Globally, the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosure (TNFD), a market-led initiative set up by two UN Programmes and the WWF in cooperation with major development banks, aims at extending the success of TCFD, its equivalent for climate-change: allow for enhanced disclosure and management of nature-related risks and opportunities; I would like to commend the commitment of the Dutch and the French financial sector in this respect; while closer connection between the TNFD and the NGFS will certainly prove beneficial. Meanwhile, EU regulation on corporate disclosures aims at encompassing a wide range of environmental objectives, including biodiversity. Page 8 sur 13  2. Macroeconomics and macrofinance of biodiversity Despite data gaps and the lack of commonly accepted methodologies for translating biodiversity metrics into the financial world, the central bank community is starting to assess the implications of biodiversity loss and other nature-related risks for the financial system. Building on a pioneering methodological work of DNB (van Toor et al., 2020) ix – the first biodiversity report published by a central bank – complemented by similar studies in Brazil, Malaysia and Mexicox, fruitful research at the Banque de France (“A ‘silent spring’ for the financial system?”, 2021)xi provides such an exploration of biodiversity-related risks for the French financial system. To approximate physical risks, the authors assess the dependency on ecosystem services of each security issuers financed by French financial institutions, using a dependency score computed with the ENCORE database.
Being smaller and relatively young, Islamic finance currently offers fewer product choices for consumers and less comprehensive risk management options for institutions. Cross-border investment flows are also constrained by differing interpretations of permissible transactions under  2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  Shariah principles. The isolated pools of Islamic liquidity in each market restrict opportunities for more efficient allocation of capital across consumers, industries, and jurisdictions. Islamic finance must become more integrated with the global financial system. The industry must expand beyond its traditional markets to include a wider range of financial institutions, investors and consumers. This means Islamic finance must strike roots in the key international financial centres of the world. These centres can contribute to Islamic finance in several ways. First, market liquidity. The broad and deep investor pools in international financial centres offer an opportunity to channel non-traditional sources of funds into Islamic finance. In Singapore, for instance, several local and foreign issuers have successfully tapped the capital markets using Islamic instruments. The demand comes from not just Singapore but a diverse group of international investors across Asia and Europe. Many of them are conventional investors, attracted by the credit quality and yields. Second, capabilities in global financial markets. Islamic finance should leverage on the capabilities and strengths offered by conventional financial markets in international centres, to augment the range of Shariah-compliant products. Take for example the market for Real Estate Investment Trusts, or REITs.