– investors. well - informed and empowered investors are at the core of a well functioning capital market. investors will lose confidence in a market where disclosure is misleading and where selling practices are irresponsible. safeguarding the interests of investors, particularly retail investors, is therefore a key focus of mas regulation. but this objective has to be balanced against the need for investors to take ownership of their investment decisions. a regulatory approach that requires issuers or intermediaries to bear all the risks and losses will not work. if investors expect their losses to be always made good, there will be moral hazard and it will encourage reckless investing. mas safeguards the interests of investors in five ways : first, we demand stringent disclosure of information by issuers ; second, we require transparency in the information disclosed ; third, we set standards for intermediaries who sell investment products to provide quality financial advice ; fourth, we promote investor education, so that investors are empowered to make informed decisions. fifth, we provide affordable and accessible dispute resolution mechanisms for investors who feel aggrieved by the investment process. let me take each of these aspects in turn. bis central bankers ’ speeches disclosure there is nothing like disclosure to instill market discipline. in the words of us supreme court justice louis brandeis, “ sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants ; electric light the most efficient policeman ”. disclosure is about shining that light so that all can see and make informed decisions. investors are entitled to accurate and timely disclosure of material information so that they can assess the risks and rewards of their investment. disclosure works not because all investors understand every word that is disclosed. disclosure works because it facilitates scrutiny by experts in the market ; it is this professional scrutiny that acts as a check on issuers and helps to inform the broader investor base. take for example an ipo prospectus. it can typically run into hundreds of pages, with detailed descriptions about the company ’ s business operations, its competitive environment, governance practices, and risk exposures, not to mention a full set of financial statements. most retail investors cannot easily digest all this information. but the scrutiny of the prospectus by analysts and institutional investors helps to bring to light any significant weakness in the company. having said that, i must acknowledge that greater disclosure does not always improve our understanding of investment products. while all material and relevant information must be disclosed, there is a tendency for disclosure to be voluminous and legalistic – often made for

such cross - border sukuk, especially to finance the large infrastructure needs in both middle east and asia. already a large proportion of sukuk issued in each region are linked to infrastructure projects. 6 singapore ’ s contribution in light of these developments, i am pleased to note that islamic financial activities in singapore have continued to expand over the past year. in banking, middle east banks based in singapore have started offering islamic window facilities for their corporate clients. recently, singapore - listed shipping company atlantic navigation, which has operations in gcc and india, signed an islamic financing facility with a singapore - based bank to further its business activities. home - grown mustafa group is also considering an islamic financing facility to fund its expansion into neighbouring countries. in fund management, securus fund, the world ’ s first shariah compliant data centre fund, successfully completed its second round of fund raising earlier this year to double their capital to about us $ 200m. the fund is based and jointly managed in singapore by keppel data centre investment management and aep investment management, which is majorityowned by the saudi al - rajhi group. with the capital increase, the fund has since acquired quality data centres in ireland and netherland to add to its existing assets in australia, malaysia and uk. sabana reit, the world ’ s largest islamic reit in terms of listed assets, issued the first convertible sukuk in singapore last year. the response from investors in asia and the middle east has contributed to sabana launching its s $ 500m multicurrency sukuk programme in april 2013. this is singapore ’ s second corporate sukuk programme after city development ’ s s $ 1b programme launched in 2010. earlier this year, city development issued the 7th and 8th tranches from their programme for a total amount of s $ 100m. we are encouraged that more sukuk issuances are also in the pipeline. just recently, swiber, a major singapore - listed company engaged in offshore epic ( engineering, procurement, installation and construction ) services in asia pacific, middle east and latin america, announced its intentions to set up a sukuk programme in singapore in the coming months. these developments suggest that the growth potential for islamic finance in singapore has yet to be fully realised, and that singapore can play a role in giving growth of cross - border islamic financing an even greater push. towards this end, mas is presently working with other government agencies and the industry to