the aim is to establish the parameters within which the takaful operators operate their business, whilst allowing for the different takaful models currently adopted by the respective takaful operators to continue to operate. this consultative process is a further reflection of the approach adopted to take into consideration the feedback from the industry players in designing appropriate regulatory framework and thus towards balancing the interests of the various stakeholders. the industry can also expect to see progress on the development of international best practices for the takaful industry by the islamic financial services board ( ifsb ) in the near future. an important step towards this direction has been taken with the recent establishment of an ifsb working group to develop supervisory standards on corporate governance. ladies and gentlemen, given the strong progress to date and the positive economic environment, i am confident that the malaysian takaful operators will continue to make significant strides in becoming world - class players. in the process, this will strengthen the positioning of malaysia as an international islamic financial centre. on this note, i wish to congratulate prudential corporation holdings limited and bank simpanan nasional on the occasion of the official launch of prudential bsn takaful berhad. i wish prudential bsn takaful berhad every success in achieving its objectives. akhir kata, dengan lafaz bismillahir rahmanir rahim, saya dengan sukacitanya merasmikan pelancaran prudential bsn takaful berhad. terima kasih.

of gdp respectively, had become decisively decoupled from, and had far outstripped real economic activity. domestic credit by the financial sectors in iceland and the us had by 2007, risen sharply to 299 % and 236 % of gdp respectively. the experience of the global financial crisis highlights the potential for the benefits of finance to be dramatically reversed, resulting in destructive rather than constructive effects of finance. several studies have shown that the marginal returns to growth from finance diminish at high levels of financial development. in other words, there can be “ too much finance ” where the costs to growth and stability outweigh the benefits of financial development. similar to other booming industries, the financial sector at the height of its exuberance showed an overinvestment of resources in terms of capital including human capital which only became apparent after the bust. with the benefit of hindsight, it has become clear that in the lead up to the global financial crisis, many financial systems were close to, or had long surpassed, the point where bigger was better. the breakdown of financial systems the gradual severance of the link between finance and the real economy, in my view, represents the foremost factor that has weakened the positive role of finance and increased the potential for financial instability. as witnessed during the recent crisis, the degradation of finance eventually rendered its noble economic function of intermediation as ineffective, causing greater harm than good to the economic growth process. the various factors contributing to the recent crisis have already been extensively researched and discussed, highlighting that in most cases finance had become highly disconnected from real, productive economic activity. additionally, is the role that it had in altering the relationship between the growth and distribution of risks created distortions in which the gains from excessive risktaking were privatised among the few while the losses were socialised among the many. the abuse of securitisation and the “ originate and distribute ” model was a particularly telling display of this malaise, severing the link between risk - taking agents and those who ultimately bore the risk. while intended to facilitate better risk management by transferring risk from the banks to a diversified set of investors, this distancing gave rise to problems in the incentive structure and in the availability of information. there was a clear breakdown in the relationship between creditor and borrower. banks were essentially incentivised to focus on aggressively originating loans which were of compromised quality due to lowered underwriting standards. investors of such bundled risks had then become far