industries, including insurance, to reduce costs and increase efficiency and productivity in an increasingly competitive environment. the traditional paradigm of pricing goods and services purely on costplus basis should therefore be re - evaluated. indeed the focus needs to be shifted towards providing products and services that provide superior value proposition to consumers, made possible through re - engineering of business processes and operating models that promote greater productivity and competitiveness. • secondly, the dynamics of the market place have already resulted in alternative marketing approaches to the traditional agency system, including more cost effective distribution channels like bancassurance. this concept has gained acceptance worldwide for the provision of a wide range of life and pension products via the distribution networks of banks. • thirdly, globalization of the world economy and financial markets, as well as trends towards greater financial innovation and promoting shareholder value, have contributed to a wave of mergers and acquisitions between insurers, banks and asset management companies resulting in the emergence of financial conglomerates. these integrated entities will inevitably raise the bar in the entire business value chain, including product design and pricing, streamlining of distribution channels and integrating valuable databases of customer information, thus accentuating further competitive pressures within the life insurance markets in the region. • finally, an area that will present significant opportunities as well as challenges to the insurance industry will be the evolving structure of social security systems and safety nets that will have to keep pace with demographic changes as well as the rising cost of medical care. many nations are already finding it difficult to provide adequately for the needs of the aging population through state provided social security. it has been reported that globally, life insurance premiums amounted to usd2, 200 billion in 2006, and asia as a region is the fastest growing life insurance market, in line with rapid economic development and growth. financial services and economic liberalization in asia, particularly in china, india and south - east asia have significantly widened the market outreach for life insurance whilst unlocking considerable market potential in new growth areas. indeed, the transformation of asian countries into industrial and services powerhouses, with increasing share of world output, will present abundant insurance opportunities within the region as countries make huge investments in upgrading their physical, financial and human capital infrastructure. on the domestic front, the malaysian economy continued to be on a steady growth path with real gdp expanding by 5. 7 % in the second quarter of 2007 and an anticipated 6 % for the entire year. in tandem with this growth, the insurance industry, including the takaful sector, recorded

governor of the central bank of kuwait, basel a. al - haroon, in the 46th ordinary session of the council of the governors of the arab central banks and monetary authorities, held in jeddah, kingdom of saudi arabia on september 18, 2022. page 1 of 4 in line with its proactive approach adopted since march 2020, the central bank of kuwait has taken several measures and actions through its various monetary, supervisory and hedging instruments. at the level of monetary measures, the central bank of kuwait cut the interest rate several times in march 2020 down to all - time low 1. 5 % to reduce the borrowing cost and ensure that the temporary liquidity issues at the cbk - regulated units would not turn to permanent issues to their solvency. this step was followed by a series of measures related to financial stability including activation of its emergency plans and those of the banking sector to address the requirements of the pandemic, as well as taking a package of measures within the macroprudential policy to ease the regulatory requirements upon the outbreak of the crisis, the most important of which was releasing the prudential capital buffers of 2. 5 %, facilitating liquidity requirements to provide a wider lending space for banks, and reducing the risk weights related to exposures to small and medium enterprises, thus supporting the vulnerable sectors. as regards, the financial stability, the measures included payment moratoriums for the affected customers, obligating banks not sell or seize the collateral, and instructing banking sector units to conduct a comprehensive review of their credit and investment portfolios. to mitigate the economic and financial damages, and maximize the benefits from the aforementioned monetary and financial measures, the central bank developed and implemented a clear plan to follow up on the situations during the pandemic, in light of the data on the conditions and spreading infection. the central bank of kuwait formulated a set of goals to curb the crisis repercussions and ensure business continuity, support the crucial sectors, and prevent the short - term liquidity crisis from turning into a solvency crisis. having launched a package of anti - crisis measures, the central bank of kuwait maintained its vigilant monitoring of the local and global economic developments, oversight over the banking sector and monitoring its financial soundness indicators. the sector's results revealed that some banks took advantage of the mitigants to practice their business comfortably without any pressures as a result of the crisis. development of a plan to exit the stimulus environment