a percentage of total banking assets remain small – at about less than 20 %, – this has risen over the years. we are seeing more examples of successful and viable islamic financing products in the international marketplace. islamic banking is getting more widespread in muslim and non - muslim countries alike. takaful insurance and islamic mutual funds are becoming commonplace. in fact, these products have become so popular, even non - muslims are investing in them. we can expect to see islamic finance develop further globally, eventually becoming an integral component of the international financial system. singapore wants to develop islamic finance as well. this will make our international financial centre more complete. the development of islamic finance here can take advantage of our capabilities in wealth management, project financing and trade financing. we have been working in close partnership with the industry to review our regulatory framework, and support and facilitate financial institutions to provide a wide suite of islamic financial services and products. more middle eastern banks are setting up offices in singapore. at the end of 2005, we had six middle eastern banks. in 2006, two more came. since the beginning of this year, three banks have applied to set up representative offices here. many of these middle eastern banks service islamic financing needs. singapore welcomes more banks from the middle east to set up here and to partner us in the growth of our financial centre. beyond middle eastern banks, we have also seen international banks such as citigroup and standard chartered introduce islamic finance and murabaha products from singapore. more financial institutions are using singapore as a launch pad for innovative new islamic products. singapore will continue to co - operate with market participants and other countries like malaysia, indonesia, bahrain, kuwait and the uae on the development of islamic finance. integration of awqaf into islamic finance let me now turn to waqf. historically, the revenue generated in waqf has been applied to traditional uses like maintenance of religious buildings. but this is changing. proceeds from the estates are now used to contribute more widely to society. rules governing the administration of waqf have become increasingly progressive. in kuwait and qatar, revenue from waqf has been used to build hospitals, universities and commercial and office complexes. townships have even been built in morocco. such innovative financial uses help to unlock the economic potential of waqf. in singapore, we have the example of an integrated mixed - development at bencoolen street, comprising a mosque, service apartments and a commercial complex. this was made possible through

ravi menon : opportunities global outlook, asian promise, alternative speech by mr ravi menon, managing director of the monetary authority of singapore, at the dbs institutional investor symposium 2017, singapore, 22 june 2017. * * * mr piyush gupta, ceo, dbs bank ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. i am happy to join you today, and i thank dbs bank for the invitation. the american author john maxwell once said, “ the pessimist complains about the wind. the optimist expects it to change. the leader adjusts the sails. ” as investors, you too seek to adjust the sails, to avoid being knocked over by market turbulence and to find new harbours of opportunity. so, what are the winds facing us like? let me offer some thoughts in three areas : first, the global economy and financial markets – where are we today, what are the risks? second, asia ’ s medium - term prospects and the promise it offers to investors. third, opportunities in alternative assets as investors look to unlock new sources of value. global economy and financial markets the global outlook seems rather straightforward at this point. growth is on a positive momentum and is increasingly broad - based, across both advanced and emerging economies. global trade has picked up, manufacturing has recovered, and commodity prices have bottomed. most measures of confidence are looking up. but the factors that underpin sustained growth – capital investment and productivity – remain weak in most parts of the world. investment has been dragged down, by weaker domestic demand and higher private debt burden in advanced economies, and slower foreign direct investments in emerging economies. productivity growth has slowed significantly after the shock of the crisis and has still not recovered to pre - crisis rates. a striking feature of the post - crisis landscape is that while investment in the real economy has been sluggish, the appetite for risk - taking in financial assets has been voracious. investors are extrapolating into the future, current low interest rates and realised asset price volatility, and continuing to reach for yield. developed market bond and equity valuations are rich compared to history. the cyclically - adjusted price - to - earnings ratio for us equities is at the 97th percentile. there has been some dampening of exuberance in recent months. even so, the question 1 / 6 bis central bankers'speeches remains : have markets over - priced the good news and under - priced the potential bad news? what are some