aa ) with a stable outlook, strengthening confidence in our national economy and making it more attractive to investments. ladies and gentlemen, allow me to talk about activities supervised by sama. in the banking sector, domestic banks continued to play their roles in serving the national economy in accordance with latest secure technologies in the banking services field. monetary base ( m3 ) increased by 10. 8 percent in 2013 ( by 12. 8 percent in january of this year ). credit extended to the private sector went up by 12. 1 percent to sar 1, 076. 4 billion in 2013 ( by 12. 3 percent in january of this year ). domestic banks maintained their good financial solvency, recording a capital adequacy ratio of 17. 9 percent at the end of 2013. the number of domestic and foreign banks operating in the kingdom currently is 23, 12 of which are domestic and 11 are foreign which became 12 after licensing the industrial and commercial bank of china ( icbc ) in 2012. driven by the aim of achieving a better spread and service to a larger portion of citizens and expatriates, bank branches operating in the bis central bankers ’ speeches kingdom grew up by 4. 2 percent ( 72 branches ) to 1, 768 branches at the end of 2013. the number of atms stood at 13, 883, increasing by 9. 2 percent ( 11, 71 machines ) at the end of 2013 compared to 2012. at the same time, pos went up by 16. 5 percent to 107, 783. with regard to the insurance sector in the kingdom, sama continued to guide this sector toward further regulation to work in accordance with highly professional standards and practices, aiming at promoting the competence of its staff and providing better insurance services to policy holders. the insurance sector witnessed a quantum leap over the past few years represented by developed potentials, skills and technical expertise of companies and increased awareness of insurance benefits. this contributed to better provision of insurance services at competitive prices and coverage, thereby, achieving higher growth rates in the market. the number of insurance and reinsurance companies at the end of the third quarter of 2013 stood at 34 in addition to 180 insurance - related service companies to support insurance services. gross written premiums stood at sar 19. 2 billion at the end of the third quarter of 2013, compared to sar 15. 7 billion in 2012, growing by 22. 3 percent. the ratio of insurance written premiums to gdp stood at 0. 69 percent up

remarkable interest of the world top investors in the kingdom ’ s investment opportunities. your wise directives have emphasized that the development and investment efforts should cover all the kingdom ’ s regions, which were supported by your regional field visits around the kingdom to increase growth and investment capacities and expand the economic base. custodian of the two holy mosques, inflow of direct investments to various productive sectors is a strong evidence of the kingdom ’ s investment attraction and the interest of both local and foreign investor. part of these investments flow through the capital market which plays a very important role in the economy. it provides additional channels for project financing, and, at the same time, it offers to investors diverse investment instruments. your government has made strenuous efforts to develop the saudi capital market by utilizing state - of - the - art dealing technologies ; increasing the number of financial firms operating in the market and continued floating of joint - stock companies on the market for public subscription. these steps call for optimism as they would further stabilize and deepen the market and enhance investors'confidence and investment awareness. however, the need for boosting more awareness efforts of all categories of market participants on the market is still a challenge that has to be dealt with. custodian of the two holy mosques, in pursuance of mobilizing all efforts to accelerate the pace of economic development, you have issued your wise directives requiring timely dissemination of economic and other information and data with further transparency so as to be available to everyone seeking them as dissemination of accurate information reinforces creditability and helps in thoroughly identification of the economic situation. we are all confident that your continuous efforts in the restructuring process to improve and develop the structure of the domestic economy and continue expanding the private sector's activities will boost economic developments witnessed in the domestic economy. may allah guide your steps to greater success.