It must invest to develop talent. Remuneration that is competitive is one part of the solution. Sadly, the remuneration of employees of takaful operators is not competitive. Among highly skilled employees, we estimate that those in the takaful industry earn 15% less than those in insurers. So long as this difference exists, it will not be the employer of choice for the best talent. The other part of the solution is in building skills and competencies. The industry needs to take this seriously if it wants to break new ground in realising the potential of takaful. Takaful operators must set a clear vision and culture of continuous learning and development. Programmes such as the Chartered Professional in Islamic Finance, Certified Shariah Advisor and Certified Shariah Practitioner play an important role in elevating the technical and ethical standards of the takaful workforce. The industry needs to get behind these standards and invest in upskilling employees across all levels, starting with those in key senior roles. This can take the form of sponsorships for professional qualifications, alignment of incentive systems and development pathways for staff. Agents are also an important component of the takaful eco system. Many of the imperatives that I mentioned earlier are also applicable to them. In particular, professionalising the agency force is a priority. The life insurance industry association is already taking steps to require agents to be accredited by the Financial Accreditation Agency. I hope to see MTA doing the same, and being proactive in providing the support and resources for its implementation.

(2020), as of late 2019 central banks representing a fifth of the world’s population reported that they were likely to issue CBDCs very soon. [https://www.bis.org/publ/bppdf/bispap107.pdf] 3  “An Update on Digital Currencies”, a speech by Governor Lael Brainard at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, August 2020. [https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/brainard20200813a.htm] 4  “Payments in a digital world”, a speech by Christine Lagarde at the Deutsche Bundesbank online conference on banking and payments in the digital world, September 2020. [https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2020/html/ecb.sp200910~31e6ae9835.en.html] 3  interoperability across borders. In this sense, I believe the role of international organisations and standard-setters, such as the BIS in its role as a hub for central banks, could prove essential. Cross-border payments: another topic of growing interest Regardless of its importance, expanding access to a central bank’s balance sheet by making a CBDC available to households and non-financial corporations is only one of many ways in which technological innovation may help enhance the monetary and payment system. Indeed, given how dynamic the payments market is nowadays, we need to keep abreast of and closely monitor any private initiatives that may overlap in the field of action of a CBDC. This is because they may ultimately prove to be equally viable options for achieving the same goals or remedying some of the common and long-standing shortcomings that traditional channels have faced. In that respect, the current landscape of evolving market infrastructures poses several telling examples, but in the interest of time I will concentrate today on one particular area, namely payments that have a multi-country dimension.