The existing voluntary agreements for crisis management in the EU have proven not to be extremely helpful. Concrete and binding arrangements are instead needed in order to achieve better preparedness and co-ordinated crisis responses. Luckily, this time policymakers around Europe eventually realised that a coordinated crisis response was a necessity. Partly because of this experience, the EU has initiated work to review how the EU’s supervisory framework can be reformed to better cope with the financial market integration. Exactly what this work will include is still unclear, but it is highly welcome that the issue has been placed on the agenda. However, I would like to add that – because of the close interaction between crisis prevention and management issues – it will not be sufficient to deal only with supervisory issues. Arrangements for deposit guarantee schemes and other crisis management tools need to be considered within the same international context. Of particular interest is the sensitive issue of how to distribute the burdens associated with managing cross-border crises, which will inevitably be brought to the table if proposals for supranational supervision enter the debate. After all, who would like to share crisis management responsibilities without getting any supervisory powers in return? Implications for the central banks’ work on analysing financial stability and systemic risks I will now say a few words about the central banks’ work on analysing financial stability and systemic risks. Given the current conditions one may ask if such analysis is at all meaningful.

With better understanding, the likelihood of a Shariah convergence is higher and this will enable the creation and trading of Islamic financial instruments at the international arena to be more universally accepted, as interpretations will be uniform and consistent. Harmonisation of the differing views among the scholars from different schools of thought is necessary to enhance the global development of Islamic banking and finance. I believe, at this juncture, the right approach is to advocate mutual respect in any Shariah discourse where there are differences in opinions, interpretations and practices. To complement the efforts to create a sustainable and comprehensive Islamic financial system, consumer education and awareness on Islamic banking and finance should be extensively undertaken. Concerted efforts between the governments and Islamic financial fraternities should be engaged to develop such a consumer education programme. Such programmes would increase transparency on the virtues and availability of Islamic financial instruments offered by the Islamic financial institutions. How consumers can expect to benefit will depend on how well informed they are about the financial services being provided. Barriers across geographical boundaries can be removed by leveraging upon the advances on Information Communication Technology to create an integrated internet platform as means for the knowledge sharing on research findings, conference discussions, Shariah rulings and other vital information on Islamic banking and finance. Improvements can be made to the existing internet portals to be more comprehensive with linkages to other useful information providers. Equally important is the consumer protection infrastructure.