Additionally, the emphasis on risk-sharing in Islamic finance strengthens the incentives for participants to screen and monitor transactions for economic viability and risks, and to institute the governance process. In Malaysia, our efforts to widen the reach of such value-adding and value-based finance include the development of a multi-bank platform to match funds from potential investors with entrepreneurial ventures in the real sector. Thirdly, the efforts to strengthen the supply and demand of value-adding and valuebased finance would contribute significantly towards re-anchoring the global financial system to the real economy. On the supply side, the focus on professionalism, ethics and the quality of talent would contribute to drive for positive changes in the financial services industry. In Malaysia, we have initiated the Financial Services Professional Board, launched in 2014, comprising of an independent group of eminent experts from around the world is currently refining a voluntary code of ethics that may be internationally applicable across the financial services industry. A meaningful change in the culture of financial institutions requires a true commitment from the industry. A display of such commitment through the measurement and disclosure of a financial institution’s non-financial performance, such as its impact in social, environmental and governance metrics, can be a powerful tool for change. In Malaysia, such a proposal is being developed for Islamic financial institutions to disclose their Corporate Value-Intent, a performance measure their commitment to value creation.

Firstly and most critically, future finance needs to have stronger links to the real economy by effectively having an intermediation role that is in the service to society. Financial systems have to be both value-adding and value-based – value-adding, in that they contribute meaningfully by intermediating and facilitating real economic activity, and value-based in that they aim to benefit society. Such finance that is value-adding and valuebased is deeply needed in the global economy. Many parts of the world, notably the developing world, require large amounts of funding to address infrastructure development. Financial inclusion also remains an important agenda to uplift the living standards of the marginalised segments of society in our global community. Secondly, a functioning regime practising value-adding and value-based finance needs to be built on a set of universal principles that will create a sustainable model for mainstreaming such positive finance in the global financial system. A regime that is deep-rooted in genuine productive activity that discourages excessive leverage that emphasises transparency, and that strengthens financier-client relationships would cumulatively be a positive force for the global financial system. Indeed, these are some of the core underpinnings of Islamic finance which has already garnered significance in many parts of the world. The central tenet in Islamic finance requires that financial transactions be supported by genuine economic activity, reinforcing the link between finance and value creation and aligning financial innovation to productive economic activity.