and presenting its views of the risks in the financial system. ever since the bank crisis at the beginning of the 1990s, this has been perceived as a very important task in sweden ; in fact, it could be argued that the bank crisis was allowed to arise partly because no authority previously had the specific task of monitoring the overall financial stability. the riksbank now publishes a twice - yearly report analysing the stability of the swedish financial system. in a crisis situation, the central bank plays a very important role. it may then need to go in and act as lender of last resort, that is, to grant emergency liquidity assistance ( ela ) to banks and financial companies if this is considered necessary to prevent the financial system from collapsing. the two objectives of price stability and financial stability are related to each other in different ways, in addition to both being important components of an efficient payment system. the stability of the financial system is of course a necessary condition for a policy aimed at price stability, as the latter is fairly meaningless if the country is threatened with economic collapse. the financial stability objective can therefore in one sense be said to be superior to the objective of price stability. at the same time, it is very probable that price stability in the long run promotes financial stability, for instance, by making the price system function better and thereby reducing the risk of bad investments. however, price stability is no guarantee of stability in the financial system, which is illustrated, for instance, by the problems in the japanese banks at the beginning of the 1990s. there is thus no reason for central banks to focus solely on the price stability objective and thereby assume that financial stability will follow automatically – both objectives are important. other objectives than price stability and financial stability? are there any other objectives than price stability and financial stability that may be suitable for a modern central bank? many countries also have objectives for developments in the real economy written into the regulatory framework governing the central bank ’ s activities. for instance, in the us legislation it says that the federal reserve shall promote ” maximum employment ”, while the british legislation says that the bank of england shall support ” the economic policy of her majesty ’ s government, including its objectives for growth and employment ”. in sweden there is no specific objective for real economic developments written into the law, but it is nevertheless considered to be understood that the see, for instance, oosterloo, s. and j. de haan, ( 2003 ), ” a

##ative importance of financial inclusion, the central bank of malaysia act 2009 states that promoting a sound, progressive and inclusive financial system as one of the primary functions of the bank. this has provided a clear mandate and legislative power for the bank to advance the financial inclusion agenda. the financial inclusion mandate of the bank is further reinforced by the financial sector blueprint 2011 – 2020, which charts the future development of the malaysian financial system. it details the bank ’ s holistic approach toward achieving greater financial inclusion. an important evolution in the advancement of our financial inclusion strategies is the increasing focus on data and measurement. success can only be celebrated if it is proven by visible developments that is felt on the ground. hence, one of the cornerstone recommendations under the financial sector blueprint is the development of a financial inclusion index, a framework to measure accessibility to financial services as well as its bis central bankers ’ speeches usage and quality. our performance on this agenda has therefore been measured, consistent with our drive for accountability and excellence. further policy initiatives have included the introduction of agent banking which has enabled 99 % of malaysians today to enjoy convenient access to safe, reliable and affordable financial services. international efforts to enhance financial inclusion measurement internationally, there is an emerging common understanding that measurement is an essential policy tool for implementation. in this regard, the alliance for financial inclusion, a network of central banks and financial regulators from 96 countries, has provided an important platform in advancing the global agenda of financial inclusion measurement. with the sasana accord, which was agreed upon in 2013 during the global policy forum held here in sasana kijang, afi members underscored the importance of measuring the progress of financial inclusion using a common set of measurable indicators. this accord has formulated the measuring tools for the monitoring of key performance indicators ( kpis ) that has assisted policy makers in implementing and refining strategies to assist the underserved. immense progress has also been made in gathering accurate and timely data for financial inclusion kpis. traditionally, financial inclusion data has been scarce as they have depended on national user surveys. in this regard, the global findex has made a very significant contribution to financial inclusion policymakers and practitioners, as it is a database of more than 150, 000 survey responses from more than 140 countries across the world. with the data from the global findex, which is updated every 3 years, we are now able to compare in a consistent manner the financial inclusion performance across countries and analyse trends over time. the availability of country