The committee identified the following immediate development areas: the need for continued collaboration between regulators and the financial market community in promoting and improving the transparency to broaden the investor base of the Malaysian sukuk market; the concept of "anticipatory hedging" was identified to be vital in advancing the Islamic derivatives market in Malaysia and in creating a healthy, liquid market for practitioners' hedging activities; enhancement of ESG data so that capital and funding can be directed towards more sustainable and higher-impact assets; and  2/4  BIS - Central bankers' speeches  Islamic Social Finance (ISF) has a role to play in the Malaysian retail market, potentially through a Cash Waqf Linked Sukuk model. This model can serve as a guide for similar social financing models for IFIs to emulate in the Malaysian market. Looking beyond the financial market, there will be a higher platform that will steer the MIFC agenda. With the growing maturity of the Islamic financial sector in Malaysia, Bank Negara Malaysia also believes that the industry is now well positioned to drive the broader MIFC agenda. The MIFC Leadership Council, a joint initiative of Bank Negara Malaysia and the Securities Commission Malaysia will provide thought leadership, and drive strategy formulation and implementation to enhance Malaysia's position as an international gateway for Islamic finance. It is envisioned that the Council will also evolve into a fully industry-led structure that will be better able to respond to - and capitalise on - global opportunities in Islamic finance.

One ideal, for example, is in achieving zero recipient of Zakat, which had been among the key achievements of Khalifah Umar bin Abdul Aziz r.a during his 2-year reign from 717-720 M. The Islamic finance sector indeed still has some way to reach its full potential based on these values to fulfil contemporary economic and social needs. Today's Islamic finance ecosystem has yet to match the idealism of Islamic finance vanguards as expressed by Professor Dr. Muhammad Nejatullah Siddiqi who emphasised the concept of justice and morality, in accordance to maqasid al-syariah. I quote from him, "More than anything else, Islamic banking and finance, a sub-culture of Islamic economics, has been a quest for justice and morality into the ordinary business of life." Therefore, new initiatives are needed to empower and advance the Islamic finance system by emphasising on the principle of driving growth, wider participation, and equitable wealth distribution, and not only focused on company and conglomerate profits7. Ladies and Gentlemen,  3/4  BIS - Central bankers' speeches  With that, I wish you a productive forum ahead. Thank you. 1 Bank Negara Malaysia 2 The Malaysian Reserve 3 League Table 2021 4 ICM, Securities Commission 5 MIFC 6 Survey conducted among 50 financial institutions which comprise of diverse  organisation type including, but not limited to, asset management firms, commercial banks, Islamic banks, and development financial institutions. 7 2023 Budget speech, https://budget.mof.gov.my/pdf/belanjawan2023/ucapan/ub23-BI. pdf  4/4  BIS - Central bankers' speeches