muhammad bin ibrahim : outstanding contributions to the development of islamic finance in malaysia welcoming remarks by mr muhammad bin ibrahim, governor of the central bank of malaysia ( bank negara malaysia ), at the royal award for islamic finance gala dinner and award presentation, kuala lumpur, 14 november 2016. * * * bismillahhirahmanirrahim. mengadap seri paduka baginda yang di - pertuan agong almu ’ tasimu billahi muhibbuddin tuanku alhaj abdul halim mu ’ adzam shah ibni almarhum sultan badlishah, seri paduka baginda raja permaisuri agong tuanku hajah haminah. ampun tuanku beribu - ribu ampun, sembah patik mohon diampun. patik serta seluruh dif - dif jemputan pada malam ini dengan penuh hormat dan takzimnya merafak sembah menjunjung kasih atas limpah perkenan seri paduka baginda tuanku berdua berangkat bercemar duli ke majlis makan malam anugerah diraja kewangan islam tahun 2016. ampun tuanku. seterusnya patik ingin memohon perkenan seri paduka baginda tuanku untuk menyampaikan ucapan kepada para hadirin dalam bahasa inggeris. kebawah duli yang maha mulia paduka seri sultan nazrin muizzuddin shah ibni almarhum sultan azlan muhibbuddin shah al - maghfur - lah, sultan of perak darul ridzuan, and duli yang maha mulia raja permaisuri perak tuanku zara salim. your royal highnesses, your excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies & gentlemen. it is my pleasure to welcome the distinguished audience to the gala dinner for the royal award for islamic finance ( raif ) tonight, which is held to honor an individual for outstanding contributions to the growth and development of islamic finance. allow me to express our utmost gratitude to his majesty seri paduka baginda yang di - pertuan agong and her majesty, and his royal highness sultan of perak darul ridzuan, the royal patron of

##rs has also changed. statutory boards used to dominate, but now form only 3 % of total issuance. instead, the debt market has a stable base of large corporates and financial institutions issuing bonds well over s $ 1 billion in issue size. this has increased liquidity in the secondary market. large international issuers such as ifc, freddie mac, fannie mae and adb, which can tap any market in the world, have chosen to raise funds in singapore. treasury markets have also stayed buoyant, as singapore remains one of the established leading global fx trading centres. the creation and hedging of structured products have boosted turnover in derivative markets. singapore now ranks 6th globally, in otc fx and interest rate derivatives. reforms were also introduced to deregulate the stockbroking industry. the industry has consolidated, operating more leanly on much lower commissions. the bigger local players have expanded their product range and also expanded overseas. more foreign players have entered the market. overall, investors have benefited from lower trading costs. sgx became the first demutualised, integrated stock and derivatives exchange in the asia - pacific in december 1999. it is now well placed to grow its business, and respond to developments in regional capital markets. more foreign companies are choosing to list in singapore. to date, there have been 47 listings by chinese companies, and a few indian listings are in the pipeline. sgx has also actively pursued alliances with other exchanges. its first securities co - trading linkage with the australia stock exchange allowed investors in the two countries to trade in each other ’ s market directly. sgx is also exploring linkages with asean securities markets. if this succeeds it will benefit the region as a whole. we have also grown as a processing centre. large financial institutions have centralised their regional and global processing operations in singapore. these house high value - added, mission - critical systems as well as back - office processing activities. in brief, our financial sector has become more dynamic and vibrant. many persons and institutions have participated in this process. their support, hard work and spirit of enterprise made this possible. i thank them all. developments in the banking sector let me now focus on the banking sector. the asian financial crisis underscored the importance of sound, resilient financial systems underpinned by strong domestic banks. the lessons of the crisis played a major part in re - shaping the banking industry. meanwhile, global trends such as consolidation among the major international