The Council of the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) has endorsed the appointment of Dr Shamshad Akhtar, Governor, State Bank of Pakistan as the chairperson of the IFSB Council for one-year term beginning from January 01, 2008.
According to SBP here on Friday, Dr Akhtar, who is currently the deputy chairperson of IFSB Council, will be the 5th chairperson of the Council. The Council of IFSB in its 11th meeting held in Jeddah on Thursday also endorsed the appointment of Hamad Al-Sayari, Governor, Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency as deputy chairperson of the Council.
With Pakistan in the chair, IFSB and SBP plan to hold the IFSB general assembly and council meetings in Karachi from March 25 to 29, 2008. The meetings will be preceded by a two-day seminar of the Third International Conference on "Islamic Banking and Finance: Risk Management, Regulation and Supervision" in association with Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI) and IFSB on March 24-25, 2008.
The meetings will be followed by a public lecture with representatives from leading financial sector organisations on themes of financial stability. The Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) is an international standard-setting organisation that promotes and enhances the soundness and stability of the Islamic financial services industry by issuing global prudential standards and guiding principles for the industry, broadly defined to include banking, capital markets and insurance sectors.
Jeddah meeting has resolved to admit 13 new members to the IFSB bringing the total members to 150. The newly admitted members include Bank of Mauritius and Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, which joined as Associate Member and Observer Member, respectively.
The Council also admitted 11 other new Observer Members from among the financial market players. The IFSB members now total 150 comprising 37 regulatory and supervisory authorities, 5 international inter-governmental organisations and 108 market players and professional firms operating in 31 jurisdictions.-PR