Today, it is precisely this element in Islamic finance amongst others, that are highly relevant to the discussions on the reform of the national and international financial system so that we have a system of financial intermediation that is stable, sustainable and contributes to global growth. In ten years now Islamic finance has experienced accelerated growth and the financial landscape has undergone a major transformation with great progress achieved on many fronts. The transformation is particularly evident in three dimensions, firstly, Islamic finance has evolved into a complete and competitive form of financial intermediation, effectively serving consumers and businesses, both Muslims and non-Muslims. Islamic finance has become a competitive form of intermediation with several established conventional players now entering the Islamic finance industry, resulting in more diverse Islamic financial institutions with wide spectrum of product range. Secondly, this recent decade has also seen significant milestones being achieved in the area of the international Islamic financial infrastructure of Islamic finance since the establishment of the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) in 1990. In 2002, the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) was established as an international prudential standard setting body for Islamic finance. The IFSB with a membership of now 50 regulatory authorities has since developed a number of standards ranging from capital adequacy requirements to standards for governance and risk management, taking into account the specificities of Islamic finance.
I know many of you have come here today to hear more about how to tap into this rapidly developing market to finance your business in the future. Now of course, as a global hub, it does not mean that all offshore RMB businesses are to be conducted only in Hong Kong. Quite the contrary. As RMB becomes more widely used and accepted by trading companies and investors worldwide, it is natural to see financial institutions providing RMB services to meet the demand of their customers. That said, even as its role evolves over time in line with market changes, we do see Hong Kong continuing to be an ideal place for companies to conduct their RMB banking and financing activities. In addition, Hong Kong will develop its ability as a RMB hub to serve a growing network of financial institutions around the world. And in this last respect we are seeing real signs of development. More foreign banks are either choosing to have a base in Hong Kong or are using RMB correspondent banking services provided by banks in Hong Kong. As of the end of March 2012, there were close to 200 banks participating in Hong Kong’s RMB clearing platform. Of these, 170 are foreign-owned or located overseas. At the same time, over 1,100 RMB correspondent accounts were maintained by overseas banks with banks in Hong Kong.