Both the regulator and industry play a role in ensuring quick delivery in these circumstances – industry through the prompt and accurate provision of information to enable us to assess applications, and ideally through the development of contingency plans ahead of time; and the regulator by ensuring that our process to consider applications is proportionate and efficient. That said, it’s only right that we continue to apply appropriate scrutiny to mitigate wider risks that the individual parties to transactions do not have the incentive to address. But we are no more interested in process for the sake of process than you are, and have already shown this through our past engagement with you and some recent authorisation decisions. More efficient processes that still deliver on our prudential objectives should be a positive for all sides. We intend to hold a round table discussion to explore this further with the industry. This will allow us to identify, in a collaborative spirit, regulatory and non-regulatory barriers to new capital and opportunities. The roundtable will consider:   Investment in existing Life and GI insurance entities wishing to expand;    New insurer authorisation process;    Insurance Linked Securities; and    Mobilisation regime for start-up insurers. The UK is open for business in the insurance sector, and we welcome applications from those seeking to invest and operate here. Our approach maximises the accessibility of the UK market whilst ensuring that broader safety and soundness objectives are not compromised and rules are consistent for everyone.
Moreover, the profit-sharing and risk-sharing characteristics of Islamic financial transactions strengthen the incentives for Islamic financial institutions to undertake the appropriate due diligence on the Islamic financial transactions to ensure that the profits are commensurate with the risks assumed. The Shariah board of Islamic financial institutions additionally serve as a rigorous process of endorsement of the experts, thus representing a vital institutional safeguard to ensure that the inherent strengths of Islamic finance are fully realised. This ensures that the products are offered with the intention to achieve real benefits for the investors. It would therefore reduce the tendency for extreme behaviour in the financial system. More recently, the world’s attention had shifted from troubled banks to troubled countries with rising sovereign risks, leading to further rescue packages and increased anxieties over contagion to financial markets in other parts of the world. Whilst these challenges continue to be addressed by the developed economies, the emerging economies have emerged from this crisis with stronger growth performance. The Asian region in particular, has entered the crisis with solid economic fundamentals and more resilient financial systems and institutions. This has in turn substantially limited the consequences of the contagion. With the internationalisation of Islamic finance in this decade, it has further reinforced the trend of greater financial integration in emerging economies. This has reinforced the changing global pattern of financial and economic integration as financial and economic linkages strengthened between the emerging economies.