At the strategic leadership level, Malaysia has established the International Centre for Leadership in Finance or ICLIF as part of an effort to spearhead the development of a new generation of world class leaders in Islamic banking and finance who can steer the financial services sector including the Islamic finance towards high performance and excellence. An endowment fund of RM500 million has been allocated for this institution. 18. In the development of technical expertise, the Islamic Banking and Finance Institute Malaysia (IBFIM) and the Securities Industry Development Centre (SIDC), which are the industries' training arms, have played an active role in producing well-trained, high caliber individuals and management teams with the required expertise in the Islamic finance. IBFIM and the SIDC work closely with the industries to ensure that their training and education programmes are tailored to meet the evolving needs of the industry. In the case of IBFIM, the programmes on offer include the fundamental aspects of Shariah, Islamic banking and takaful and risk management in Islamic financing. Bank Negara Malaysia has provided a benevolent loan to IBFIM to complement industry contributions. 19. Recognising the need to simultaneously equip the regulators with the necessary skills in Islamic finance, we have in the pipeline for introduction shortly, a special programme for regulators called the Central Banking Course in Islamic Finance. This programme will be tailor-made to provide international regulators with knowledge on conceptual and practical aspects of Islamic finance as well as the update on the regulation and supervision of Islamic financial institutions. 20.

Zamani Abdul Ghani: Building a progressive takaful sector in the overall Islamic financial system Keynote Address by Mr Zamani Abdul Ghani, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia, at the 2nd Seminar on Regulation of Takaful, Langkawi, 23 February 2006. *  *  *  Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. His Excellency Dr. Bassel Hindawi Vice Chairman, Director General of the Commission Insurance Commission of Jordan Mr. Anwar Khalifa Ebrahim Al-Sadah Deputy Governor, Bahrain Monetary Agency Professor Rifaat Ahmed Abdel Karim Secretary-General, Islamic Financial Services Board Distinguished guests and participants, Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh and good morning. 2. It gives me great pleasure to be here this morning to welcome you to Malaysia and to this beautiful island of Langkawi. I am also pleased to be invited by the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) to address this major event that brings together those among us who share deep interest in the development of global takaful and Islamic finance. Alhamdulillah, we have among us today distinguished market players, regulators, scholars, consultants as well as participants from almost twenty (20) countries around the world. I also wish to congratulate the IFSB for its efforts in organizing, for the second consecutive year, this international seminar focusing on the regulation of takaful. Let me at the outset reiterate the importance of this Seminar as a source of collaboration for ideas, sharing of knowledge and exchange of experiences for the continuous developments and improvements of the Islamic finance industry.