zeti akhtar aziz : a milestone towards a more efficient and internationally integrated global islamic financial system speech by dr zeti akhtar aziz, governor of the central bank of malaysia, at the global launch of thomson reuters islamic finance gateway, kuala lumpur, 22 february 2010. * * * in this more challenging global economic and financial environment, islamic finance has remained dynamic with a steady pace of innovation and fast growing as its expansion gains further momentum. this has demonstrated not only its viability and resilience but also its ability to remain competitive. this decade has also seen the increased internationalisation of islamic finance as it extends it outreach to serve the global community. the accelerated development of the islamic financial markets and the supporting international islamic financial architecture as well as the trend towards greater liberalisation have increased the integration of islamic finance into the international financial system. today ’ s launch of the islamic finance gateway by thomson reuters is indeed a welcome development. the timely access to a broad range of key information on islamic finance including on the products terms, structures and shariah rulings will contribute to enhanced transparency in the islamic financial markets. as a platform that allows for price discovery, it will contribute towards the more efficient functioning of the various islamic financial markets across the world. it will also foster a greater international understanding of islamic financial practices in the various islamic financial markets. i have been informed that this gateway will also include in its content, the shariah resolutions database of the international shariah research academy ( isra ) following the signing of the memorandum of understanding between thomson reuters and isra that is scheduled today. isra was established in 2008 to provide a platform for greater engagement amongst practitioners, scholars, regulators, academicians in the area of shariah and to promote applied research contemporary issues in islamic finance. their efforts have contributed to the harmonisation of shariah interpretations and thus the standardisation of shariah applications and practices is islamic finance. isra has now become an important repository of knowledge for shariah views or fatwas. the reuters islamic finance gateway thus has the potential to become an important vehicle for worldwide dissemination of high quality information on islamic finance. in performing the function as an aggregator of information on islamic finance, the gateway will showcase the dynamic pulse of the global islamic financial services industry. this increased information flow across borders in real time will also reinforce the trend of the internationalisation of islamic finance. there is already an increasing level of foreign participation in the islamic financial markets resulting

– across all areas of the banking sector. one example is the review of supervisory options and national discretions. european supervisory legislation still offers some 150 options from which supervisors can choose. and, at the national level, these options are actually being exercised in a multitude of ways. of course, it sometimes makes sense to interpret rules against the background of national special features – but sometimes it doesn ’ t. we therefore have to review all these options very carefully and keep only those options which truly reflect the peculiarities of various markets and banks, while allowing all others to expire. the ecb and the national supervisors have just begun their review of national options and discretions. even in the area of accounting standards, there are calls for further harmonisation. in midmarch the ecb adopted a new regulation on prudential reporting requirements for financial data. this regulation applies to all institutions not covered by the already - harmonised reporting requirements for ifrs institutions. june 2017 is the final deadline, therefore, for all institutions which prepare their financial statements under german gaap to submit their prudential returns on the basis of the ecb regulation. the ecb must generally also accept national accounting standards within the context of the ssm. against this background, we will do all we can to ensure that german accounting standards continue to apply – barring any changes to the relevant legislation. 4. conclusion ladies and gentlemen, the single supervisory mechanism will have many advantages. it will allow all euro - area banks to be supervised at consistently high standards ; it will make it easier to deal with cross - border problems ; and it will mitigate the influence of national interests on banking supervision. on the whole, it will create a single european supervisory culture which will also cover those banks that are not directly supervised by the ecb. it will make the entire banking sector safer, and that will be good for all banks. however, all supervisors and regulators do is create a framework. the market functions within this framework, and each individual bank has to hold its own in a competitive environment. there are therefore several challenges : the persistent phase of low interest bis central bankers ’ speeches rates, which is putting pressure on profits ; the trend towards digitalisation, which could fundamentally alter the structure of banking business ; and more intense competition from new players in the market. in view of the low interest rates, on 19 may bafin and bundesbank launched a second survey on german credit institutions ’ earnings and resilience in a