Zeti Akhtar Aziz: The global Islamic financial services industry Speech by Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia, at the Launch of Kuwait Finance House Research, Dubai, 14 May 2007. *  *  *  Let me first of all congratulate Kuwait Finance House on the establishment of the Kuwait Finance House Research. It is my great pleasure and honour to officiate its launch. The establishment of this research entity is timely to meet the more intense demands of operating in a dynamic and highly competitive environment where new challenges and opportunities are continuously emerging in this era of globalisation and change. In the recent five years, there has been a rapid evolution and expansion of the global Islamic financial services industry. Islamic finance has now been accepted as a viable and competitive mode of financial intermediation, not only in Muslim countries but also beyond the Muslim world, which offers a wide range of financial products and services to meet the highly differentiated demands of the new economy. The continued progression in the economic and financial landscape has presented many opportunities for new products, services and innovations. With the accelerating pace of financial integration, financial institutions are presented with prospects to expand beyond domestic borders to capture opportunities from regional and global markets. Nevertheless, these opportunities cannot be fully realised without sound research and development efforts. Successful financial services players must leverage on expertise and knowledge to deliver superior products and services.
The first concerns the continuity of the research and discussion processes in the respective areas of central bank cooperation. Continuity helps keep track of the emphases and priorities of regional members and promotes effectiveness of the ongoing collaboration efforts. The second aspect concerns the need to follow through cooperative initiatives that have been agreed upon by central banks in the region. The follow-through can be done effectively through intensified, and perhaps more conveniently organised, dialogue and information sharing. The third aspect concerns the approach towards central bank cooperation. There are many areas of common areas of interest among regional central banks, including monetary and financial stability, payment systems and reserve management, to name just a few. In short, there is a need to organise central bank cooperation in a more focused, coordinated and dedicated manner in order to pursue our common interests. 2  BIS Review 61/2006  Today, with the World Bank experts and policy-makers, regulators and private-sector participants of the region gathering here, the conference will offer us a good opportunity to exchange views on what is needed to further promote regional cooperation and financial integration in Asia. We will also cover more specific subjects including the broadening and deepening of securities markets, the development of securitization and derivative markets, and the role of the contractual savings and asset management industries in the development of capital markets.