advance towards the standardisation of islamic finance regulation, breaking the existing jurisdictional heterogeneity, in order to take advantage of a wider international market. the second challenge refers to the integration of islamic finance into the wider financial system. in this area, islamic finance instruments will have to comply with conventional or general financial regulation, while maintaining their specificities. in particular, the contractbased nature of islamic finance normally linked to an underlying asset poses challenges in areas such as risk weight analysis and the fiscal treatment of islamic - type instruments. bis central bankers ’ speeches financial instruments have to be carefully calibrated to take due account of the risks linked to the underlying asset and its liquidity. in taxation, there are problems of double or multiple taxation and equality of treatment with interest - based instruments that also need to be addressed. several european countries are adapting their legislation in this respect. in addressing these regulatory challenges, the ifsb is playing a very important role by providing a forum for coordination and dissemination of better international practices. it is also contributing to the integration of islamic finance into the general framework of conventional finance regulation, as established by international bodies, such as the fsb itself and the basel committee on banking supervision. in parallel, other institutions such as the g20, the imf and the world bank are stepping up their efforts to further the analysis of islamic finance and to identify the necessary reforms to its insertion in the international financial system. many of these issues will be dealt with in the different sessions of today´s forum. the agenda includes four technical sessions on regulatory aspects and the specific challenges regarding sukuk markets, equity - based financing and financial inclusion. we have a diverse audience with well - known experts on islamic finance and market participants who, i am sure, will provide us with a fruitful encounter. let me thank the ie again for hosting the event and the ifsb and mr. jaseem ahmed for bringing this initiative to madrid. i wish you all a very successful forum. bis central bankers ’ speeches

requirements needed to address this challenge. nor should we forget that central banks are also important investors in the debt markets, both in the area of monetary policy and reserve management. although we have not yet included environmental risk assessment in our credit analysis, we are working to remedy this. esg - environmental, social and governance. 8 / 9 in the framework of the eurosystem, an in - depth review of risk assessment processes is under way, aiming to ensure that all relevant factors – such as environmental ones – are taken into account for prudent central bank portfolio management. consideration and application of these criteria is without doubt a new development, and also for central banks. in september, for instance, the banco de espana made its first green investment, participating in a fund launched by the bank for international settlements ( bis ) that invests entirely in green bonds. with this type of initiative the banco de espana aims to include environmental sustainability goals in its reserve management. this is consistent with its membership of the ngfs, which less than two weeks ago published a sustainable and responsible investment guide for central banks ’ portfolio management. conclusions i wish to conclude by emphasising, once more, how important it is that the financial sector contribute to the collective effort that meeting the goals set in the paris agreement represents. the decarbonisation goals set by the commission for 2050 pose a major challenge. 2050 may seem a long way off, but if we wish to meet these goals it is clear that the public at large, firms, banks, governments and public authorities will all have to start addressing the challenge today, with a sufficiently ambitious but also realistic approach. the path ahead, to incorporate environmental risk into internal control and management, is a considerable one and we, as supervisors, also have much work before us. yet we set out on this path only very recently and i must say that the progress made has been surprisingly fast. for all our sakes, we trust that we will be up to the challenge. thank you. 9 / 9