mentioned in my speech at the previous wibc, many risks – including credit, market, liquidity, operational and reputational risks are common to both conventional and islamic finance. overly - optimistic projections of growth, or overconcentration in particular sectors, or mismatches in assets and liabilities can give rise to risks that can damage financial institutions. the crisis serves as a valuable pause from the frenzy of financial activities. this allows us to re - evaluate risk management practices in individual financial institutions, as well as the systemic linkages across institutions, instruments and markets. 13. central banks and regulators need to cooperate closely so that risk assessments can be shared and common action taken where necessary. the central bank of bahrain ( cbb ) and mas have enjoyed very good relations, and have worked to promote islamic finance. the cbb is a highly - regarded central bank and integrated financial regulator. i am pleased that the mas and cbb will be signing a memorandum of understanding later today to build on our existing strong relationship to enhance supervisory cooperation and information - sharing. 14. the third area relates to close interactions among industry practitioners and the development of ground knowledge. while there are many opportunities for trade and investment among emerging economies, the business linkages are only beginning to grow. forums such as the wibc provide a valuable platform for practitioners to build their knowledge of each region and the business leaders. at the same time, for large - scale and long - term investments such as in infrastructure, effective knowledge of partners and on - theground presence are important ways of mitigating risks. recent developments in singapore 15. let me therefore take this opportunity to say a few words about developments in singapore. as an international financial centre in asia, singapore seeks to develop islamic finance by leveraging on our existing strengths in banking, insurance, asset management 163 / 2009 and capital markets. although relatively new, we have seen steady progress. mas launched its sukuk early this year. the islamic development bank also issued a $ 200m singapore dollar - denominated trust certificate. in may, olam international, a local trading firm tied up with the islamic bank of asia to launch a commodity murabaha based on agricultural trade flows. just last month, singapore ’ s keppel t & t and saudi arabia ’ s al rajhi holding group announced an agreement to establish a joint venture asset management company to manage the world ’ s first shariah - compliant data centre fund. other singapore companies and real estate

lim hng kiang : brief review of recent financial and economic developments in singapore congratulatory remarks by mr lim hng kiang, deputy chairman of the monetary authority of singapore and minister for trade and industry, at deutsche bank's 35th anniversary, singapore, 13 feb 2007. * * * distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good evening, i am delighted to be with you this evening to celebrate deutsche bank's 35th anniversary in singapore. i am very glad to note as well that today's celebrations is also marked by deutsche bank's move to one raffles quay, the newest address in our financial district. it is testimony of deutsche bank's continued commitment to singapore. set up in 1972, we have seen deutsche bank singapore grow in size over the years. it has also witnessed and participated in the economic transformation of singapore, from a trading hub in the 1970s, to a major metropolis today. we are indeed heartened that, 35 years on deutsche bank continues to see opportunities to deepen its roots here. just last week, deutsche bank announced its group performance for 2006 and i must congratulate dr ackermann and your team, for registering yet another record year for deutsche bank. today deutsche bank is represented in many of asia's financial markets. we are indeed pleased that deutsche bank had made singapore the hub for your regional operations. we noted that some 1600 people are involved in a broad scope of activities including trading, treasury and investment banking here. to accommodate this, i understand that deutsche bank's trading floor in this building is one of the largest in singapore. singapore's economic growth for 2006 continues to stay strong at 7. 7 %, with almost 170, 000 jobs created last year. our market indices have breached the 3, 000 point mark and our gdp per capita has exceeded us $ 30, 000. we are also witnessing the strong growth of asia propelled primarily by the two economic powerhouses of india and china. the economies in south east asian have seen a resurgence with countries like vietnam rushing forth and is one of the fastest growing economies in the region. trade and investments among asian countries, and between regions including the middle east and asia, have increased substantially. we have also seen substantial wealth creation in the middle east and asia. asia is estimated to have about 2. 4 million high net worth individuals with assets over us $ 7. 6 trillion and comprise almost 20 % of global high new worth wealth. this is projected to grow annually by