The HKMA looks forward to being a long-term partner with you on this journey, and I hope you can offer us your unwavering support too. 2/5  BIS central bankers' speeches  Future-proofing Hong Kong for Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) 20. As we look beyond banks to the wider financial system, we turn our attention to initiatives that will have an impact on the financial system as a whole, one of which is CBDCs, the focus of our second strategy. 21. As the world becomes more interconnected than ever, cross-border and cross-boundary transactions have never been more frequent. Many of us have witnessed how payment instruments have evolved over time, from banknotes to credit cards to cross-border payment networks. While CBDCs may not see mainstream adoption any time soon, this is something that has the potential to profoundly alter the global payment landscape. We must work with the industry and international community to ensure that we address both the technical and non-technical issues involved. 22. For this reason, we have been researching wholesale CBDCs as they have great potential in addressing the long-standing pain points in cross-border payments. Lately, the HKMA’s joint research with the Bank of Thailand has been ranked by the market as one of the most mature of its kind in the world; a testimony that we stand at the forefront in the realm of wholesale CBDCs. We recently expanded the scale of the project to include more participating jurisdictions. 23.
This dialogue will now be held annually to serve as a platform for cooperation among the Shariah scholars to promote greater understanding on emerging developments across the world in the area of Islamic finance. This is to promote a greater understanding on the approaches taken by different jurisdictions in their Shariah interpretations. To support the Shariah scholars' activities especially in the areas of research and capacity building, Bank Negara Malaysia has also allocated a RM200 million endowment fund to meet the financing requirements of the Shariah Scholars' Dialogue research activities and the provision of scholarships. It is hoped that this will contribute towards greater understanding in the process of harmonizing the international implementation of Shariah in Islamic finance. These initiatives have contributed to the success in the creation of a robust Islamic financial environment. It is further supported by the requisite financial infrastructure that includes the financial markets and that is reinforced further by a comprehensive regulatory, prudential, legal and accounting  1/2  framework. These elements have provided an enabling environment that increases the potential for Malaysia to evolve as an Islamic financial centre. These measures, however, need to be reinforced by efforts by the Islamic financial institutions to take on a more active role in promoting Islamic finance. Indeed, the rapid progress of Islamic banking over the last two decades would not have been possible without the pioneering efforts of the Islamic financial institutions in building up a successful and vibrant industry.