by 4 percent to 159 in 2018. the increase was due to the creation of new positions recommended by an institutional review conducted during the year by a former senior reserve bank of new zealand official. cbsi endeavours to be an employer of choice and continues to recruit talent, and develop its staff through both short and long - term capacity development. there were some important currency developments during the year. in july, the bank launched the commemorative $ 40 note and a coloured $ 2 coin to celebrate the country ’ s 40th anniversary of independence. in august, a new $ 5 polymer note was endorsed. this new note was launched for circulation recently on 2nd may 2019 during the world tuna day. the bank plans to progressively update its suite of notes as part of a currency reform process that started in 2010. these are, aimed in part, to enhance the security of the notes and to reflect changes in the economy. in terms of financial stability, the bank maintained its supervision and examination of financial institutions to ensure that the financial system remains safe and secure. to that end, one potential risk to the financial system and potentially the country was resolved with the securing of a us dollar correspondent banking relationship ( cbr ) between one of the commercial banks and an overseas bank. reforms to the financial infrastructure were made during the year with the world bank / ifc assisting the central bank to procure key elements of the national payments system. the accompanying legislation, the national payments system bill was tabled in parliament, however could not be enacted due to the dissolution of the 10th parliament in december. cbsi will work with the new government to progress this important legislation this year. with respect to its work on financial inclusion, the national financial inclusion strategy ii was reviewed in august by the pacific financial inclusion program, resulting in a refocus in its strategy. it was also pleasing to note that the bank was recognized for its work in this space with two awards at the alliance for financial inclusion ( afi ) global policy forum in sochi, russia. one of the awards was for the bank ’ s contribution to championing regional efforts to find solutions to the issue of ‘ de - risking ’ and the closure of cbrs. let me now return to the theme of my presentation this morning. iii. “ setting the foundation for robust, broad - based and inclusive growth ” 3 / 6 bis central bankers'speeches following our recent national general elections, we have chosen our leaders for the next four years. with the government now settling in, i

to enjoy the convenience of banking at anytime and anywhere without the hassle of having to queue at the bank counter or hiring employees to perform daily banking activities. among other benefits of online banking and ibg is that, it offers faster movement of funds compared to payment using cheques. for example, the transfer of funds through ibg performed before noon allows a person to receive the funds within the same day compared to cheques that will take a couple of days to three days. for a beneficiary who has an account within the same bank with the payer, which is known as intrabank, the funds will be credited instantaneously. the program for today includes the showing of three video clips on online banking and ibg, which can be downloaded through youtube and abm and aibim ’ s website, including presentations by two banks. in addition, 17 banks and myclear ( the national payment system operator ) have also set up exhibition booths to showcase their respective electronic payments and funds transfer solutions. this is indeed an opportunity not to be missed as you will be able to learn and ask questions about online banking solutions and sign up for the special offers such as free security tokens or waiver of monthly subscription fee for business internet banking as provided by some of the exhibitors today. bis central bankers ’ speeches in conjunction with today ’ s roadshow, i am pleased to announce that 2 banks namely, bank simpanan nasional and ocbc bank, together with 8 banks in temerloh1 in kuantan will hold their “ open day ” from today, 2 december until this friday, 6 december. during the weeklong “ open day ”, visitors can enquire and learn more about e - payment solutions from the branch staff. the “ open day ” event is open to all businesses and the general public to complement the efforts of the roadshow to reach out to smaller towns and i encourage all participants to take this opportunity to visit the bank branches in kuantan and temerloh. based on the “ open day ” events held in 8 towns in 4 states for the past 2 months, more than 900 ( 911 ) banks ’ customers have signed up to use the online banking services. for information of all participants, to date, cheques are still widely used in our country. based on the last 3 years data, an average of 205 million cheques amounting to about rm2 trillion are issued on an annual basis. in terms of the