You may recall, for instance, that the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision was created in 1974, in the wake of the mistrust triggered by the bankruptcy of the German bank Hersttat; that the Financial Stability Forum was set up in 1999, following the bankruptcy some months earlier of the hedge fund “Long Term Capital Management”; and that the successor to this forum, the Financial Stability Board (FSB), came into being in 2009, after the Lehman Brothers debacle some months earlier. It is this latter institution, the FSB, which is pushing through a thoroughgoing amendment of the international regulatory framework, seeking to reduce the likelihood of further crises in the future. In this connection, the FSB has benefited from decisive contributions by, among others, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. Identification of initiatives on the international regulatory agenda Initially, the FSB identified a series of issues with a view to organising a coordinated agenda of regulatory initiatives at the international level. Some aspects of the initial analysis, such as the design of structural measures in the banking sector (which were, in principle, highly oriented towards setting limits on the size of banks), were initially rejected by the FSB. However, as we now know, there have been several initiatives along these lines. Cases in point are the Volcker Rule in the United States, or the measures in the Vickers Report in the case of the United Kingdom.
Zeti Akhtar Aziz: Globalisation of Islamic finance services – opportunities and challenges Speech by Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia, at the Fifth IFSB Summit: Session 1: Globalisation of Islamic Finance Services – Opportunities and Challenges, Amman, Jordan, 13 May 2008. *  *  *  This decade has seen the financial globalisation of Islamic finance gain significant momentum. While the early development of Islamic finance was domestic centric, its internationalisation is now manifested by increased cross border flows, greater participation in international Islamic financial markets, the increased presence of Islamic financial institutions in new jurisdictions and more recently, the increased number of Islamic financial institutions which have shareholders from multiple jurisdictions. This trend has strengthened the international economic and financial interlinkages between nations bringing with it mutually reinforcing gains. Financial globalisation has essentially been facilitated by the more rapid pace of liberalisation, the advancement in the information and communications technology, and the significant progress achieved in the development of the international financial infrastructure. This trend has also been reinforced by the search for higher returns and the need to diversify risks. In the current international financial environment of increased uncertainties, this trend has become even more pronounced prompting investors to venture into new asset classes and markets that provide stability. The globalisation of Islamic financial services With the increased significance of the international dimension of Islamic finance, the financial landscape has been dramatically transformed with more diverse players and a more competitive environment.