tedious affair and a source of much inefficiency. merchants in particular should leverage on e - payments as a means to rationalize their business processes to be more efficient, so that more resources can be directed towards growing their business. merchants should also leverage on the latest payments technology such as the mobile point - of - sale ( mpos ) which allows them to leverage on smart devices to accept payment cards on - the - go. consumers on the other hand, should also embrace e - payments to be more efficient and safe by taking advantage of the various incentives provided by the banking industry. opportunities and key priorities for 2016 we have now reached a critical juncture in our migration to e - payments. with the enabling environment in place and the encouraging progress recorded for the past five years, emphasis should now be devoted towards implementation and facilitating behavioural change among individuals and businesses. we must use as beacon the targets set out in the financial sector blueprint. the achievement of such targets would put us on par with other advanced countries and become as competitive as we transition into a high value added and high income economy. the support from all relevant stakeholders is needed to ensure that such objective becomes a reality. as the catalyst for e - payment growth, the banking and payments industry should explore the possibility of forming strategic alliances with non - traditional partners. the recent partnerships between banks and telcos in the roll - out of mpos are a good example of such new partnership. let me outline the key priorities for the banking and payments industry in the upcoming year of 2016. i would like to raise 6 points. i. first, as a group, we need to ensure there is no delay in the key payment card infrastructure projects such as migration to cardholder verification by pin and the migration to contactless debit cards under the chip and pin and the mccs initiatives. coordinated constant and effective communication strategies must be undertaken to ensure an effective and seamless migration ; ii. second, the payments industry must collaborate towards the achievement of an additional 50, 000 payment card terminals and 137 million debit card transactions under the payment card reform framework. in this regard, the industry should devise creative measures to facilitate behavioural change. this may include offering incentives and educating merchants and cashiers to motivate customers to use debit cards instead of cash ; iii. third, myclear together with the banking industry should expand the biller base for jompay, a payment system launched in april 2015, to further enhance

spearheading the sustainability agenda. digitalisation can further this cause, helping islamic finance unleash its full potential in striving towards fully embracing and adopting vbi to contribute meaningfully towards an inclusive, sustainable and impactful growth. there are two main outcomes for which digitalisation can be deployed to create winning strategies for islamic finance. firstly, technological advances can reduce operational costs therefore allowing islamic financial service providers to reach the underserved and the unbanked with more affordable digital financial services. high mobile penetration and internet usage, the shift towards e - commerce and increased usage of e - payments are all important trends that hold great promise to bring financial inclusion in malaysia to the next level. coupled with new technological advances such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence ( ai ) and data analytics, financial services providers are now able to better assess creditworthiness using real time and alternative data, thereby overcoming the traditional obstacle of making sound credit decisions for customers who lack collateral and credit history. in the same vein, the deployment of telematics, internet of things ( iot ), affordable usage - based insurance ( ubi ) and other value added services open up scope for the takaful industry to create efficiencies whilst addressing customer demand, further closing the protection gap of the malaysian population. a well - designed digital takaful solution that not only offers affordability but also seamless customer experience can go a long way towards elevating consumer trust and changing perceptions about the value of takaful protection, particularly among low income groups. secondly, technological advances present opportunities for islamic financial services providers to further automate their business to bring about greater efficiency and transparency as well as manage risk effectively in delivering value - driven and impact - focused products and services that can realise the aspiration of maqasid shariah. this is particularly important for products and services with multiple applications of shariah contracts as well as those instruments such as risk sharing, waqaf and sadaqah, which demand not only a high degree of transparency and disclosure but also positive customer service and engagement to engender trust and confidence. there is scope for the industry to explore the potential of new technologies that can transform risk management and compliance, remove information asymmetry and integrate the value chain of financial intermediation seamlessly with the real economy, particularly in trade and the halal industry. ultimately, realising the full benefits of digitalisation to deliver the intrinsic values of islamic finance successfully, relies on