ultimately a shared responsibility between the provider and the consumer. even the most robust systems can be breached if consumers do not exercise adequate caution or are deceived by fraudsters. in this regard, consumer education plays an important role in keeping cashless payments secure. in addition, cash is also a choice payment instrument for illicit activities. unlike digital transactions which almost always leave a trail to the parties, payments in cash are anonymous. in his recent book, the curse of cash, kenneth rogoff points out a very sobering reality – the amount of us dollars in circulation outside of banks suggests that each american should have around usd4, 200 in their wallet. this is not the case. according to him, most of this money is used to hide transactions. however, this alone does not warrant moving away from cash entirely. rogoff himself acknowledges this, and proposes the solution of eliminating large denomination notes – such as the united states ’ hundred dollar bill. the logic is simple. with the next largest bill being usd50, such a move would immediately make it twice as cumbersome to hoard and pass around suitcases of cash. this is in fact a policy call which malaysia has made, when we phased out the rm1000 and rm500 notes in 1999. at the same time, the case for removing large denominations becomes weaker as each year goes by. this is because the effect of inflation plays a similar role in making cash transactions more difficult for illegal activities. social cost the second element for consideration is the social cost imposed by the form of currency chosen. on the surface, cash may appear to be costless. consumers do not have to worry about subscription fees and exorbitant interest rates lying in wait. retailers are not required to pay fees to accept cash, and so need not pass on any servicing charges to the consumer. there is no need for banks and merchants to invest in and maintain sophisticated software and hardware to support digital payments. however, cash does not come cheap. money needs to be printed and minted, and then 2 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches transported, counted and guarded – several times over. each step here poses a significant cost to various actors within the economy. central banks have to deal with the rising cost of producing secure and durable money. storing and moving money around under tight security can be expensive for both commercial banks and retail businesses. this does not yet account for the losses relating to under - reported taxes which is directly enabled by a cash

. the growth of the islamic bond market in particular, in the current environment also reflects its cost effectiveness. an increasing number of multilateral agencies, government agencies and the corporate sector including multinational corporations have relied on the sukuk market as a source for raising financing. in malaysia, shell mds sdn. bhd. issued the world ’ s first ringgit - denominated corporate sukuk in 1990, amounting to rm125 million. the issuance of a rm3. 5 billion programme sukuk by tesco stores in 2007 witnessed the first sukuk issuance by a british owned mnc, while toyota capital services, a japanese mnc, issued a rm1 billion programme in 2008. there has also been a growing trend for multi - currency sukuk issuances in asia, with the latest landmark issuance of the world ’ s first renminbi sukuk issuance in 2011 being issued in the malaysian market. these multi - currency issuances have attracted international investors to participate in this market. as an asset class, there are now a wide range of structures, size and different maturities. recent examples in malaysia include the plus berhad ’ s issuance of a record size of rm30. 6 billion or equivalent to usd9. 7 billion programme, with maturities ranging from 5 to 27 years. this also facilitates the potential for diversification of portfolios. the islamic capital market has also been an avenue for businesses to raise equity financing globally. shariahcompliant corporations that are listed in major global islamic stock market indices, such as the dow jones islamic market indices and the ftse global islamic index, are able to enhance their profiles among the prospective investors, including those with inclination towards socially responsible investment. in malaysia, similar listing opportunities are available through the ftse hijrah shariah index and the ftse bursa malaysia emas shariah index for shariah - compliant investment, that has been designed to provide a broad benchmark for investors that wished to invest in shariah - compliant stocks. malaysia operates a dual financial system that comprises the conventional and the islamic financial system. businesses are able to select the financial offerings that best serve their requirements. while malaysia has progressively liberalised our financial system, the liberalisation of the islamic financial system has been at a more rapid pace. the motivation for this is to forge greater international economic and financial linkages. liberalisation of the conventional sector