Future finance needs to have stronger links to the real economy by effectively having an intermediation role that is in the service to society, said Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).

Its governor, Zeti Akhtar Aziz, said the financial systems had to be both value-adding and value-based in that they contributed meaningfully by intermediating and facilitating real economic activity to benefit society.

“Such finance is deeply needed in the global economy,” she said at the Global Ethical Finance Forum in Edinburgh, Scotland, yesterday.

The text of her speech was released in Kuala Lumpur today.

Zeti said notably, in many parts of the developing world, it required large amounts of funding to address infrastructure development.

She said financial inclusion also remained an important agenda to uplift the living standards of the marginalised segments of society in the global community.

A functioning regime practising both value-adding and value-based finance needed to be built on a set of universal principles that would create a sustainable model for mainstreaming such positive finance in the global financial system, she said.

She said a functioning regime practising value-adding and value-based finance needed to be built on a set of universal principles that would create a sustainable model for mainstreaming such positive finance in the global financial system.

“A regime that is deep-rooted in genuine productive activity that discourages excessive leverage that emphasises transparency, and that strengthens financier-client relationships would cumulatively be a positive force for the global financial system,” she said.

The governor said these were some of the core underpinnings of Islamic finance which has already garnered significance in many parts of the world.

Zeti said the efforts to strengthen the supply and demand of value-adding and value-based finance would contribute significantly towards re-anchoring the global financial system to the real economy.

She said there was a need to foster strong leadership at the global level that could have an advocacy and facilitative role in resolving barriers and bringing together different stakeholders to work together in a coordinated and cohesive manner.

- Bernama