The migration of retail financial services to digital platforms has heightened contractual transparency concerns, particularly in Islamic finance where transaction validity depends on mutual consent (Rida), contractual clarity (Aqd), and the total avoidance of interest (Riba) and deceptive ambiguity (Gharar). When complex Shariah-compliant contracts are distributed via digital channels, inadequate pre-contractual disclosures create information asymmetries that expose borrowers to hidden costs. This paper conducts a primary-source comparative documentary disclosure audit of public documentation for retail Islamic financing facilities in Kenya (DIB Bank Kenya Personal Financing) and Malaysia (Bank Islam Malaysia Personal Financing-i and AEON Bank Digital Personal Financing-i). Utilizing a reproducible 10-parameter Digital Disclosure Scorecard (DDS) bifurcated into Core Disclosure Availability (Dimension A) and Transparency Quality (Dimension B), the study evaluates official tariff schedules, terms of service, and Product Disclosure Sheets (PDS). The empirical audit establishes that all three audited institutions achieve full compliance (5/5; 100.0\%) on Dimension A, proving that commercial banks in Kenya successfully satisfy statutory legal baselines (Banking Act Sec 31A, CBK PG/22, Data Protection Act 2019). Score variance occurs entirely on Dimension B: DIB Bank Kenya scores 1/5 (20.0\%) because unbundled fee schedules, charitable penalty destinations (Sadaqah), standalone pre-contract PDS summaries, and explicit Fatwa clearance IDs are voluntary benchmarks under Kenyan supervisory guidelines rather than statutory mandates. In contrast, Bank Islam and AEON Bank achieve full compliance (5/5; 100.0\%) on Dimension B (10/10 aggregate score) because Bank Negara Malaysia legally enforces these transparency dimensions via statutory Product Disclosure Sheet (PDS) rules. The study contributes a primary-source empirical audit of retail Islamic financing disclosures across dual-banking regimes, with the primary limitation that it evaluates publicly accessible pre-contractual documentation rather than live mobile application user interfaces or customer behavior.
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- Guyo Golicha Huqa (Author), 2026, Digital Disclosure and Shariah Transparency in Islamic Financial Services, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1782884
