and productivity. in this regard, time and effort saved from less handling of cash and cheques can be directed to more productive tasks such as to increase sales, even by usage of whatsapp. second, increasing your digital accessibility to prospective clients. for a long as i am aware, the agency force has always dominated the insurance distribution 2 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches channel. in 2017, there was a total of over 56, 000 agents constituting a market share of approximately 63 %. irrespective of whether in general or life insurance, the agency force has traditionally been the physical point of contact and engagements with clients. but, with the internet and improved access amongst a growing number of the malaysian population, online insurance solutions will not only become more viable, but also easier to adopt. in this, the agency force cannot afford to stagnate. other industries with heavily digitalised services, like the air travel, hospitality and retail sectors, have elevated the digital literacy of the malaysian population and improved their appetite for efficient delivery and transparent pricing of services. in this sector, there remains significant untapped demand for general insurance products as a whole. the low penetration rate of 1. 4 % for general insurance, which is measured in terms of premiums as a share of the nation ’ s gross domestic product, is actually symptomatic of this. thus, agents who move quickly to improve their digital outreach will have a first mover ’ s advantage and are likely to gain a growing group of digitally literate malaysians. thirdly, conducting robust suitability assessment for customers. one thing worth emphasising repeatedly is this ; financial services offered must be suitable to the needs of the customers. while the bank ’ s guidelines on product transparency and disclosure attempts this by stipulating the ‘ rules of the game ’, we look to insurers and the agency force to ‘ play ’ according to these rules and seek out ways to achieve the outcome of ensuring consumers obtain financial services that are suitable to their needs. agents should develop their individual capacity to analyse customer requirements to identify their needs and develop risk profiles to match them with suitable products or combinations of products. for example in the case of motor insurance policies, agents should create awareness on optional add - on covers that are available and underwriting factors that will affect motor insurance premiums. appropriate profiling of a customer can be crucial in helping agents identify customised product recommendations efficiently. finally, perhaps i should bring your attention to

consumers, business people, savers, and investors. it means that they should be able to go about their affairs confidently, knowing that they can count on their central bank to do whatever is necessary to keep future inflation low, stable, and predictable. in this way, they will be able to make sounder economic decisions, which will lead to better overall economic performance and rising incomes. over the past several years, the canadian economy has experienced low and stable inflation and a strong rate of expansion. moreover, economic activity has been less variable than in the 1970s and 1980s, even though we had to face some important economic shocks, such as the mexican and the asian crises. employment and personal incomes have risen, and business investment in machinery, equipment, and new technology has increased very substantially, particularly since 1996. at the same time, low inflation has encouraged canadian businesses to operate more efficiently and to focus on cost control and productivity improvements. that is quite a change from our experience in the 1970s and 1980s. that experience amply demonstrated what a terrible price the economy and the people pay for high, unstable, and unpredictable inflation. i am thinking here of the increased uncertainty about the future, the distortion of vital signals and information that people rely on to make important decisions, the ups and downs in output and employment, and the waste of valuable economic resources as they are diverted from productive investments to speculative activities. all of this should be enough to strengthen our collective resolve not to let inflation break out again. and it convinces me that the focus of canadian monetary policy since the early 1990s on low and predictable inflation as an essential building block of a productive, well - functioning economy has been exactly right. while low inflation is a necessary condition for good economic performance, it is not sufficient by itself. other factors are also crucial. clearly, it is very important that we all continue to work to improve the structure of our economy and the skills of our labour force, and to ensure that our product and labour markets operate efficiently. it is also critical that over the next decade all levels of government continue to focus on reducing their net indebtedness to lessen canada's vulnerability to external shocks and to prepare for the pressures we will face with the projected decline in our working - age population. canada's monetary policy approach : inflation - control targets and a flexible exchange rate let me now turn to the role of the inflation - control targets and the floating exchange rate in canadian monetary policy. explicit inflation - control targets were jointly