IFSB admits new member organisations

The Council of the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) has approved the admission of seven new member organisations. These include five supervisory authorities as full and associate members, plus a financial institution and an industry association as observer members.

There are three categories of membership at the IFSB, namely full member, associate member and observer member. The full membership, which is the sole membership with voting rights, is available to the financial sector supervisory authorities of each sovereign country.

The new members from the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions are:

Full members
Central Bank of Iraq

Associate members
Undersecretariat of Treasury, The Republic of Turkey

Observer members
Turkish Capital Markets Association, The Republic of Turkey

To date, the 188 members of the IFSB consist of 70 supervisory and regulatory authorities from the banking, capital markets and Islamic insurance (takāful) sectors from 57 jurisdictions, as well as eight international intergovernmental organisations, and 110 market players (financial institutions, professional firms and industry associations).

IFSB announces new members

The Council of the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) has approved the admission of six organisations into the IFSB membership. These include one supervisory authority as an Associate Member, and two supervisory authorities as well as three financial institutions as Observer Members.

IFSB membership is available in three categories: Full Member, Associate Member and Observer Member. The Full Membership, which is the sole membership with voting rights, is available to the financial sector supervisory authorities of each sovereign country.

The new members are the Bank of England as an Associate Member, as well as the following Observer Members:

National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic
Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan
Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Egypt
Amana Bank, Sri Lanka
Ziraat Katilim, Turkey

The Council has also upgraded the National Bank of Kazakhstan from an Associate to a Full Member. This brings the membership of the IFSB Council to 23, consisting of central bank Governors from 22 countries, plus the President of the IDB. 

To date, the 189 members of the IFSB consist of 65 supervisory and regulatory authorities from the banking, capital markets and Islamic insurance (takāful) sectors from 47 jurisdictions, as well as eight international intergovernmental organisations, and 116 market players (financial institutions, professional firms and industry associations).

Interested?

The full list of IFSB members is available on the IFSB website 

National Bank of Kazakhstan becomes AAOIFI member

The National Bank of Kazakhstan, the central bank and financial services regulator of the Republic of Kazakhstan, has taken up membership in Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI). The signing ceremony took place on 2 December at the World Islamic Banking Conference 2014 in Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain.Dr Hamed Hassan Merah, Secretary General of the AAOIFI, said the membership would allow AAOIFI to work more closely with the National Bank of Kazakhstan and the finance industry in the Republic of Kazakhstan to support continuing development of Islamic finance.

Nurlan Kussainov, Deputy Governor, Bank of Kazakhstan said, "The membership gives us an opportunity to gain from the international experience in development of Islamic finance industry, to benefit from recommendations of international experts and financial institutions, and to participate in workshops and conferences organised by AAOIFI”.

The Republic of Kazakhstan introduced in early 2009 law and regulations for operations of Islamic financial institutions. This then led to establishment of the first Islamic bank (Al Hilal) and the first Islamic insurance (takaful) company in 2010. The Development Bank of Kazakhstan then became the first sukuk issuer in the Central Asia region with its sukuk al murabaha issuance in July 2012, denominated in Malaysian ringgit at the equivalent amount of approximately US$76.7 million (RM240 million). Earlier in 2014, the first Islamic leasing (ijarah) company was set up in the Republic of Kazakhstan through participation of the Islamic Corporation for Private Sector Development, a member of the Islamic Development Bank Group.

AAOIFI is a leading international Islamic finance industry development body primarily responsible for development and issuance of standards for the global Islamic finance industry. It has issued a total of 88 standards in the areas of shari’ah, accounting, auditing, ethics and governance for international Islamic finance. 

It is supported by over 200 institutional members, including central banks and regulatory authorities, financial institutions, accounting and auditing firms, and legal firms, from over 45 countries. Its standards are currently followed by all the leading Islamic financial institutions across the world and have introduced a progressive degree of harmonisation of international Islamic finance practices.