Finding 'humanity' in finance

From left: Datuk Mohammad Faiz Azmi, chairman of the Securities Commission; Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah, the Sultan of Perak and Royal Patron of Malaysia’s Islamic Finance Initiative; and Dr Farhan Nizami, founding director of OCIS

KUALA LUMPUR: There is an urgent need for companies to apply the principles of "humanity" in finance, given how there is an excessive focus on profit maximisation to the detriment of stakeholders and the planet, said Securities Commission chairman Datuk Mohammad Faiz Azmi.

In his opening remarks at the 15th SC-OCIS Roundtable held at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies (OCIS), UK, Mohammad Faiz urged for issues of climate change and environmental social and governance (ESG) standards to be factored into the way companies operate.