finance industry that address both market needs and shariah preservation. increased global engagement in shariah matters among scholars, practitioners and regulators through international discussion platforms, together with the massive flow of knowledge, ideas, technology and people across borders also cumulatively foster a greater global understanding on the practices in islamic finance. innovation has fundamentally transformed the global financial landscape at a rapid pace and is undeniably a driver to sustain growth and to secure the competitive advantage of financial market participants. in the context of islamic finance, the broadening of the frontier of product development can be further propelled by intensifying exploration, research and development initiatives and through intellectual discourse and engagements. it is duty - bound for us to continuously expand the dimensions of islamic finance, hence contributing towards improving financial stability and economic prosperity in the interest of the local and global community. i am confident that this conference and the opportunities presented for deliberation on the research papers will be a fruitful one. i wish all delegates and participants a successful conference. with the lafaz bismillahir rahmanir rahim, it is my pleasure and honour to declare open the 2nd foundations of islamic finance series conference. bis central bankers ’ speeches

in each of their branches. we are delighted to note that all our commercial banks have moved to fulfill the requirement of this policy. some banks have ventured out and taken banking to rural communities in various parts of fiji. another bank is providing microfinance in urban centers ( a great example has been the micro - loans to suva ’ s wheel barrow boys, enabling them to make a start in business ). in addition, banks have conducted microfinance expos to create awareness and extend financial inclusion. we greatly welcome these efforts by banks and encourage them to maintain the momentum. the rbf has now been able to interface more closely with other development agencies and financial institutions in promoting microfinance schemes around the country. last month, we hosted the first ever rbf microfinance expo in ba. the event was well received by the community and we were fully supported by all the banks, ngos, mobile phone providers, non bank financial institutions, the national centre for small and medium enterprise development and other stakeholders. of course the micro entrepreneurs were also able to display and sell their wares. the expo provided the opportunity for the financial institutions and others to enlighten the public about their financial and microfinance services. the rbf will continue to take a lead where necessary to encourage micro finance activities and take the providers to the people. we plan to host a similar expo in suva during the upcoming hibiscus carnival in august and later on in the north. v. local advisory boards to help drive our initiatives, ladies and gentlemen, the reserve bank recently issued a guideline to banks on the establishment of a local advisory board within their fiji operations. these boards are aimed at assisting foreign - owned banks to better understand and align their strategies, not only to fiji ’ s regulatory and supervisory environment, but more importantly to the national development objectives, such as microfinance activities and the like. the local advisory boards in each bank will comprise local individuals who would bring unique local knowledge and skills to complement that of the expatriate senior executive management, to enable them to gain a heightened awareness of our environment from a fiji perspective. the local advisory boards will play an advisory role to the main board of each bank and membership must be approved by the rbf. at this point in time the banks have made good progress in putting their respective boards in place with members of 3 banks having already been assessed and approved. we are looking forward to their contribution to their banks and to our country ’