposures between the contracts.

CA-3.3.7

In the absence of a Parallel Salam contract, an Islamic bank licensee may sell the subject-matter of the original Salam contract in the spot market upon receipt, or, alternatively, the Islamic bank licensee may hold the commodity in anticipation of selling it at a higher price. In the latter case, the Islamic bank licensee is exposed to price risk on its position in the commodity until the latter is sold.