the monetary transmission process. households ’ inflation expectations, for instance, are related to their purchase intentions and can therefore affect private consumption. furthermore, household expectations on economic variables other than inflation are also relevant to central banks. if conducted at the national level, additional household surveys could focus on and detect idiosyncratic features. in particular, such data may matter for the national mandate of macroprudential policy. in order to gain a more comprehensive picture, the bundesbank has carried out a pilot study for an internet - based household survey on a monthly basis. the focus lies on consumer expectations regarding inflation and developments in the real estate market. the field phase was completed in july. in two sessions of this conference, the findings from several studies by internal and external researchers based on the pilot ’ s data will be presented to a specialist audience for the first time. as an appetiser, i have the privilege of giving you a sneak peek at key results from core questions of the pilot survey in advance : first, the median of inflation expectations over a twelve - month horizon is 2 % in all three survey waves. that is lower than in similar us surveys and indicates that german consumers ’ inflation expectations are well - anchored. second, only a small fraction of individuals in germany – namely 3 % to 4 % – expect inflation to fall. and the share of very high inflation expectations is also relatively small. overall, results vary across socio - demographic categories such as income or the level of education in ways consistent with previous studies. third, most individuals in germany think that house prices will continue to rise sharply. roughly 70 % of those questioned answered that they already consider real estate in their neighbourhood to be overvalued ; nonetheless, more than half of these persons expect prices to rise further. fourth, tenants predict stronger house price increases than owners. this interesting difference is consistent with results from our panel on household finances ( phf ). the bundesbank already conducts the phf survey of german household wealth and debt every three years – in 2017, almost 5, 000 households participated. in this third wave, the phf questionnaire was expanded in some areas to include questions on house price expectations, for example. the phf surveys and the recent pilot study have allowed the bundesbank to acquire expertise and experience. going forward, we would very much welcome cooperation with the banque de france on a high - frequency survey focusing on household expectations. in addition, the ecb has recently started to

for the takaful industry to be developed into a viable alternative to the more entrenched conventional insurance industry, the need for it to be supported by the core components of a comprehensive islamic financial system cannot be over - emphasised. as takaful operators are both mobilizers of long - term funds and fund managers to the policy holders, their ability to generate returns to fulfil the obligation to the policy holders depends very much on the range of financial instruments available in the market place. without an effective financial system, takaful operators may not be able to perform as effectively and as efficiently in terms of delivering their promise on the profit sharing basis and to be able to keep pace with their conventional counterparts in the area of fund performance. in the absence of a viable islamic capital market, there would not be an adequate supply of quality financial instruments for which the takaful funds can invest. it may have to depend on low yielding returns from bank deposits. in addition, it will not be able to offer innovative products like investment linked products, which can further diversify their investment portfolio as these products are gaining popularity among conventional insurance companies. in the absence of an islamic banking system, takaful operators would not be able to synergise and utilise the network of the banking system through bancassurance which can not only be an effective distribution channel but also serve to drive down operating costs. the development of a comprehensive islamic financial infrastructure in malaysia that includes islamic banking, the money and capital markets has reinforced the development of the takaful business. today, the takaful industry in malaysia has emerged as a fast growing industry within the insurance sector since its introduction in 1985, 18 years ago. from total assets amounting to only usd0. 5 million in 1986, it has reached more than usd900 million in 2002, constituting 5. 2 per cent of the total assets of the insurance sector. in the same period, the takaful operators have offerred a wide range of family and general takaful products. the malaysian financial sector master plan represents the blueprint for the development of the financial sector over a 10 - year period. the plan, which was launched in 2001, places importance on the development of islamic banking and takaful sector as an important component in the financial system. to achieve this objective, emphasis is being given to financial infrastructure and institutional development, aimed at enhancing efficiency of the system and building the internal resilience and