reports. initiatives have been taken to continuously develop new financing products that meet the evolving needs of smes in various segments and stages of growth. this includes the introduction of the new cgc guarantee scheme to assist start - up smes that have insufficient collateral and insufficient financial track record to obtain bank financing. finally, to complement the financial infrastructure, initiatives have been taken to develop comprehensive financial advisory services. bank negara malaysia's laman informasi nasihat dan khidmat or bnmlink, and bnmtelelink, which is a dedicated contact centre, provide financial advisory services to the smes. in addition, bank negara has also established the small debt resolution scheme where viable smes that are constrained by non - performing loans are assisted through loan restructuring and the provision of additional funding. today, sme financing has become robust with financial institutions being the main provider of sme financing. in 2007, banking institutions approved rm55 billion in new financing to more than 109, 000 sme accounts. for the first five months of 2008 alone, a total of rm22. 7 billion in new financing was approved to more than 55, 800 sme accounts. as at end - may 2008, outstanding sme financing by banking institutions amounted to rm120. 3 billion. in 2008, banking institutions are projected to approve rm61 billion of financing to more than 115, 000 sme accounts, increasing at an annual growth rate of 10 %. over the years, sme customers have gained a more prominent standing in the books of banking institutions in malaysia. consequently, it is in the banking institutions'best interest to meet the requirements of viable sme customers, which may face difficulties in the current challenging environment. banking institutions need to engage and regularly interface with the various associations that represent smes to ascertain and formulate solutions to address issues confronting the smes while also communicating the requirements expected of the smes. banks also need to provide greater flexibility in structuring the financing facility including customisation of the repayment periods within acceptable risk management levels. banks may also expand the provision of advisory services to smes and proactively seek out sme customers that may be facing stress in this difficult business environment well before their conditions deteriorate. adequate advice on financial management could pre - empt and avoid problems with respect to the financing facility. bank negara malaysia has also advocated for the migration to electronic payments as a measure to improve efficiency levels. this cannot be over

strategy. the long - term plan and strategy should be made in conjunction with the current development requirement of the housing market. we have already had some lessons in this regard. third, research should be based on concrete work. development plan and framework should be formulated considering actual market needs. currently, products innovation should be made a top priority to promote market development. in 2005, the pbc led the initiative of credit assets securitization on a pilot basis and launched mbs in the inter - bank market successfully. at the same time, commercial banks have made great efforts in self - initiated product innovation after the removal of the ceiling on interest rates of housing loans, and new products such as fixed rate housing loans were developed. generally speaking, great efforts should be further made in products innovation, especially financial products for the middle & low - income customers. i hope efforts could be made in strengthening research in housing financial products for different type of customers. additionally, efforts should be made not only to increase financing channels in the primary market, say reits and real estate development bonds, but also to develop secondary market tools. all in all, i hope we could jointly make efforts to promote the healthy development of the real estate market, financial stability, the improvement of living conditions of the people and the sustained and sound development of national economy. thank you.