also includes information on islamic banking, the credit bureau and the malaysian currency and on bank negara malaysia. all these booklets can be obtained from branches of the commercial banks and finance companies and can be accessed from the bankinginfo website. ladies and gentlemen, today is just the first step forward in the consumer education programme. bankinginfo is a 10 - year programme, and over time, the plan is to cover a greater range of banking products and services. consumer associations can contribute to this process. consumer associations play an important role in disseminating and educating consumers on their rights and responsibilities. through your direct contact with consumers, you can in the education process encourage reference to the one - stop information center established for this purpose and highlighting the importance and benefits of becoming financially literate. the wide network and access to consumers, the consumer associations also represent an important source of reference to improve the programme. through this process, i am sure that the programme will become an important and beneficial source of information on banking matters for consumers. as part of the consumer protection infrastructure, it is also planned that the scope of issues which can be mediated by the banking mediation bureau be expanded. the guidelines on minimum standards on product disclosure, including prescribing and adopting standard terms and definitions are now being reviewed. these initiatives will ensure avenues to seek redress at reasonable costs be further strengthened while transparency in the financial marketplace will be improved. the banking mediation bureau ( bmb ), was established almost eight years ago. it is timely that a review is carried out in terms of its role as well as the scope of its activities. currently under review is the proposal to merge the mediation bureau for the banking sector with its insurance counterpart to create a new entity that would not only handle issues on banking but also on insurance services being offered as well as by other institutions under the supervision of bnm. these include the islamic banks, takaful companies and development financial institutions. another initiative is the development of a framework to increase product - specific and institutional transparency, with the view to move towards full disclosure at a later stage. the initiative to improve transparency for all retail financial products aims to ensure that consumers receive sufficient and relevant information they can use to make informed decisions on financial products. in a move to make islamic banking products more easily distinguishable and better understood, the letter'i'has been suffixed to the generic names of islamic banking products. in addition, the generic names have been standardised to enable customers to

zeti akhtar aziz : south east asia – potential and perspectives in the new asia luncheon address by dr zeti akhtar aziz, governor of the central bank of malaysia, at the 2010 institute of international finance ( iif ) annual membership meeting, washington dc, 8 october 2010. * * * generating growth and a long lasting recovery is the primary priority for the global economy in this aftermath of the recent crisis. the massive life support that was provided to avert a deep recession was to be temporary – to provide the opportunity to address the weakness in the system and to rebuild the capacity for a self - sustaining recovery. recent indications are that this prospect has not been realised. the emerging world has however performed well with the potential to generate such a sustained recovery. these developments have drawn significant interest to the asian emerging economies and on their changing role in the global economy and in the international financial system. it is my honour and great pleasure to speak at this 2010 institute of international finance annual membership meeting. my remarks today will focus on the challenges in managing such a sustained recovery with specific focus on the potential for emerging asia to rise to these challenges in this new global economic and financial environment. the final part of my remarks will be on the changes taking place in the international financial environment from the perspective of emerging asia. as growth in the developed world slows, weighed down by structural factors, will the global environment of increasing interdependence then dampen the prospects for the asian emerging economies? asia comprises highly diverse economies. south east asia, with a population of more than 500 million people is strategically located south of china and east of india, has been since the 13th century an important trading hub connecting asia to the west. being the most open economies in asia, and perhaps in the world, we, therefore stand to be the most vulnerable to global developments. while economic stimulus is vital for crisis containment, it will not, however, be sufficient to produce a self - sustaining recovery. the challenge is essentially the economic restructuring and transformation, the reform and rebuilding of the institutional capacity so as to remain effective in the new environment and to be well positioned to manage future shocks. as emerging economies in asia transition into this post crisis era, three important structural shifts are transforming the region. the first is the economic restructuring and the strategy to pursue more balanced sources of growth. this has involved significant shifts to new areas of comparative advantage and new areas of growth, and the greater emphasis on domestic demand as a