It is therefore important for Islamic finance practitioners to have greater understanding on the scope of SRI to effectively match the segments of opportunities available in the SRI space. 3/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  An imperative to the successful outcomes of the key growth areas is the availability of multiskilled and top-notch talent in the industry. In Malaysia, we have over 26,000 talents in the Islamic banking industry and a holistic infrastructural ecosystem that supports their developmental needs. As we move forward, we need a deep talent pool with wider set of competencies beyond the scope of Islamic finance knowledge to provide the additional competitive edge to the industry. Continuous nurturing of Islamic finance talent, with intellectual diversity in other related disciplines such as economics, finance, law and financial technology can give rise to new visions and wisdoms that go beyond traditional boundaries. Under the current scenario, talent development is crucial at every level of the organisation from the Board to Shariah committee members as well as front-liners. Currently, an initiative is underway to develop a dedicated programme for Board of Islamic financial institutions with a scope that includes wide-ranging and unique issues within the Islamic finance industry. The Shariah Leaders Education Programme that has commenced since last year has enriched more than 100 local Shariah scholars with the necessary governance and business insights for them to effectively perform their roles as Shariah Committee members.
Interest rates in France are also among the lowest in Europe: the average nominal rate on new bank loans is currently less than 2% compared with 5% in 2007. Lastly, SMEs generally have little difficulty obtaining investment loans: according to the Banque de France’s survey, in the third quarter of 2015, 92% of loan applications were accepted (i.e. at least 75% of the amount requested was granted), although there is still room for improvement in the case of VSEs. At the same time, bond financing is increasing. The trend towards the diversification of debt financing appears to be more marked in France than in neighbouring European countries, with companies increasingly turning to capital markets to meet their funding needs. The disintermediation rate, that is the share of bond financing in overall corporate debt, has risen from 24.2% in 2008 to 38.6% in 2015, compared with respective rates of 14.1% and 13.5% for Germany and Italy. Nonetheless, in France, market financing is mainly the preserve of large corporations, accounting for some 70% of their total financial debt, compared with 25% for mid-caps and less than 5% for SMEs. Yet forcing them to switch to disintermediated financing would make little sense: this diversification of funding has to remain optional, driven by demand from companies themselves, rather than being imposed according to a set timetable and predefined objectives. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  c) The priority of increasing equity funding can be achieved via several channels.