and consumers. in this environment, insurance professionals are expected to not only raise the service standards, but also to align themselves to be a part of a workforce that is productive, innovative and strategically more focused in advancing the insurance industry to the fore front of the financial services sector. while the regulatory authorities have given considerable attention to efforts to empower, educate and safeguard consumer interests, sound market conduct practices and a commitment to raise the standards in consumer protection remains largely in the hands of insurance professionals. apart from the need to constantly acquire new knowledge and skills, the observance of ethical practices and a professional code of conduct must be complete and comprehensive. indeed, an unrelenting adoption of the highest standards of professionalism and integrity is essential in generating public confidence in the insurance industry. ladies and gentlemen, it is therefore, recognised that we need to continuously invest in human capital to create a pool of high - caliber professionals with the necessary competencies that can deliver high value - added insurance products and services, adopt advanced business practices, build public trust and confidence, and thus advance the industry to greater heights. mii, being the premier insurance education and training institute in malaysia, shoulders an important responsibility in developing the human capital for the insurance industry. it has steadily established a reputation as the leader in executing the [UNK] capacity - building initiatives through the development of skills, and expertise. mii has continued to broaden and enhance its training directory to meet the increasingly complex and diversified needs of the insurance industry. t he registered financial planner ( rfp ) programme which was launched in 2002 has now produced its first batch of 964 graduates in january 2005. in keeping pace with the evolving changes in education, in july 2006, mii launched its mii e - academy, an on - line learning avenue to make learning more accessible to the insurance professionals, unconstrained by location, distance or time. i am pleased that mii has taken the necessary steps in upholding the responsibility to deliver quality training, not only for the local insurance industry, but also across the region. the increasing number of participants from abroad signifies the growing recognition of the programmes organized by mii. at the regional front, mii's out - reach has been further enhanced with the conclusion of the memorandum of understanding between mii and forte insurance ( cambodia ) plc. in june 2005, whereby mii will conduct professional insurance examinations in cambodia. at the same time, mii continues to assume its role as the secretariat of the

long term infrastructural projects because of the higher capital charge required to hold these assets on their books. more specifically, many european banks, which were very active in infrastructural financing in asia in the past decade, have reduced their exposures in this area and will continue to do so in the future. so many infrastructural projects in asia are now finding it increasingly difficult to secure the necessary finance. at the same time, many bankers and fund managers have said that there is still ample supply of funds looking for investment opportunities, but lending or investments in asia ’ s infrastructure has been greatly hampered by the shortage of “ bankable ” projects. so on the one hand asia has a huge funding need for infrastructural projects but on the other bankers and investors sitting on huge amounts of savings complain that they cannot find sufficient “ bankable ” projects. clearly there is a big gap here. there are many reasons why such gap exists, involving factors relating to legal, governance and political risks for investing in asia ’ s infrastructure. whatever the reasons, we must endeavour to find a workable solution to narrow the gap or else it will significantly impair asia ’ s growth potential as well as constraining the development of asia ’ s financial markets. 7. in conclusion, i would say that today ’ s conference is very timely as it will discuss the key challenges facing asia ’ s finance in the future. asia is now at a crossroad and we must work together to choose the right path. i have no doubt that this conference will contribute useful insights and advice on this very important subject. thank you. bis central bankers ’ speeches