a percentage of total banking assets remain small – at about less than 20 %, – this has risen over the years. we are seeing more examples of successful and viable islamic financing products in the international marketplace. islamic banking is getting more widespread in muslim and non - muslim countries alike. takaful insurance and islamic mutual funds are becoming commonplace. in fact, these products have become so popular, even non - muslims are investing in them. we can expect to see islamic finance develop further globally, eventually becoming an integral component of the international financial system. singapore wants to develop islamic finance as well. this will make our international financial centre more complete. the development of islamic finance here can take advantage of our capabilities in wealth management, project financing and trade financing. we have been working in close partnership with the industry to review our regulatory framework, and support and facilitate financial institutions to provide a wide suite of islamic financial services and products. more middle eastern banks are setting up offices in singapore. at the end of 2005, we had six middle eastern banks. in 2006, two more came. since the beginning of this year, three banks have applied to set up representative offices here. many of these middle eastern banks service islamic financing needs. singapore welcomes more banks from the middle east to set up here and to partner us in the growth of our financial centre. beyond middle eastern banks, we have also seen international banks such as citigroup and standard chartered introduce islamic finance and murabaha products from singapore. more financial institutions are using singapore as a launch pad for innovative new islamic products. singapore will continue to co - operate with market participants and other countries like malaysia, indonesia, bahrain, kuwait and the uae on the development of islamic finance. integration of awqaf into islamic finance let me now turn to waqf. historically, the revenue generated in waqf has been applied to traditional uses like maintenance of religious buildings. but this is changing. proceeds from the estates are now used to contribute more widely to society. rules governing the administration of waqf have become increasingly progressive. in kuwait and qatar, revenue from waqf has been used to build hospitals, universities and commercial and office complexes. townships have even been built in morocco. such innovative financial uses help to unlock the economic potential of waqf. in singapore, we have the example of an integrated mixed - development at bencoolen street, comprising a mosque, service apartments and a commercial complex. this was made possible through

researchers, to promote a deeper understanding of what makes community banks tick and of how a wide range of government policies affects the activities, profitability, and viability of community banks. the first session considers factors underlying community bank formation, behavior, and performance. the first paper looks at characteristics of newly chartered banks – where they form, and how they fare over time. the second paper also focuses on newly chartered banks, considering possible explanations for the near absence of new bank charters over the past few years. those of us at the fed pay a great deal of attention to this type of bank formation, because it is the primary source of new competition in the markets in which community banks compete. the third paper in this session looks at how rivalry among banks affects their decisions to adopt new technology, and the fourth seeks to explain the persistence of low net - interest income among community banks in recent years. the second session addresses the effects, both intended and unintended, of specific government policies on community bank behavior. one paper looks at how the 2006 commercial real estate guidance for banks affected loan growth. 4 another paper examines the effect of the creation of the small business lending fund on community bank lending to small businesses. the third paper in this session focuses on what happens when banks perceive that examiners have given them inappropriately negative evaluations. the underlying theme of the third research session is how broad government policies affect community bank profitability and viability. the first paper provides an overview of the effects of the dodd - frank wall street reform and consumer protection act on community banks. the second paper considers whether a provision of the jobs act that modified the threshold for exchange act reporting for unlisted banks and bank holding companies helped or hurt small banks. the third paper contrasts the thousands of small community banks operating in the united states with the handful of very large financial institutions and proposes a new approach to regulation that recognizes the very different business models of these two types of institutions. the fourth and final paper takes a high - level look at the effects of regulatory policy on the structure of the u. s. banking system and the viability of community banks. on day two of the conference, you will learn about the results of a recently conducted survey that was completed by more than 1, 000 community bankers from across the country, as well as the feedback obtained from more than 1, 300 bankers participating in town hall meetings see board of governors of the federal reserve system, federal deposit insurance corporation, and office of the compt