ravi menon : islamic finance – continued growth remarks by mr ravi menon, managing director of the monetary authority of singapore, at the 5th world islamic banking conference asia summit, singapore, 3 june 2014. * * * distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. and to all our foreign guests, a warm welcome to singapore. the sun is shining on islamic finance. let me highlight three promising global developments. first, islamic finance continues to grow rapidly. the industry grew at double digits last year, as it has for the previous five years, despite global economic uncertainties and market volatility. global islamic financial assets are estimated to have reached us $ 1. 8 trillion by the end of 2013, from us $ 1. 5 trillion in 2012. second, global regulatory standards and best practices are being established for islamic finance. the islamic financial services board ( ifsb ), the accounting and auditing organisation for islamic financial institutions ( aaoifi ), and the international islamic financial markets ( iifm ) have been at the forefront of this effort, helping to narrow differences in market practices and regulatory treatment. common standards are good for facilitating cross border transactions. they help to address risks that are idiosyncratic to islamic finance, such as shariah non - compliance risk. in so doing, these standards serve to bolster confidence in the safety and soundness of the islamic finance industry. third, more countries are catering for islamic finance. in asia, indonesia has set out to significantly grow its islamic banking sector and develop its islamic capital markets. india started introducing islamic financial products and services last year. it has launched its first islamic stock market index on the mumbai stock exchange and also licenced a non - bank financing company to operate on shariah principles. as more countries cater for islamic finance, the scope for cross - border islamic finance increases. we are beginning to see more cross - border sukuk issuance within asia as well as between the middle east and asia. singapore has benefitted from this favourable global environment for islamic finance. • singapore is the only non - muslim majority country among the top 15 countries for islamic finance. • islamic assets under management have surged nearly fourfold over the last five years. more than 40 % of the islamic assets in singapore are managed by our asset management industry. • 15 banks are involved in islamic banking, double the number five years ago. they hold about a third of the islamic assets in singapore. • the rest of the islamic assets are in

to financial stability during 2023. banks were particularly robust, with comfortable capital and liquidity buffers. in particular, the car for the banking sector was 20. 4 per cent as at end - march 2023, well above the minimum regulatory requirement imposed by the bank. similarly, the aggregate liquidity coverage ratio ( lcr ) stood at 237. 5 per cent in march 2023 while the lcr for material foreign currencies was at 210. 3 per cent – largely exceeding the regulatory floor of 100 per cent in both cases. the availability of ample high - quality liquid assets provided adequate cushion against the materialisation of any liquidity risk arising from both domestic and external shocks. the ongoing economic recovery is well supported by the sustained flow of bank credit to the economy. bank credit to the private sector grew, on an annual basis, by 9. 3 per cent in april 2023, up from 2. 4 per cent in october 2022, driven mainly by growth in credit extended to the corporate sector. bank credit to corporates picked up as from november 2022 and registered an annual growth of 6. 1 per cent in april 2023. similarly, bank credit to households continued to grow at an annual rate of 14. 1 per cent in april 2023, from 13. 6 per cent in october 2022. in terms of asset quality, the credit portfolio of the banking sector continued to improve, as evidenced by a drop noted in non - performing loan ( npl ) ratio. specifically, npls represented 4. 1 per cent of gross loans as at end - march 2023, down from 4. 4 per cent as at end - september 2022. concurrently, the npl coverage ratio stood at 56. 4 per cent as at end - march 2023. the bank continues to assess and monitor closely risks to the stability of the financial system, while pursuing its price stability mandate. mpc decision i will now focus on the decision of the mpc. the mpc carefully reviewed the recent economic developments taking place at the global level and assessed their potential impact on the mauritian economy. inflation is anticipated to decline in the coming months and reach 6. 8 per cent in december 2023, supported by an easing of global supply and logistics disturbances, thus enabling a normalisation in global commodity prices and subsequent downward 5 / 6 bis - central bankers'speeches adjustment in domestic food and fuel prices. the upcoming relaxation of requirements for the importation of labour will contribute towards