. i would like to start with a few ideas as to what the reasons for the existing gap between the supply of and demand for islamic finance products may be and the challenges that this poses for the banking industry in europe. as you are all well aware, demand for halal finance products has been skyrocketing across the globe for years. this is hardly surprising considering that approximately one person in four in the world is muslim. in addition, wealth has increased in a number of – predominantly arabic – countries not least due to rising commodity prices. this has meant that both the need for halal investment opportunities has grown as well as the desire to finance mostly larger projects, such as building hotel complexes, in accordance with sharia principles. this trend is being supported by the various possibilities of emulating more and more conventional products in a way that complies with islamic law through the use of modern techniques to structure relatively complicated financial transactions. furthermore, growing interest in halal finance products has also been observed among nonmuslims. private investors who also wish to factor ethical and / or religious aspects into their investment decisions can be sure that with products which have been approved by a sharia board they are not investing in certain business areas, such as gambling. and devout christians and jews can be sure that the interest ban, which can also be valid for them has been observed. there is also an increasing number of professional investors who want to include islamic finance products in their portfolios for reasons of diversification. this is true despite the reservation that many sharia - compliant finance products cannot yet fully compete with conventional products as far as the price - performance ratio is concerned due to their intrinsically complicated structure. the first challenge confronting the financial community, not just in europe, with regard to islamic finance is that the range of sharia - compliant finance products is currently not sufficient to meet the substantial rise in demand. this is firstly because there is a shortage in the number of financial service providers offering solely halal finance products or offering these products via islamic windows. secondly, there is a lack of qualified specialists for the islamic finance market segment. hopefully, institutions such as the “ institute of islamic banking and insurance ”, which is supported by german banks, will remedy this situation in the medium - term. in addition to the two reasons i have just given for why the supply of halal finance products does not yet meet the demand, in my opinion, there are two further aspects which pose challenges, particularly for financial

adjusting our supervisory approach. 2 this includes, for example, monitoring and outreach to help banks of all sizes understand current challenges and risks ; a temporary reduction in exam activities, particularly for the smallest and lowest risk institutions ; and additional time to resolve non - critical existing supervisory findings. these actions should help financial institutions deploy their resources as efficiently as possible and continue to support their customers and local economies in a prudent and fair manner. on the regulatory side, the fed has taken a number of steps to encourage banks to use their balance sheet to support borrowers. for community banks, for example, the federal banking agencies are implementing the part of the cares act to lower the community bank leverage ratio. 3 4 in terms of liquidity provision, the fed has actively encouraged banks to use the discount window to help meet the demand for credit from household and businesses. 5 to make this more attractive, the fed has lowered the borrowing rate, extended the term of these loans, and actively signaled support for discount window use. the fed also implemented the paycheck protection program liquidity facility ( ppplf ). 6 this facility is designed to support the effectiveness of the paycheck protection program, created by the cares act and implemented by the small business administration ( sba ), by extending credit to financial institutions that make ppp loans. supplying financial institutions with additional liquidity will help increase their capacity to make ppp loans. in term of eligibility for participation in the ppplf, the federal reserve is working to expand eligibility to ppp lenders that are not depository institutions in the near future. 7 consumer protection https : / / www. newyorkfed. org / newsevents / speeches / 2020 / sti200424 1 / 2 panel remarks : the fed and main street during the coronavirus pandemic - federal reserve bank of new york the fed has emphasized the importance of consumer protection during this period. the federal banking agencies, for example, made clear that lenders and servicers should adhere to consumer protection requirements, including fair lending laws, and provide the opportunity for all borrowers to benefit from these arrangements. 8 the federal banking agencies have confirmed that in the context of the community reinvestment act, they willl favorably consider retail banking services and retail lending activities in a financial institution's assessment areas that are responsive to the needs of low - and moderate - income individuals, small businesses, and small farms affected by covid - 19 consistent with safe and