active, as banks ’ funding strategies have fundamentally evolved since the global financial crisis. in response, several major jurisdictions have developed overnight interest rate benchmarks in their respective currency areas, that are underpinned by deep and active underlying markets. these include the sofr, sonia, ester, saron and tona. 3 1 / 7 bis central bankers'speeches transition progress and momentum have not slowed despite covid - 19 disruptions. in the uk, while some interim transition milestones were delayed, the overall end - 2021 timeline for libor ’ s discontinuation remains unchanged. banks should be ready to offer sonia loans by q3 2020, and stop using sterling libor in loan products by q1 2021. 4 in the us, the alternative reference rates committee ( arrc ) recently recommended5 that firms should cease using usd libor in : new consumer loans maturing after end - 2021 by september this year ; new floating rate notes by end of this year ; and new business loans and derivatives contracts by june 2021. b sora is the focal point in the new sgd interest rate landscape 5 our industry has embarked on a similar reform journey, to ensure that our sgd interest rate benchmarks are credible, reliable and transparent : in 2013, abs and singapore foreign exchange market committee ( sfemc ) transitioned sor from a poll - based to a transaction - based methodology. in 2017, abs and sfemc consulted on a new waterfall methodology to make sibor more transaction - based, and transitional testing was carried out from july 2019 to validate this new methodology. in august last year, abs and sfemc recommended a transition from sor to the singapore overnight rate average ( sora ). this is necessary as sor relies on usd libor in its computation, and will not be sustainable when usd libor ceases. in addition, sora is a robust benchmark underpinned by actual transactions in a deep and liquid overnight unsecured sgd interbank funding market. 6 recently, given the expected benefits of achieving greater market efficiency in a single interest rate benchmark regime, as well as the good progress in developing sora markets, the industry jointly recommended for singapore ’ s interest rate markets to adopt a sora - centered approach. 6 in short, a transition from sor and sibor towards sora. 7 what does this mean for sgd financial markets? first, this shift is an opportunity for us to enhance the overall functionality

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