In the case of countries that are just embarking on the introduction of Islamic banks, this could be achieved by the issue of new Islamic banking licences. Third, for countries that have a dual banking system, where conventional banks are allowed to offer Islamic banking products, there must be adequate firewalls to ensure absolute separation of banking operations to avoid co-mingling between the Islamic and conventional funds. This is to ensure the integrity of Islamic banking operations and the sanctity of Islamic funds. The firewalls would need to include separate capital funds, cheque clearing systems, clearing accounts with the Central Bank, settlement accounts and reporting systems. Fourth, regardless of the choice of system, it is important that the stakeholders of the institutions play their role effectively and efficiently to generate improvements in the entity. Of importance, is strong leadership in the management team that has a firm commitment toward performance and capacity enhancements. In addition, investments in the requisite talent and skills is essential to spearhead the development of Islamic financial products. Fifth, is the need to put in place a comprehensive legal infrastructure. Enactment of an Islamic banking law is an important part of this process. For conventional banks offering Islamic banking products, amendments to the existing banking legislation may be necessary to allow such banks to undertake trade-related activities and other multi-faceted functions. The investment policy of the Government may need to be reviewed to provide for the issue of Islamic investment instruments to facilitate the liquidity operations of such banking institutions.
Bond market liquidity has also improved after the swap operation conducted in November 2017, which contributed to the normalisation of the Greek government bond yield curve and also supported increased foreign participation in the bond market. Over the past few months, however, Greek bond yields have remained elevated and volatile, reacting to international and European stress, even after the approval of debt measures by the Eurogroup in June and the upgrade of Greece’s credit rating by the rating agencies. So we should be patient and prudent when assessing market access. Crucially, investor confidence will rely on the continued implementation of reforms and on avoiding backtracking on past improvements. Are you concerned that a crisis, for example in Italy, could jeopardise Greece’s market access? Wouldn’t a precautionary credit line, as Mr Stournaras had suggested, have been useful in this respect? Indeed, a precautionary credit line would have helped to cushion negative spillover effects from 3/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  the international markets and to reinforce the credibility of the Greek sovereign as an issuer. It was therefore a less risky path from a purely financial standpoint. That being said, it would have entailed continued policy conditionality. I respect the government’s judgement that, after eight years under various programmes, it was time for Greece to regain ownership of its policies. Is the ECB concerned about a hostile spirit often expressed by the government toward the Governor of the Bank of Greece, Mr Stournaras, and recently even indirectly towards the former Vice-President of the ECB, Mr Papademos?