are a few things that we could do for the smes. first, we can lower the financing cost for smes which obtain guaranteed financing under cgc. on the average, smes are being charged between 10 to 12 percent. this is about blr plus 5 to 6 percent. the rate imposed is much too high. it seems that pricing mechanism doesn ’ t price properly the guarantees given by cgc. we ought to work on this. on the part of cgc, we need to response quickly to the banks when guarantees are being called upon. an ideal situation is akin to an irrevocable undertaking where once a guarantee is called upon, it will be made good immediately. second, to intensify promotion and awareness program on cgc products and services. cgc needs to work closely with the trade associations and generate more media exposures through radios and tvs. make cgc a household name among the smes. third, expand further advisory services, its reach and contents. not all smes require financing, some might need more “ hand holding ”, and rather than access to financing above. lastly, come up with new and specific guarantee products for new growth area, start - ups and young entrepreneurs. existing guarantee products might not be suitable to meet the needs of these groups. cgc should embark a study on this matter and come up with an action plan. before i end my speech, i would like to express my heartfelt congratulations and appreciation to the board, management and staff of cgc for 40 years of service to the malaysian smes. it is our greatest wish that cgc will continue to walk and grow alongside our smes in our effort to make our country prosperous. bis central bankers ’ speeches

regime, legal and shariah framework, and payment and settlement systems. in this decade, greater focus was particularly given to the institutional arrangements to develop the sukuk market. the sukuk market now accounts for more than fifty percent of our bond market. the market has drawn the participation from a wide range of international corporations and multilateral agencies in raising funds and investing in the sukuk issuances out of malaysia. more recently, there has also been continuous innovation and an increasing number of issuances in foreign currency. as malaysia offers international participation in our islamic financial system, we offer to be an international gateway, particularly in strengthening the link between the two important dynamic growth regions of asia and the middle east. malaysia will also continue to collaborate with other regulatory authorities to ensure financial stability in the islamic financial system. this will be through our active involvement in the islamic financial services board ( ifsb ), the islamic financial stability forum ( ifsf ), the initiatives by the islamic development bank ( idb ), and finally in the newly formed international islamic liquidity management corporation ( iilm ). in the area of capacity building, malaysia has also given priority to two areas : one is in human capital development and the second, in catalysing mutual recognition of shariah interpretations. the international centre of education in islamic finance ( inceif ) was established in 2006 for advanced education for practitioners in islamic finance, and in 2008, the international shariah research academy ( isra ) was established to conduct applied shariah research on the contemporary islamic finance issues and to provide a platform for active international engagement among shariah scholars. moving forward, malaysia will continue its efforts in strengthening our international linkages in the global islamic financial system through collaborative partnerships and cooperation with the objective of contributing towards greater international financial and economic integration. let me conclude. on behalf of the mifc executive committee, i would like to express my appreciation to the members of the panel of jury for the royal award for islamic finance which is led by yang amat berbahagia tun musa hitam, former deputy prime minister of malaysia and also to the members of the taskforce that was chaired by tan sri zarinah anwar, chairman of the securities commission, who oversaw the establishment of this prestigious award. it is my sincere hope that this royal award will be an inspiration to the global development of islamic finance.