insurance business. london ’ s position derives from the critical mass of markets and financial services available, and the concentration of the strongest financial businesses from all over the world. london ’ s strengths include a long track record of innovation and capitalising on new opportunities. the most well - known example is the creation of the eurodollar markets, which us firms in london did so much to promote. london is the home of the english language. it is in a convenient time - zone between asia in the morning and new york in the afternoon. it has an abundance of trading and other financial skills and professional support services - in law, accountancy, tax, property and communications. it has a world - class technological infrastructure, which is continually being improved. and equally important, london has an unwavering commitment to openness and to welcoming the establishment of foreign firms. in particular, the regulatory framework in london has proved sufficiently adaptable to maintain confidence in financial institutions and markets without stifling innovation and risk - taking. the new financial services authority in london is committed to continuing this approach. all these factors help to explain the size of the financial sector based in london. and foreign firms are continuing to move their operations, and in some cases their head offices, to london. i would like to acknowledge the contribution to london ’ s success made by american firms such as jp morgan, goldman sachs, morgan stanley, merrill lynch, citibank and chase. and many continental european firms have recently also made major investments in london, including abn amro, paribas, dresdner and deutsche. this shows how global financial institutions in the top rank regard london as the place to be, irrespective of whether the uk participates in emu. you will have noticed that these factors have little to do with the question of the base currency used either in the uk or in continental europe. the city thrives on liquid markets regardless of currency, and it will thrive on the euro. measured in these terms, the introduction of the euro represents an opportunity for london. we cannot of course be complacent about london ’ s position. london does not hold its pre - eminent position as of right. it continually has to earn it. for this reason, in the run - up to the introduction of the euro, the bank of england is playing a key role in preparing london ’ s global marketplace for this major new opportunity, alongside market practitioners themselves : we are ensuring that the necessary financial infrastructure

process and in providing raw materials and primary commodities at the different production phases. it is noted that most regional and international aid donating agencies and organizations have a growing tendency to provide financial resources and technical assistance aimed at assisting such small and medium size enterprises to depend upon themselves and play their anticipated role in the economy. we, in saudi arabia, have the same tendency. the kingdom has attached great importance to this sector and encouraged all authorities concerned to support such enterprises. several government initiatives have been taken to support and finance small and medium size enterprises, as clearly evidenced by the contributions made by government development funds. however, in spite of substantial government support, the private sector, in particular finance companies should seize such opportunities to achieve the goals of the financial sector and the saudi economy in general. bis central bankers ’ speeches dear brothers and sisters, some may wonder what are small and medium size enterprises, and how can we distinguish between them ; and is there an international definition for them. indeed, there is a substantial difference at the international level in their definition. if we rely on capital as a standard, for example, we will find that a facility with a capital of 10 million euros, is considered a smallsize enterprise in the european union, while it is considered a medium - size enterprise and perhaps large - size enterprise in some developing countries. the terms “ small ” and “ medium ” are comparative words and have relative concepts that vary from one sector to another and from one country to another. however, the general practice in each country or region is to rely on a set of criteria intended to define medium and small size enterprises. among the most important criteria are : the amount of labor, capital, annual sales, and the overall financial position at the end of a period. in the european union, a small - size enterprise has about 50 workers, and the volume of its activity is around 10 million euros. medium - size enterprises are defined as those which employ about 250 workers and their annual commercial activity is around 50 million euros. in saudi arabia, the saudi industrial development fund adopts the annual sales standard to identify small and medium size enterprises for the purpose of funding by “ kafalah ” program. they are defined as enterprises with annual sales not exceeding rls 30 million. the world bank has conducted a questionnaire and distributed it to commercial banks to establish a definition for small and medium size enterprises. the result has shown differences between banks in their definitions, but it can be concluded from that survey that small