guarantee and investment facility ( cgif ) amongst the asean + 3 countries, which aims to help companies in asean + 3 countries raise long term financing for infrastructure investment by providing the governments ’ guarantees on their corporate bonds, thereby reducing risk for bond - holders. projects such as iskandar malaysia are also a prime example of how intra - regional investments can be encouraged, and how countries in our region can develop competitive strengths jointly. • iskandar malaysia ’ s performance has been impressive – poised to exceed its targeted rm100 billion investment mark by the end of this year. • i am glad there is good progress on the joint venture by temasek holdings and khazanah nasional, pulau indah ventures sdn bhd to co - develop two separate sites in medini. • other significant projects include a s $ 1. 5 billion integrated eco - friendly tech - park by ascendas and malaysia ’ s uem land berhad in nusajaya ( one of the five flagship bis central bankers ’ speeches zones in iskandar ). once completed, the park will accommodate a range of industries including electronics and precision engineering. • just in the last month, we have seen other significant investment commitments in iskandar reported by singapore companies. iskandar malaysia will enhance the complementary space between our two economies. it is a win - win. to ensure continued progress in iskandar, singapore and malaysia will continue to take steps to improve connectivity, cross - border trade facilitation, and immigration processes. conclusion i would like to conclude by emphasising once again that i am basically optimistic about the prospects in our bilateral and regional cooperation. we face many challenges in this post - global financial crisis era. but the opportunities for us in asia are intact, and our ability to cooperate with each other to achieve our full potential as a region is an asset for all our countries. bis central bankers ’ speeches

5 % and takaful at 2 %. bis central bankers ’ speeches • first, islamic financial institutions have in the main escaped significant damage in the global financial crisis. they are well - placed to grow, at a time when many of the global banks, especially the european banks, are deleveraging or focusing on consolidating their balance sheets. • second, islamic finance has much potential to diversify into new growth areas such as trade and infrastructure financing in asia and the emerging markets. - • these new areas will allow islamic banks to reduce their exposure to the real estate sector, and to take advantage of the stronger growth potential of the emerging market economies. there are gaps to be filled in structured trade finance and in funding for infrastructural projects as the emerging markets grow, and as global finance consolidates. third, islamic finance can also seek to meet the increased demand for simpler and more transparent products and ‘ back - to - basics ’ finance. investors are now much more circumspect about complex products and their risks. the crisis taught investors worldwide not only about the damage they can face from the risks that are known and unsurprising, but of the risks of ‘ what we do not know ’. islamic finance, with its focus on transparency, price certainty and risk - sharing, can ride this wave of demand for simpler and more basic investments. however, islamic finance will have to overcome a few important challenges in order to grow its share in global finance and contribute to cross - border finance. these include the need to reduce fragmentation in islamic finance markets due to differences in accepted standards of shariah compliance between regions, jurisdictions, and in some cases even domestically within jurisdictions. this has hampered the flow of liquidity between jurisdictions, and is in part why there is yet no islamic equivalents to the international money and bond markets. there is considerable progress being made to address these challenges. bodies such as aaoifi, 3 idb ’ s islamic research & training institute, and malaysia ’ s international shariah research academy ( isra ) have made significant efforts to narrow the differences in acceptability of shariah compliance. the islamic financial services board ( ifsb ), in conjunction with international standards setting bodies such as the bank of international settlements ( bis ), iosco 4 and iais5 and various regulators from islamic and conventional jurisdictions, are also formulating international standards and best practices for the industry. islamic finance is also seeing increasing interest