be useful for tomorrow, but more likely, would not be sufficient to meet future challenges. it is with this realisation that we should strategically implement a plan of action to develop true professionals who would lead the industry to the next stage of development, and recognised and respected as authorities in their chosen fields. these professionals should produce results that exceed expectations. they should also possess the highest degree of integrity in personal and business dealings. they are expected to adhere to ethically - driven values that reflect shariah principles. they should be regarded as the true exemplars of islamic finance. in short, they are the embodiment of what is good about islamic finance. the establishment of ciif is therefore a significant milestone in our collaborative efforts to raise the bar for professionalism and ethics in the industry. we aspire for ciif to become the global body for professionals in islamic finance. as we envisage ciif as the leading driver and advocator of professionalism and ethical conduct, we should expect the new body to adopt global best practices of similar professional institutions. bis central bankers ’ speeches ciif will embark on a task that is both revolving and rewarding. a key imperative for ciif to advance in its quest, as the advocator of the highest degree of professionalism and ethical conduct amongst islamic finance professionals, is for the professional body to receive strong and continuous support and recognition from the industry. the industry cannot be a passive player. it must be an activist. together with ciif, it must be a strong advocator of professionalism and ethics. the signing of a first of its kind industry - led charter between the association of islamic banking institutions malaysia ( aibim ), malaysian takaful association ( mta ), the malaysian investment banking association ( miba ) and ciif is a very strong reflection of the industry ’ s support. this public commitment by aibim, mta and miba acknowledges the noble intent of ciif. it is also a pledge by the industry to provide the required support by allocating the needed resources in our endeavour to create and promote an internationally recognised islamic finance professional body. industry recognition to the bearers of ciif qualification as highly qualified and competent professionals will give an added boost to the entity as it embarks on this important journey. although ciff is only being officially launched today, the entity has completed two guiding principles and two guidelines which will be launched today. these issuances will

performs a critical role in crisis containment and management, in particular, to provide liquidity, to prevent disruptions to the functioning of the financial system and to restore stability and confidence to the financial system. to avoid a piecemeal approach by any individual agency in the system and to ensure a comprehensive response to the financial crisis, the institutional arrangements for greater coordination across agencies is essential to allow for prompt action that may include a range of measures such as capital injections, debt guarantees and asset purchases in the effort to contain and manage the crisis. regional roles at the regional level, the role of the central banks in east asia has in this decade, transitioned to a new level of collaboration and cooperation. following the asian financial crisis, efforts have focused on five main areas, namely, to enhance the effectiveness of regional economic and financial surveillance, to improve the arrangements for regional crisis management that is reinforced by regional support mechanisms, to develop the regional financial infrastructure including the bond market and the payments and settlement system, to strengthen regional financial stability, and finally, to pursue capacity building collaboratively, so as to enhance the effectiveness of the central banks in the region. the priority for asia going forward is to accelerate regional financial integration. to ensure this takes place in an environment of regional stability, strengthening cooperation is also aimed at managing the risks and vulnerabilities of the region. in 2006, the east asian central banks have established a monetary and financial stability committee as a forum to discuss the risks to regional macroeconomic and financial stability. in addition, the asean + 3, a subset of this group, has already taken concrete steps to multilateralise the chiang mai initiative into a more advanced and robust framework for the effective pooling and utilisation of liquidity support in the region. while the asian region is highly diverse, in these key areas of cooperation and collaboration, the asian region has demonstrated its cohesiveness in coming together to deal with the challenges that the new environment presents to us. conclusion let me now conclude. the world has changed and will continue to change. to remain effective in the new environment and to have the capacity to respond to the new challenges, central banks also need to undertake its own transformation and modernisation. moreover, in preserving the independence of the central bank and to be able to stand our ground in performing our responsibilities, central banks need to be standing on solid ground. this requires continuous capability enhancement and capacity building so as to be well positioned to have the ability to rise to the challenges