The standards on capital adequacy and risk management that have now been approved by the Council of the Islamic Financial Services Board in December in 2005 is scheduled for implementation in 2007. Islamic financial institutions must therefore be equipped with the required capacity and infrastructure to capture the respective risk weights and assign appropriate amount of regulatory capital at each of the different stages of the Islamic financial transaction. The exclusion of risk-weighted assets funded by the profit-sharing investment accounts from the calculation of regulatory capital requirement places critical emphasis on a comprehensive infrastructure in the Islamic financial institutions to clearly segregate the restricted and unrestricted profit-sharing investment accounts from the non-profit-sharing accounts and shareholders funds and to track their respective flows in financing and investment transactions. BIS Review 4/2006  3  Strategic investments in the state-of-the-art IT and risk management systems are integral to this process. Supervisory authorities need to be equipped with the specialized skills necessary to have the right assessments on the level of risks that the Islamic financial institutions are exposed to and the effectiveness of the risk management infrastructure in the Islamic financial institutions in mitigating these risks. The development of a sufficient pool of talent in Islamic finance Finally, the development of a sufficient pool of appropriately skilled Islamic finance practitioners needs to be accorded the highest priority. The required skill set in Islamic finance is unique. It needs to have the right blend of knowledge of finance with the understanding of the Shariah as being central.

Gent Sejko: The importance of media in analysing Albania’s monetary policy Address by Mr Gent Sejko, Governor of the Bank of Albania, at the end-of-year meeting with the media, Tirana, 20 December 2018. * * * Dear ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to our end-of-year meeting with the media. I would like to thank you for your readiness, objectivity, and seriousness in covering the activities of the Bank of Albania and informing the public about them, throughout 2018. Thanks to you, our analyses and decision-making have been communicated in a thorough manner, mindfully tailored and styled in accordance with the age and profession of the targeted audience. I must note that, in addition to broad geographic coverage, your comments and analyses on the economic and financial developments in Albania have been very professional. At the Bank of Albania, my colleagues and I maintain that the current media reality is an important part of our activity. Our decision-making could not be considered complete without your contribution. Communication is a vital and delicate process for a central bank. I must emphasize that, without your help and objectivity, realisation of Bank of Albania’s decision-making regarding monetary policy and financial stability would have been an impossible mission. Figuratively, I would point out that you are the ones that enable the translation of our analyses and conclusions into an adequate and easy-to-understand message for the general public.