elvira nabiullina : review of russia's economic and financial developments in 2016 speech by ms elvira nabiullina, governor of the bank of russia, at the plenary session of the state duma of the russian federation, moscow, 9 june 2017. * * * dear vyacheslav volodin, and deputies of the state duma! the central bank is guided in its actions by strategic objectives. i want to note that across the country, every employee of the bank of russia knows what these are. they are the basis on which key performance indicators for employees are formulated. these objectives are : price stability ; financial market sustainability ; availability of financial products and services for households and businesses ; development of the national payment system ; development of technologies and support of innovations in the financial market. these objectives follow directly from the functions of the central bank, as defined by the constitution and by the law. yesterday, i took another look at the speech i gave to the duma four years ago. yes, of course, life has made adjustments. no one back in 2013 expected such negative external factors, the sanctions, and the drop in oil prices. so the task of ensuring financial stability has come to the forefront of our activities. but in dealing with this problem, we have tried not to lose sight of strategically important activities that we assigned ourselves four years ago, and we must continue to work towards the completion of these. as regards monetary policy, the bank of russia set itself the task of reducing inflation from the level at that time of 7 % to 3 - 4 %. but, as you will see, we also noted that the rate of decline must be dictated by the economic situation. therefore, due to external shocks, achieving this target took longer than expected. however we are already very close to the target level. the second objective in terms of monetary policy which we set ourselves four years ago was to increase the flexibility of the exchange rate. we have moved to a floating exchange rate and consider this to have been the right decision, as the negative experiences of other exporting countries that did not switch to a floating exchange rate prove to us that this needed to be done. within the banking sector, we set ourselves the tasks of strengthening supervision and withdrawing from the market of weak players. unfortunately, accumulated problems in the banking sector turned out to be more serious than was assumed four years ago. and this situation has only been aggravated by crisis. the process of cleaning up the

muhammad bin ibrahim : reflections on malaysia's advancing islamic finance industry welcoming remarks by mr muhammad bin ibrahim, governor of the central bank of malaysia ( bank negara malaysia ), at the shariah advisory council ( sac ) 20 - year anniversary dinner, kuala lumpur, 12 december 2017. * * * welcome to the 20th anniversary dinner of the shariah advisory council of bank negara malaysia, or in short the sac. on behalf of bank negara malaysia and the audience here, we would like to express our utmost gratitude to his royal highness sultan of perak darul ridzuan and her royal highness for gracing tonight ’ s dinner. this event is a special occasion. gathered here tonight are a coterie of intellectuals who help shape the development of islamic finance in malaysia. the sac, in its 20 - year history, has established itself as the foremost institution in developing and expanding the tenets of shariah for islamic finance. i would like to take the opportunity to express our heartfelt thanks to the distinguished members of the sac – past and present – for their contributions to the advancement of the islamic finance industry in malaysia. as we reflect on the journey of the sac, i reminisce of the great shariah scholars from the glory days of islam. islamic civilisation during this era flourished upon a strong foundation of knowledge, wisdom and tolerance by its leaders and scholars. while consensus building was a key part of the culture, differing views, conclusions and preferences helped unite, rather than divide. critical thinking and independent reasoning – or ijtihad – was geared towards fostering harmony and was celebrated as it enriched the body of knowledge. today, the sac continues this tradition, applying its collective wisdom, diligence and inquisitive minds in the contemporary setting of islamic finance. many practical and contemporary issues confronting the islamic finance industry were resolved through more than 500 rulings. we have grown stronger, wiser and more inclusive over the years. looking back at history, the golden age of islam was replete with polymaths who helped build islamic civilisation, turning it into one of the world ’ s greatest. scholars such as ibn sina, ibn rushd and ibn al haytham have left behind a legacy not only in the area of theology, but also in other modern disciplines, including medicine, astronomy and mathematics. drawing from these inspiring examples, we can play an even bigger role in ensuring islamic finance is able to deliver a lasting and metamorphic