pace of the overall activity. thus, the financial and banking sector is entering a very dynamic and exciting phase with acceleration in all areas. there are new players, new market opportunities, a range of new products and services, and significant growth in traditional services. the financial sector should be able to fully leverage its tradition of openness and liberalization, its large investment in technology infrastructure, internal control, and development of its manpower. it is entering a new era of increased consumer participation and awareness, greater competition, enhanced transparency and strong supervision and corporate governance. the financial sector is in a strong position to rise up to these challenges and meet the demands of a rapidly growing economy and consumer expectation. i emphasize my wishes and expectations that the saudi financial sector will continue to be a leader and a major player in the domestic and regional economic activity. i thank you for your attention.

the saudi payments network to permit the continued expansion in the installation of atms and pos. so that it could provide more advanced banking services with high confidentiality and full security. sama is also in the process of upgrading the cheque clearing system to carry out transactions electronically and in real time. this is in to meet present and future expansion requirements of the growth of the capital market and to promote customer services and to provide same through electronic channels in a way that will cope with the large expansion in the growth of the domestic economy. during the past decade there has been prominent diversification in the banking business which included the following : 1. banks were able to meet the increasing demand by the different categories of customers for various modern banking services. this made banking services provided in the domestic market compete well with their counterparts in developed countries. but in the past year there occurred subsequent developments leading to a substantial demand for banking services that included payment of salaries, payment of public utilities bills and fees through banks, more subscription to public offering of companies'shares, increase of demand on share trading, as well as enforcement of some security controls required as measures for protecting the banking system against money laundering operations. all this occurred in a very short period, leading to rising complaints of inefficient services provided by some bank branches. banks managed and they are still working to overcome such shortcomings by employing and training more staff, opening new branches, and providing alternative channels to perform banking services, with employment rising during twelve months by 20 %. 2. banks have made significant strides in provision of asset management services such as investment portfolio accounts, mutual investment funds aimed at domestic, regional and international shares and bonds markets, money market instruments and real estate investment. assets under management increased 8 times from rls 17 billion to rls 132 billion during the period 1996 - 2005. 3. since 1998, consumer loans have increased dramatically. this can be largely attributed to the sarie system which permits loans to be secured by salary assignments. these loans have provided access to banking system liquidity to a large segment of customers to meet their consumer and investment needs, thereby, supporting the pace of economic activity. 4. another important development has been the rapid growth in the provision of islamic shariah compliant services to cater to the increasing demand by customers for such services. all saudi banks offer a range of islamic products including murabaha, mudaraba, musharaka, baie ajel, etc. the significant