underserved areas. a number of methods have been derived for evaluating the effectiveness of community development projects. the one with which i am most familiar, through my work on the board of neighborworks america, is the success measures data system. this system uses more than forty indicators and a variety of data - collection tools - including surveys, interviews, and focus groups - to quantify the effects of housing, economic development, and community building programs at the personal, organizational, and community levels. this array of tools allows neighborworks to measure success not just quantitatively but qualitatively, looking beyond the numbers to detect sustainable positive change. the underlying philosophy is that a community development initiative cannot be judged successful just because it puts a family in a home ; rather, it must be able to say that, by doing so, it has improved the community, the family ’ s quality of life, and the family ’ s economic potential. these data are also useful to corporate partners insofar as they demonstrate business performance against internal goals and commitment to the community. businesses recognize that demonstrable success enhances their reputation, increases brand recognition, and improves their ability to compete successfully for future partnership opportunities. thus, being able to determine the return on a business ’ investment in a community development initiative in both quantitative and qualitative terms is the next logical step in attracting further private investment. but the social and economic needs of our inner - city neighborhoods extend beyond business investment. effective partnerships with local officials and community leaders are another key element of the revitalization process. at the state and local levels, public officials contribute to the attractiveness of investment conditions by maintaining sound fiscal policies. these policies allow local officials to take the lead from social compact and begin to market local neighborhoods using the analysis that demonstrates the buying - power residing within these more challenging neighborhoods. their willingness to address other neighborhood needs, such as housing, infrastructure, education, health care, and other social supports will also be important to investors. in general, when community development is a cooperative effort, it can lead to more sustainable outcomes along both economic and social dimensions. while the return on investment can be a sufficient gauge of their economic success, success in broader terms can be viewed by assessing the commitment of all segments of the community to the goal of revitalization. moreover, the benefits of such cooperative actions are not always readily measurable in dollars and cents. greater opportunities in local neighborhoods evidence themselves through better schools and stronger ties forged within the

growth and strong fundamentals, malaysia has taken the opportunity to further deregulate and liberalise the malaysian financial sector, with a view to enhancing its contribution to efficiency and growth. the sector has also continued to be progressively transformed through rationalisation amongst existing financial institutions and the introduction of new institutions. these developments have contributed to the strengthening of the international dimension in the financial system. this has been particularly the case for the islamic finance sector. in the development of the islamic financial system, the islamic banking act 1983 of malaysia accords universal banking stature to licensed islamic banks. the banks are permitted to conduct the full spectrum of banking business, including the more sophisticated investment banking activities such as corporate finance, private equity and wealth management. it is innovations in product development in this particular sector that has paved the way for increased opportunities in the islamic financial system. the malaysian islamic banking system saw strong performance in 2005, with higher profitability and positive trends in all key indicators. profitability surpassed the rm1 billion mark for the first time in 2005, and assets surpassed the rm100 billion mark. the islamic banking sector has remained well capitalised with risk weighted capital ratio sustained above 12 percent. the most recent performance of the malaysian islamic financial market has been encouraging with islamic banking assets amounting to rm117. 4 billion, takaful assets of rm6. 2 billion, and islamic corporate bonds of rm125 billion, which constituted 46 percent of the total corporate bond market in malaysia. a total of 26 new corporate sukuk issues with an aggregated value of about rm23 billion were announced in the first half of 2006. this is equivalent to 71 percent of the malaysian domestic market's rated corporate bond issues for the same period. this increase in critical mass reflects the demand for issues, providing the supply for investors. let me now touch on several important aspects of the malaysian islamic financial markets that are important to issuers and investors. these relate to the freedom to move capital into and out of malaysia, the availability of credible and timely market information and the capacity of the malaysian islamic financial market to allow for greater product diversification and risk management. on capital mobility, malaysia maintains a highly liberal foreign exchange administration regime. the primary focus of foreign exchange administration is to support the monitoring of flows of funds to promote financial and economic stability. as part of the continuous effort to enhance efficiency and reduce the cost of doing business, the foreign exchange administration rules have been progressively liberalised and simplified. there is free mobility of