On 10 December 2021, the Council of the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) adopted two new standards:

• IFSB-23: Revised Capital Adequacy Standard for Institutions offering Islamic Financial Services (IIFS). IFSB-23 was developed to align the IFSB’s guidance on capital adequacy for the banking sector with the latest updates to global capital standards, particularly those issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. The new Standard builds on IFSB-15: Revised Capital Adequacy Standard for Institutions Offering Islamic Financial Services Excluding Islamic Insurance (Takāful) Institutions and Islamic Collective Investment Schemes (December 2013) and contains enhancements that incorporate global best practices to ensure the provision of a level playing field to IIFS vis-à-vis conventional financial institutions subject to a capital regulatory framework.
• IFSB-26: Core Principles for Islamic Finance Regulation (Financial Market Infrastructures). The new IFSB Core Principles Standard contains a set of 25 core principles that apply to payment systems, central securities depositories, securities settlement systems, central counterparties and trade repositories (collectively referred to as financial market infrastructures or “FMIs”) that undertake Sharīʿah-compliant activities and transactions. The Standard is designed and issued to ensure that the essential infrastructure supporting global Islamic financial markets are robust and effectively address the specificities of Islamic finance and contribute to the stability of the industry.

The softcopies of IFSB-23 and IFSB-26 will be available on the IFSB website, www.ifsb.org in both the English and Arabic languages in due course.