March tabling for financial services act

by **hlk** Wed 21 Dec 2011, 22:21

The proposed Financial Services Act is expected to be tabled in
parliament in March next year, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) Governor Tan
Sri Dr Zeti Akthar Aziz said today.

She said this would enhance
the bank's capacity to manage risks from financial intermediation
activities that occur outside the banking system and provide enhanced
powers for timely intervention actions.

"The enhanced
intermediation during this decade has benefitted access to financing,
particularly for small and medium enterprises, has also improved, both
in volume and efficiency," she said at the launch of the Financial
Sector Blueprint 2011-2020 by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak
in Kuala Lumpur today.

Zeti said by leveraging on the
distribution networks of commercial banks, enhanced product and risk
management capabilities, access to financing by this sector had
increased at an annual rate of almost 20 per cent since 2005.

On the blueprint, she said the financial system was expected to expand
from the current 4.3 times to six times of the country's gross domestic
product (GDP) by 2020.

Correspondingly, Zeti said the financial
sector contribution to nominal GDP was projected to rise from 8.6 per
cent to between 10 and 12 per cent in 2020.

She said more than
half of total financing in 2020 would be raised via financial markets
while Islamic finance would continue to increase in prominence, growing
at a faster pace to account for 40 per cent of total financing.

She
said a national consumer credit law and improved arrangements for
combating financial crime were also included in the recommendations in
the blueprint.

To ensure cross-border financial linkages do not
propagate risks across borders, Zeti said the central bank would
intensify its coordination with other regional and international
supervisory authorities.

The coordination would focus on
achieving more consistent regulatory and supervisory standards, timely
information exchange and effective supervisory colleges, she added. --
Bernama