of the prudential measures that the islamic financial services board ( ifsb ) is keen to emphasize, and it urges islamic financial institutions to apply them, including the assessment of prudential and control steps to reduce qualitative and quantitative risks, apart from applying transparency and accounting disclosure in financial reporting. in the realm of coordination with the national supervisory authorities, the ifsb seeks to enhance work in the area of consolidated and effective supervision and ensure the stability of the islamic financial system by abiding to best practices for risk management and transparency. in this vein, the ifsb organizes conferences and symposiums for supervisory authorities and those interested in this industry. the ifsb also endeavors diligently to work with international and regional institutions, research centers and educational institutes to promote this significant industry. dear audience, in saudi arabia, we are aware of the importance of shari ’ ah - compliant banking products and services. the saudi arabia monetary agency ( sama ) encourages banks operating in saudi arabia to meet market demands and provide those services. currently, all banks operating in saudi arabia provide shari ’ ah - compliant services, and this activity is rapidly growing. the size of this activity differs from one bank to another. some banks only provide shari ’ ah - compliant products and services, and others provide such services and products through some specific branches or units. we, at sama, supervise and regulate shar ’ iah - compliant activities in accordance with the same practices applied to conventional commercial banking businesses. hence, standards of capital adequacy, liquidity, and other supervisory and monitoring requirements apply on shari ’ ah - compliant institutions and banks. sama, in cooperation with saudi banks and financial institutions, has deep - rooted international standards ( such as those set forth in basel ii and those prescribed by the ifsb ) for risk management, corporate governance and internal controls. dear audience, there are many challenges posed to islamic banking such as finding new and various opportunities for development, innovation of new tools, boosting its human resources in all fields including in risk and liquidity management, promoting costumer service level, improving skills and expertise for promoting the understanding of shari ’ ah teachings and applying them in new banking and finance areas. in addition, it is appropriate for islamic financial institutions to increase efforts to train human resources scientifically to enhance their capabilities and to conduct further studies to update islamic services and products and improve islamic banking in the long run. moreover, it is necessary to use uniform

accounting and auditing standards to ensure safety and stability of islamic banking. it is also encouraged that islamic financial institutions merge to increase their capital and have more liquidity to finance their investments. finally, islamic financial institutions need to steer efforts towards good corporate governance, good risk management, transparency, and financial disclosure. i hope that the islamic banking industry will achieve further prosperity and success in the future. thanks again to the central bank of syria for hosting this conference and for the interest in islamic banking, and i think it is timely and wise to choose this topic for the conference. i wish all success for this conference and the participants and i thank you all for your kind attention. wassalmu alikum warahmatu allah wabarakatuhu.