zeti akhtar aziz : malaysian financial sector developments opening speech by dr zeti akhtar aziz, governor of the central bank of malaysia, at the malaysia financial exhibition 2007, kuala lumpur, 30 october 2007. * * * it is my pleasure to be here this afternoon at the opening ceremony for the malaysia financial exhibition 2007 or myfex2007, organised by pidm, perbadanan insurans deposit malaysia. pidm was established two years ago to reinforce the role of bank negara malaysia in ensuring the soundness and stability of the financial system. pidm forms part of the financial safety net and plays a crucial role in administering an effective deposit insurance system that promotes public confidence in the soundness of the banking system. public confidence is key to financial stability and to the efficient functioning of the financial system. in this context, pidm is actively raising awareness about deposit insurance and this exhibition is an effort to frame deposit insurance within the larger scope of the financial landscape. a financial system that is not firmly rooted in the public belief that it is safe and sound cannot hope to expand and evolve successfully. this confidence is enhanced with having an effective deposit insurance whose role is to act in the best interest of depositors. with an explicit deposit insurance system, depositors can have further certainty of the safety of their money at the banking institution as well as knowing that banking system has a strong element of protection that can be count upon. the malaysian financial sector has undergone significant transformation and progress since we launched the financial sector masterplan in 2001. this is particularly most evident in the banking sector which has undergone restructuring, consolidation, and rationalisation. gradual deregulation and liberalization has also altered the financial landscape bringing with it improved performance and enhanced resilience. this has further matured the banking sector and paved the way for new areas of growth. besides these tangible results, structural changes have also taken place in the form of the emergence of new entities, the increased presence of new international players and more diversified and developed financial markets. the advancement of deregulation and liberalization have also increased competition which has in turn resulted in further new business opportunities. within the context of these developments, the banking sector has become an important pillar of strength of our economy. one dimension that is growing rapidly in the context of these developments is the rise of consumerism. the improvement in the quality of life, the rising affluence and better education has resulted in a new generation of consumers whose

there can be no mistake – innovation is occurring across multiple dimensions, spanning beyond the product level towards the whole business operations, even birthing entirely new digital - only institutions. at our end, bank negara malaysia is doing our part to ensure a progressive and dynamic market – one that is welcoming of these novel business models and new entrants. the digital insurance and takaful operator framework discussion paper published earlier this year emphasises inclusion alongside competition and efficiency as 2 / 6 bis - central bankers'speeches value propositions that we look for in assessing prospective applicants. as we work towards issuing the exposure draft by the midyear point, i encourage applicants who can demonstrate strong capabilities in these three areas and meaningfully close critical protection gaps in malaysia to come forward to be part of the journey. beyond new entrants, we also envision data sharing platforms to be a key enabler in making critical protection solutions affordable, through better cost control management and price transparency. highlighted in our recently launched financial sector blueprint, the cost of private medical care in malaysia is among the highest in southeast asia. as such, an important priority is the development of a centralised data exchange platform by the industry in collaboration with key stakeholders in the medical ecosystem. such a platform will not only facilitate the standardisation of medical claims data, but enable the industry to transmit and analyse data in a more systematic, efficient way over the longer term. on a broader scale, we are committed to developing the building blocks necessary for an open data ecosystem in the next five years. the first step we are currently taking together with the industry is to identify high - impact use cases. given the diversity of innovators in the room today, i welcome interest by the fintech and insurtech sector to approach us directly or via your industry associations to propose impactful use cases that will act as a springboard for the development of common data sharing standards. redrawing the frontiers for greater efficiency the second critical area is on how innovation has the potential of redrawing the efficiency frontier. sean gerety, a user experience or ux expert, shared this insight on innovation : " the technology you use impresses no one. the experience you create with it is everything ". the protection journey moving forward goes beyond just'quote to claim '. it must anticipate and fulfil multiple needs of consumers in a more efficient way. while we do see efforts made by existing players to transform manual claims processes with technology