of the year. for over a year, this monetary policy divergence has been a major factor behind the depreciation of the euro against the us dollar. as chart 2 shows, since mid - 2014, the european currency has declined some 18 % in value and has also weakened on a trade - weighted basis, by around 9 %. the trade - weighted us dollar, by contrast, has gained approximately 15 % in this period. another important issue on financial markets has been the increased uncertainty due to the unresolved debt problem in greece. despite the fact that risk attitudes, as such, are positive, demand for safe investments and thus for the swiss franc has remained particularly strong. consequently, recent movements in the swiss franc have been influenced not only by the divergence between the dollar and euro regions, but also by persistent safe haven flows. the discontinuation of the minimum exchange rate led to a very substantial but short - lived appreciation in the swiss franc. the extent of this appreciation is shown in chart 3. the extreme movements in the exchange rate were accompanied by a sharp increase in volatility on the swiss franc foreign exchange market. since then, swiss franc volatility has declined, although it remains high in a long - term comparison with the period prior to the financial crisis. bis central bankers ’ speeches at the same time, bid - ask spreads, i. e. differences between the best purchasing and selling offers, widened substantially following the end of the minimum exchange rate. these, too, have declined in the past few months, although the bid - ask spreads remain relatively large. in trade - weighted terms, the swiss franc is no longer at the extreme levels that prevailed immediately after the discontinuation of the minimum exchange rate. however, it is still some 12 % above the level at the beginning of the year. thus, the swiss franc is still substantially overvalued. implementation and impact of negative interest exactly six months ago, on 18 december 2014, the swiss national bank ( snb ) decided to impose negative interest on sight deposit account balances at the snb for the first time, setting the rate at – 0. 25 %. when it discontinued the minimum exchange rate, it lowered the rate once again by 0. 5 percentage points, to – 0. 75 %. by imposing negative interest on sight deposits, the snb intends to move the three - month libor into negative territory and significantly reduce interest rates

the rapidly evolving economic landscape and demographic changes. in malaysia, the universal scope of business under the islamic financial services act ( ifsa ) 2013 allows islamic financial institutions to mobilise a wide range of solutions both on the asset and liability sides, towards delivering meaningful impact, beyond the traditional norms. for example, the adoption of mudarabah contract in investment account provides risk absorbent funding avenue for high - risk businesses to raise capital. the gaining traction of investment account helps to diversify the funding structure of islamic banks, which is now close to 12 % of total funding as at june 2021. large potential to spur innovation therefore lies beyond the traditional adoption of shariah contracts. the entrenched versatile feature within shariah itself offers the latitude for innovation and creativity. this includes smart contracts, without compromising the fundamentals of shariah. optimising technological advancement brings wealth of benefits to efficiency and transparency, as well as manages risk effectively. this is particularly vital considering multiple applications of shariah contracts in islamic products and services that demand higher degree of transparency and disclosure, alongside ensuring information symmetry to customers and strengthening confidence to islamic finance. ultimately, we can become more inclusive by leveraging digital infrastructure through greater outreach to the underserved segment of the society. as we see more of this in the horizon, we are then able to realign the current business thinking to a fresher lens of value - based financial dealings that resonate with shariah, which propagates equitable access and circulation of wealth, with no one left behind. as efforts continue to sustainably rejuvenate the economy, a great headway to embark on is to build stronger capacity and support in real and productive economic sectors. an example is to enhance wider trade facilitation to spur growth in islamic trade finance, which has promisingly surged to usd186 billion in size and is growing both in scale and demand. this signifies huge opportunities to be tapped on. surely, more needs to be explored to widen the spectrum of shariah - compliant trade finance offerings by the financial sector. a funding option for businesses can perhaps be tailored to the lifecycle of production. this allows companies to obtain short - term liquidity via the sale of current assets such as receivables and inventories to financial institutions without increasing indebtedness – which is in parallel with the maqasid of preservation of wealth, particularly on striving to avoid excessive debt beyond one ’