On Islamic finance, institutions such as Islamic Banking & Finance Institute Malaysia (IBFIM), Association of Shariah Advisors in Islamic Finance (ASAS), International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF) and International Shari’ah Research Academy for Islamic Finance (ISRA) were amongst the key affiliates that were given specific mandates for education and training. Similarly, the Chartered Institute of Islamic Finance Professionals (CIIF), then known as the Association of Chartered Islamic Finance Professionals (ACIFP), was identified as the key institution to develop professional standards and set the professional qualifications for the industry. The Institute, now entering its 5th year of establishment, is recognised as the industry’s own professional body through the Islamic Finance Profession Charter, and as such is strategically positioned as the platform for the development of ethically driven talent imbued with professional integrity. With the industry leadership on board as CIIF’s members, the professional body is expected to continue its momentum towards becoming an influential organisation that embodies the very best of Islamic finance professionals. On this note, we commend the industry’s effort to put the professionalisation agenda of the Islamic finance work force as utmost priority, through the signing of Joint Commitments between Association of Islamic Banking Institutions Malaysia (AIBIM), Malaysian Takaful Association (MTA), Association of Development Finance Institutions of Malaysia (ADFIM) with CIIF in 2018.
But, as I showed you, the protection of financial privacy is not an obstacle to an efficient fight against money laundering or the financing of terrorism, nor does it hamper fair tax competition with our neighbours if a withholding tax is implemented along the line of the EU directive. Both the disclosure of certain informations relating to bank clients and the protection of privacy in the financial sphere arise from fundamental ethical convictions that are worth protecting. I am confident that with a frank dialogue and mutual effort to understand each other’s position, the common values of the Swiss and British financial centres will again come to the forefront. In particular, it is our predominant joint interest to see the very demanding standards that we have set for our own financial industry become the world-wide accepted rules. The long history of our financial centres and the large experience of our banking industry should give us a natural leadership role in this respect. BIS Review 13/2002  7