##guna membuat keputusan yang bijak, demi kesejahteraan mereka. usaha meningkatkan tahap celik kewangan di kalangan pengguna sentiasa diberi keutamaan oleh bank negara malaysia. sejak tahun 1996, beberapa inisiatif telah diperkenalkan untuk meningkatkan tahap celik kewangan, dan memupuk kemahiran pengurusan kewangan yang baik di kalangan pelbagai kumpulan sasar. kesukaran pengguna mendapat akses kepada maklumat sering menyebabkan pengguna tidak mendapat maklumat yang secukupnya bagi membolehkan mereka membuat keputusan yang bijak. pada tahun 2003, bank negara malaysia dengan kerjasama institusi kewangan, telah melancarkan satu rancangan 10 tahun program pendidikan pengguna yang melibatkan sektor perbankan dan insurans. program tersebut bertujuan meningkatkan akses kepada maklumat oleh pengguna serta meningkatkan kesedaran pengguna tentang hak dan tanggungjawab mereka. ianya juga bertujuan untuk memperdalamkan pengetahuan pengguna tentang konsep dan operasi perbankan islam serta produk dan perkhidmatan takaful yang ditawarkan oleh institusi kewangan. dalam hal ini, lamanlaman web infoperbankan dan infoinsurans telah memainkan peranan penting dalam meningkatkan kesedaran pengguna. sehingga kini, laman web tersebut telah mendapat sambutan yang menggalakkan dengan jumlah pelawat mencecah 17. 6 juta. di samping itu, lebih 4. 2 juta naskhah buku penerangan kecil telah diedarkan kepada pengguna. peningkatan

individual institutions to serve as a basis for financial institutions to assess their own performance and to use the results to benchmark themselves against global best practices. the objective is to achieve world - class quality in financial services. ladies and gentlemen, the provision of adequate avenues for redress is also important to enable consumers to resolve conflicts through an equitable process. efforts have been made to strengthen redress mechanisms both at the institutional level as well as on an industry level. as you may be aware, avenues for redress by consumers against banking institutions and insurers are already available via the banking mediation bureau ( bmb ), and the insurance mediation bureau ( imb ) respectively. these bureaus, established more than a decade ago, have achieved considerable success in resolving disputes against banks and insurance companies. in 2004, a total of 1, 515 cases have been handled by these two bureaus. nevertheless, with the blurring of the traditional boundaries between financial products and services provided by banks, insurance companies, and other financial intermediaries, the creation of an integrated bureau is necessary for the resolution of a broad range of consumer issues raised in relation to the diverse range of financial institutions under the supervision of bank negara. there are also clear synergies to be achieved from leveraging on the resources available to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the dispute resolution process as consumers will be provided with a convenient and efficient one - stop centre to seek formal redress as an alternative to litigation, which may involve considerable time and financial resources. ladies and gentlemen, it therefore gives me great pleasure today to launch the financial mediation bureau, an integrated dispute resolution centre for financial institutions under the supervision of bank negara malaysia. the creation of an integrated agency is in line with the international trends towards such resolution centres, and the framework and model for the financial mediation bureau has been benchmarked against best practices worldwide, notably in countries such as the united kingdom, canada and australia. the scope of the financial mediation bureau has been expanded to cover, for the first time, islamic banks, takaful operators, development financial institutions, as well as selected payment system operators and non - bank issuers of credit and charge cards. i am also pleased to announce that with the launch of the financial mediation bureau, the limit on cases falling within the jurisdiction of the bureau has been increased from the limits applicable to the former mediation bureaus. this will provide increased access to the bureau as an avenue for redress for a wider spectrum of