auditing organization for islamic financial institutions ( aaiofi ), it has facilitated greater cross - border engagement among practitioners and shariah scholars. in turn this has contributed to a greater understanding on issues and challenges faced by the industry and the progressive convergence of shariah views and rulings. more such international collaborative work and engagement would further facilitate this harmonization process. to navigate amidst turbulent seas to arrive at the new frontier of opportunities in islamic finance, there is a need for the industry to build on its strengths and achievements thus far, in the pursuit to realize the distinctive value that islamic finance brings to the global economy. indeed, islamic finance needs to leverage on its inherent strengths and demonstrate leadership in the real economic agenda and contribute towards global economic prosperity and stability. bis central bankers ’ speeches

innovative solutions because they have the confidence that there would be no adverse unintended consequences to financial stability and integrity. empirical data can also support standard - setting bodies in designing differentiated guidance for financial services for low - income households and smes. while the importance of data collection is obvious, there tends to be under investment and an ‘ attention deficit ’ among decision makers on such a critical matter. second, it is crucial to build the capacity of regulators, supervisors and financial institutions so that the ecosystem has the requisite capacity to implement proportionality in practice. the basel range of practice survey highlights supervisors ’ unmet demand for capacity building, as only 30 % of supervisors globally had received training on supervision of banking services for the low income segment. the basel meeting with standard - setting bodies on 2 october 2014 chaired by her majesty queen maxima, the united nations secretary general ’ s special advocate, also highlighted the importance of technical assistance programmes to build up local knowledge and capacity of national supervisors, so that experience in applying proportionality can be shared. third, it is timely for financial regulators to engage non - financial regulators such as telecommunication authorities at a global and national level, in order for regulation to keep abreast with the latest developments in financial inclusion solutions. technology plays a significant role in rapidly scaling up financial inclusion by lowering the cost of delivery as well as increasing convenience and quality of services for the masses. technology enables us to bypass legacy systems and constraints. for example mobile banking, where banks partner with mobile network operators to offer banking services anywhere, any time and in real time, that has enable reach beyond traditional boundaries without the need for a huge investment in infrastructure. importance of the global symposium to galvanise action this leads on to why we are gathered here at this symposium. the global symposium will discuss and highlight the detailed next steps to implement proportionality in practice. this symposium uniquely brings together the relevant key stakeholders to deliberate the issues of proportionality in practice. the afi ’ s working group members on digital financial services, sme finance and global standards will share their perspectives on regulatory and supervisory matters. the private sector banks and remittance service providers share practical realities in the market to comply with international standards. in addition, we have international experts from the seacen, toronto centre and world bank, who have a pivotal role in implementing effective projects to advance proportionality in practice. of importance, this symposium will culminate in an outcome statement that captures the actionable recommendations from deliberations among