Zeti: Finance accreditation agency will strengthen financial system

by **Cals** Fri 06 Sep 2013, 16:34

Published: Friday September 6, 2013 MYT 1:40:00 PM
Updated: Friday September 6, 2013 MYT 1:48:43 PM
Zeti: Finance accreditation agency will strengthen financial system

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Tan Sri Zeti Aziz

KUALA LUMPUR: The establishment of the Finance Accreditation Agency (FAA) is part of Bank Negara's and Securities Commission's efforts to strengthen the financial system as it continues evolving in this rapidly changing environment.
The FAA is an international and independent quality assurance and accreditation body for the financial services industry aimed at elevating the competency level of its talent pool.
Bank Negara Governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz said the change in the financial system in the recent decade since the Asian financial crisis has been transformational.
She said the changes encompassed major front row reforms in the banking sector, the development of the vibrant securities market, the growth of Islamic finance and modernisation of the insurance sector.
"The regulatory and supervisory structure have also evolved to become more risk focus, more aligned with efficient capital and financial markets and less reliant on prescriptive and direct controls.
"The strategic importance of human capital has been central to this transformation. The quality of human capital has become a key driver and enabler of the change in this recent decade," she said in her speech before launching the FAA today.
FAA had its beginning as a division within the Asian Institute of Finance (AIF) to review the quality of programmes being offered by AIF-affiliated institutes.
Now as a separate agency, the FAA has been able to build a high level of credibility to provide independent and objective assessment of the quality of training and development programmes and contribute towards raising the standard of education in the financial services industry.
"The agency's current work to develop a qualification structure that will link the various qualifications relevant to financial practitioners under a cohesive framework is also strategically significant.
"These efforts are important to meet the increasing demand for talents in the financial services industry not just in terms of numbers but also in terms of quality," she added.- Bernama