Key HighlightIn his welcome address, Dato’ Seri Dr. Awang Adek Hussin, Chairman of the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC), emphasised the need for collective action to address global challenges that hinder social progress and sustainable development.
To this end, it is crucial to reflect and evaluate the industry’s impact of various initiatives, strengthen the stewardship role to create meaningful impact, and enhance ethical considerations, to address issues from the Islamic finance perspective.
Here are highlights from his speech:
- In July, the UN Secretary-General highlighted that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) funding gap for developing countries has risen from USD2.5 trillion to an estimated USD4.2 trillion annually.
- Islamic finance is poised for further growth given its emphasis on socially beneficial and impactful outcomes.
- SRI sukuk issuances under the SC’s SRI Sukuk Framework in 2022 amounted to USD2.26 billion. Since 2014, SRI Sukuk issuances have reached USD4.1 billion.
- In the domestic equity market, there has been increased interest in ESG incorporated Shariah stocks with the emergence of indices such as the FTSE4Good Bursa Malaysia Shariah Index and FTSE Bursa Malaysia Top 100 ESG Low Carbon Select Shariah Index.
- To expand Islamic finance offerings, the SC is exploring the establishment of the Islamic Social Exchange to strengthen ESG programmes.
- Assessing the impacts of initiatives are crucial to identify gaps and areas for improvement and to be more aligned with the objectives of Shariah.
- The SC has taken on stewardship role to issue the Corporate Governance Strategic Priorities and update its Malaysian Code of Corporate Governance. Additionally the SC is planning to launch a principles-based Maqasid al-Shariah guidance before year-end.