Zeti Akhtar Aziz: Progress and advancement of Islamic finance Speech by Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia (Bank Negara Malaysia), at the Islamic Economy Award 2014, Dubai, 14 January 2015. *  *  *  It is my very great honour to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award for the global development of Islamic finance conferred under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. I am most humbled to receive this award. It has been my privilege to contribute to the international efforts to create the foundations for a sustainable and resilient Islamic financial system in the global financial system. This recent decade has been highly challenging for the world of finance, yet the experience of confronting the challenges has been tremendously fulfilling. The overall progress and advancement of Islamic finance has continued to be accompanied by growth, dynamism and stability. Islamic finance brings immense benefits to the overall economy. It is a form of financial intermediation that is well anchored to the real economy. With its internationalisation, that began at the turn of the millennium, it now serves to enhance and strengthen the interlinkages between economies, facilitating international trade and cross border investment activities. This trend has marked the beginning of intensified collective efforts to enhance the Islamic financial infrastructure to create a robust and resilient global Islamic financial system.
In order to address this situation, one of the objectives in the Sixth  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  National Development Plan is to enhance the capacity of women to participate in national development”. 1 The Report further states that “due to weak economic position such as lack of collateral required by most financial institutions, most women, especially the rural women, are unable to access investment capital to engage in business and other economic activities as individuals”. Access to affordable financial services – especially credit and insurance – enhances livelihood opportunities and empowers women and other marginalized groups to take charge of their lives as well as improve their social and economic equity. This is why financial inclusion is considered to be critical for achieving inclusive growth and poverty reduction. What do we mean by financial inclusion Women’s financial inclusion has been described as “a state in which women as individual, members of households and entrepreneurs, have access to the full range of financial products and services from convenient responsible formal service providers, offered effectively, responsibly and sustainably and at a reasonable cost to clients” These products include payments, savings, credit, insurance and pensions. The Finscope survey of 2005 and 2009 showed that access to financial services in Zambia has been low with results indicating only a marginal increase from 33.7% in 2005 to 37.3% in 2009. This signifies that further efforts are required.