See, for example, George Benston (1989), The Separation of Commercial from Investment banking: The Glass-Steagall Act Revisited and Reconsidered, Kluwer Academic Press, Randall S. Kroszner and Raghuram G. Rajan (1994), “Is the Glass-Steagall Act Justified? A Study of the U.S. Experience with Universal Banking before 1933”, American Economic Review, Vol. 84, pp. 810–32, Eugene N. White (1986), “Before the Glass-Steagall Act: An Analysis of the Investment Banking Activities of National Banks”, Explorations in Economic History, Vol. 23, pp. 33–55, and Charles W. Calomiris (2003), U.S. Bank Deregulation in Historical Perspective, Cambridge University Press. Marc Flandreau (2011), “New Deal Financial Acts and the Business of Foreign Debt Underwriting: Autopsy of a Regime Change” shows how the Glass-Steagall Act and other New Deal legislation conferred greater power on policymakers at the expense of international bankers and discusses some consequences for financial markets. Flandreau’s article can be downloaded from Norges Bank’s website: http://www.norges-bank.no/Upload/82434/EN/FLANDREU%20 Paper.pdf. In this area, there are few, if any, ultimate truths, and the pendulum appears to be swinging back again. In the US, the UK and the euro area, reintroducing some sort of separation between retail and investment banking is now being discussed (cf. the Volker Rule (US), the Vickers Commission (UK) and the Liikanen Plan (EU). Andrew Haldane at the Bank of England has recently discussed this issue in his speech, “On being the right size”, where he also outlines proposals for future banking sector regulation (see http://www.bankofengland. co.uk/publications/Pages/speeches/2012/615.aspx).

Towards this end, Bank Negara Malaysia stands ready to extend our assistance in accessing the necessary statistics on broad market trends and developments, where appropriate, to support such research and development. The emergence of new delivery channels such as the internet and mobile phones have significantly altered the traditional banking-customer relationship. Technological development has also transformed the payment systems industry, with the introduction of new payment instruments and entry of nonbanks into payment services, thus facilitating the migration to e-payments. Additionally, we are among the first in the world to migrate, on a national basis, towards the use of chip-based ATM, payment and identity cards. Through greater research and development in understanding the customer's behavior and preferences, financial players can further capitalize on these insights to develop new and more innovative products and services as well as distribution channels to meet customer demand. BIS Review 63/2006  1  In Malaysia , the changing economic and financial landscape brings about many opportunities for new products and services. With the accelerating pace of financial integration, financial institutions are presented with opportunities to broaden beyond domestic borders to capture opportunities from regional markets. Infact, we are acknowledged as being in the forefront globally in Islamic banking and finance. But these opportunities cannot be fully seized without sound research and development work. Successful financial services players must leverage on technological expertise to deliver superior products and services.