Securities and Insurance Authorities Join the IFSB - IFSB Membership Increases to 110

Kuala Lumpur, December 1, 2006 – The Council of the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) has admitted 16 new members to the IFSB, bringing the total IFSB members to 110. The new members include The Securities Commission (SC) of Malaysia and The Capital Market Authority (CMA) of Saudi Arabia as Full Members, and 14 Observer Members.

The admission of SC and CMA marks the entrance of securities regulatory authorities in the IFSB since its Council decided to open its Full Membership to the securities, insurance and takaful regulators. Meanwhile, three other regulatory and supervisory authorities, The Insurance Commission of Jordan, Hong Kong Monetary Authority and Central Bank of Morocco have been admitted as Observer Members. In addition, the application of 11 market players have been approved to join as Observer Members.

Membership of the Asian Development Bank, an Observer Member since 2003, has been upgraded to Associate Member, giving it the same membership status as three other international inter-governmental organizations namely International Monetary Fund, The World Bank and Bank for International Settlements.

The new members admitted in the 29th November Council meeting in Jeddah, chaired by the Governor of the Central Bank of Kuwait, H.E. Sheikh Salem Abdul-Aziz Al-Sabah are as follows:
Full Members:
1. Securities Commission, Malaysia
2. The Capital Market Authority, Saudi Arabia
Associate Members:
1. Asian Development Bank (upgraded from Observer status)
Observer Members:
1. Islamic International Rating Agency, Bahrain
2. FWU Group, Germany
3. Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Hong Kong
4. Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Japan
5. Insurance Commission of Jordan, Jordan
6. Wethaq Takaful Insurance Company, Kuwait
7. The International Leasing and Investment Company, Kuwait
8. EONCAP Islamic Bank Berhad, Malaysia
9. Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Berhad, Malaysia
10. Takaful Ikhlas Sdn Bhd, Malaysia
11. Bank Al-Maghrib, Morocco
12. SALAMA – Islamic Arab Insurance Co., UAE
13. Dubai Islamic Insurance and Reinsurance Co., UAE
14. European Islamic Investment Bank, United Kingdom

Their membership is effective January 2007. With this, the 110 members of the IFSB comprise 27 regulatory and supervisory authorities, 5 international intergovernmental organizations and 78 market players from 21 countries.

The full list of 110 IFSB members can be seen on www.ifsb.org. Their roles and responsibilities (by category) can be seen in the IFSB Articles of Agreement downloadable from the site.

Media contact:
Siham Ismail
Islamic Financial Services Board
Email: siham@ifsb.org
Tel: +6 03 2698 4248 ext: 119)
Fax: + 6 03 2698 4280

The Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB), which is based in Kuala Lumpur, was officially inaugurated on 3rd November 2002 and started operations on 10th March 2003. It serves as an international-standard setting body of regulatory and supervisory agencies that have vested interest in ensuring the soundness and stability of the Islamic financial services industry, which is defined broadly to include banking, capital market and insurance. In advancing this mission, the IFSB promotes the development of a prudent and transparent Islamic financial services industry through introducing new, or adapting existing international standards consistent with Islamic Shari'ah principles, and recommend them for adoption. To this end, the work of the IFSB complements that of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, International Organization of Securities Commissions and the International Association of Insurance Supervisors.

This release was published on openPR.