Both of these will mean healthy demand for a range of financial services. Financial regulation has become tougher across the board. And as a regulator I say this for good reason. But from a competitive position, our financial institutions are well-placed because of their larger buffers they built up and more prudent risk management practices they adopted. Technology will disrupt existing value chains in financial services. But it will also open up new avenues of growth. It will intensify competition from non-bank players and non-financial institutions, but also create new pathways for our financial institutions to access markets that were previously difficult to reach. While the prospects for the financial sector are good, the outcome is by no means certain. There is much that we need to do – together – to realise the potential and secure a good outcome. Next month, MAS will announce details of the Industry Transformation Map for financial services. I will not give away the details here, but I can say that building up skills, competencies, and deep expertise is a critical part of the effort. If we want to transform the industry, we must start by transforming our human capital. Setting competency standards and certifying the programmes to achieve these standards are IBF’s raison d’etre. Empowering our finance professionals with the requisite skills and preparing them to take on the jobs of the future is at the heart of everything that IBF does. I am therefore pleased to announce the launch of the IBF Standards for Future-Enabled Skills.

It also gives due protection to the consumers of Islamic finance, ensures the enforceability of Islamic financial contracts and provides an effective mechanism for legal redress. The legal framework for Islamic finance also needs to address any specific elements that could result in a comparative disadvantage to the industry. More specifically, in a world in which finance has long been defined by conventional practices and laws, the features that are unique to the requirements of Islamic finance need to be taken into account to ensure neutrality of treatment. In Malaysia, the rapid evolution of Islamic finance has been supported by the development of a comprehensive legal infrastructure. A series of legislation since 1983 has provided the foundation for a regulatory regime for Islamic banks, takaful operators, the Shariah Council for Islamic finance, Islamic finance windows in conventional banks and the various forms of bond and money market instruments. In addition, the corporate, securities and insolvency laws and guidelines are compatible with the Shariah. These legislation have been reinforced by the establishment of a dedicated High Court bench to provide a comprehensive adjudicative system to deal with disputes involving Islamic finance. In addition, the new Islamic Finance Arbitration Rules of the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration provides a customised mechanism for the resolution of disputes in the Islamic financial services sector. The development of an efficient and vibrant Islamic financial market Equally important to the development of Islamic finance is not only the financial intermediaries but also the Islamic financial markets.