a wide range of activities. the asia school of business will offer two key differentiating value propositions : the emphasis on the practical application of business management education, to apply theories of the classroom in a broad range of organisational and institutional settings ; and to be a global knowledge and learning centre that focuses on insights, perspectives and expertise from the emerging world, especially the asian region. the ultimate vision is for the asia school of business to be a premier business school that develops transformative and principled leaders who will contribute to the advancement of the emerging world, particularly in asia. bank negara malaysia ’ s commitment to this collaboration is not only in providing the 20 - acre land that is in the green lung of kuala lumpur for the campus and in building state - of - the - art facilities for the school, but being very much part of the asian region, we hope that malaysia, and more specifically, the central bank, will also be leveraged upon for our knowledge and experience in the region. bis central bankers ’ speeches located in the heart of asia, malaysia offers an eclectic mix of cultures and ethnic backgrounds that reflects the heterogeneity of asia. as a highly open economy, malaysia has strong economic and financial inter - linkages with the world, from asia to the advanced economies and other emerging economies, including latin america, the middle east and central asia. the school will, therefore, draw extensively from the network of businesses in the emerging world to provide a platform for learning and research, and thus offer an extensive experience of the diversity that exists, in particular, in asia. with the strength founded in the collaboration, i am confident of our potential to develop the asia school of business on solid foundations. the bank looks forward to working with mit sloan in making this collaboration a success. i am pleased to now introduce the first president and dean of the asia school of business, professor charles fine. professor fine is the chrysler leaders for global operations professor of management, and a professor of operations management and engineering systems, at mit sloan. he has served as a professor at mit sloan for over 30 years, and has teaching experience as a visiting faculty at the stanford business school, the harvard business school and the indian business school. his research focuses mainly on supply chain strategy and value chain roadmapping. his work has supported the design and improvement of supply chain relationships for companies in the electronics, automotive, aerospace, communications, and consumer products industries. kindly join me in welcoming professor fine. bis

perspective, disruptive innovations in the industry are very much welcomed. financial regulators in australia, china, singapore, united kingdom and the united states are amongst those that have positively embraced the infusion of technology in their financial industries. for malaysia, the issuance of the regulatory sandbox policy document in october provides regulatory clarity ; lowers barriers to entry ; and accelerates the time - to - market for productive innovations. our sandbox is unique as it is the first to include islamic finance. thus, industry players can be assured of the regulatory support by the bank in expanding their frontiers of innovation. we would therefore expect to see more technological platforms to be introduced and infusion of technology to take place not only to disrupt the way we do things, but at the end of the day, to be able to significantly enhance values and experience for the consumers. the third and final key area relates to the measurement of the industry ’ s contribution to society and the wider economy. islamic finance has more to offer beyond the confines of the conventional parameters of sustainable, responsible and impact investing ( sri ) ; as well as the environmental, social and governance ( esg ) considerations. a natural alignment between islamic finance and sri already exist, given that the principles of fairness ; equality ; and ethics are embedded in islamic finance which are associated with social well - being of the people. given these common core values, there are certainly vast opportunities for islamic finance to broaden its investor portfolio to access the global sri funds that stands at more than usd3 trillion. in broadening the horizon of islamic finance by tapping into socially - conscious investments, the industry can actively spearhead efforts to promote and reach out to investors whom are value driven. we envision that investments through islamic finance products would meet the aspiration and needs of this group of investors. it is therefore important for islamic finance practitioners to have greater understanding on the scope of sri to effectively match the segments of opportunities available in the sri space. 3 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches an imperative to the successful outcomes of the key growth areas is the availability of multiskilled and top - notch talent in the industry. in malaysia, we have over 26, 000 talents in the islamic banking industry and a holistic infrastructural ecosystem that supports their developmental needs. as we move forward, we need a deep talent pool with wider set of competencies beyond the scope of islamic finance knowledge to provide the additional competitive edge to the industry. continuous nurturing of islamic finance talent