respect of the public. earning this right is difficult, but once this is accomplished “ a central bank would have the strongest guarantee for its independence and effectiveness, far stronger than any formal expression of central banking authority ”. yet, however independent a central bank is from the government, it cannot function in isolation. fiscal and monetary policies are most effective when they are well coordinated. further, in a world increasingly buffeted by protectionism and the risk of financial contagion, central banks 2 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches must cooperate with each other. effective policy making today needs to have a global perspective as the fallout of policy failures often spread rapidly across borders. cooperation at the national, regional and international levels, is necessary. this trust however, forms out of reliability, and reliability stems from competence. it is my firmest belief that the best way for us to honour the late governor ismail ali is to carry on this vision – the vision of a central bank independent, competent and respected. once again, i would like to thank everyone present for joining us in commemorating the centennial of governor ismail ali ’ s birth. in particular, our heartfelt gratitude goes to prime minister, tun dr siti hasmah and family members of governor ismail ali for your support and presence for today ’ s special occasion. i invite distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen to explore the gallery exhibition to honour the life and achievements of this great man, governor ismail ali, our first malaysian central bank governor. 3 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches

surpass the level recorded in 2007 when it sustained the highest level of issuances. the year 2010 also saw malaysia ’ s evolution as a multi - currency sukuk origination platform with four foreign currency sukuk issuances amounting to about usd3 billlion. this trend will benefit from the bloomberg aibim bursa malaysia sovereign shariah index ( bmssi ) developed by the association of islamic banking institutions malaysia ( aibim ), bursa malaysia and bloomberg that is also being launched today as part of the enhancement in the islamic finance platform. the launch of this ringgit sukuk index marks another significant milestone in the malaysian islamic financial environment as it measures the performance of ringgit denominated shariah compliant government securities in addition to the benchmarking purposes. this development has been part of the continuous support by aibim and bursa malaysia to further strengthen malaysia ’ s position as a leading sukuk market in the world. the collaboration between aibim, bursa malaysia and bloomberg is also expected to see a ringgit corporate sukuk index in the offing. moving forward, efforts are underway between bank negara malaysia and bloomberg to broaden this initiative to develop a foreign currency bis central bankers ’ speeches sukuk index. the liberalization of our financial markets is expected to attract more such foreign currency sukuk issuance by sovereign entities, multilateral institutions and multinational corporations. in further strengthening the infrastructure for the sukuk market, the malaysian electronic clearing corporation or myclear, a wholly - owned subsidiary of bank negara malaysia that operates the country ’ s real time gross settlement system and securities depository system, is also undertaking an initiative to promote cross - border financial transaction that is efficient, reliable and secured. this initiative reflects our commitment towards financial integration in the asean region and the global financial system through closer linkage with other central securities depositories, namely euroclear and the central moneymarkets unit ( cmu ) of the hong kong monetary authority. it is expected that other central securities depository will participate in this initiative to heighten this cross - border linkage. myclear is thus set to be one of the key multilateral settlement platforms that will facilitate sukuk trading transactions. the implementation of this initiative which is scheduled to be completed in the second half of 2011 offers cost - effective access for foreign investors to invest in malaysian securities deposited with myclear. at the same time