It has also opened up the prospects for developed economies to forge stronger financial linkages with these dynamic growth regions of Asia and the Middle East. Islamic finance is well positioned to be a vehicle on the New Silk Road as the enabling supporting infrastructure is already in place. The required regulatory and legal frameworks for Islamic finance have also been established, not only growing in a number of countries in Asia and the Middle East, but also at the international level. It was with the establishment of the prudential standard-setting body, the IFSB in 2002 based in Malaysia that efforts to enforce common prudential standards have significantly progressed. Efforts towards the harmonisation of Shariah interpretations and issues concerning mutual recognition are also at an advanced stage. Today, Malaysia has a comprehensive and well-developed Islamic financial system, including a vibrant banking and takaful sector, and well-developed Islamic capital and money markets that operates in parallel with the conventional system. Our sukuk market is the largest in the world. The Islamic financial system in Malaysian is also well-supported by comprehensive Shariah, legal and regulatory and supervisory framework to ensure the soundness and stability of the Islamic financial system. We have also invested in human capital development to ensure a deep pool of talent and expertise to support the development of Islamic finance. For this purpose, Malaysia has established the International Centre of Education in Islamic finance (INCEIF) and The International Shariah Research Academy (ISRA) to support advanced education and research in Islamic finance.

Ravi Menon: Decentralised finance and the future of money Panel remarks by Mr Ravi Menon, Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, at the Andrew Crockett Memorial Lecture by Mark Carney, via Video Conference, 28 June 2021. * * * Thank you for the opportunity to engage on Mark Carney’s deeply thoughtful lecture. Mark has given us a powerful rendition of the transformation taking place that will “re-wire” our monetary and financial systems. Centrifugal forces are driving financial functions away from the traditional core. These forces are not just affecting money, but all aspects of the monetary system. Mark also reminds us that, amid this transformation, money has to be anchored on “values of trust, resilience, dynamism, solidarity and sustainability”. I cannot agree more. I’d like to focus on: the decentralisation of finance across the three ‘I’s of the monetary stack — intermediaries, infrastructure, and instruments; and how central banks and regulators can potentially shape this decentralisation in a way that upholds the critical values of money that Mark has highlighted. Let me begin with Intermediaries, at the top of the monetary stack. The delivery of retail financial services is being decentralised. This is happening in two ways. First, finance by non-financial players. There is now a much broader range of non-traditional – and often unregulated intermediaries in the retail finance space. This is not just BigTechs, but also FinTechs and smaller technology firms. These players provide payments, lending, savings and investments as complements to their core digital service.