BIS central bankers’ speeches  17  Appendix Chart 1: GDP per capita since 1750 log GDP per head, 1990 International $  9  8 IT revolution  Industrial revolution  Mass industrialisation  10  7  6  1750  1800  1850  1900  1950  2000  5  Source: DeLong (1998). Chart 2: GDP per capita since 1000 BC GDP per head, 1990 International $  7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000  -1000  -750  -500  -250  0  250  500  750  1000  1250  1500  1750  2000  0  Source: DeLong (1998). 18  BIS central bankers’ speeches  Chart 3: Male heights from skeletons in Europe, 1–2000 AD Male height, centimetres  180  Skeletal remains, Europe Sweden  178  USA, native born  176 174 172 170 168 166 164 162  0  500  1000  1500  160 2000  Source: Clark (2009). Chart 4: Social development index Social development points, log linear scale  1000  100  10  -1000 -800 -600 -400 -200  1  200  400  600  800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000  Year Source: Morris (2010, 2011). Notes: This chart shows the average of “Western” and “Eastern” social development scores reported in Morris (2010, 2011). These scores include energy capture, organisation, war-making capacity and information technology.
More generally, economic distortions and loss of revenue caused by financial crimes can also threaten our growth prospects. While there are many issues that I could speak about on financial crimes today, I would like to focus on what has been at the top of many minds – cybercrimes. Indeed, cybercrimes are a global menace. McAfee reported that cybercrime cost the global economy more than 1 trillion dollars in 2020, or more than 1% of global GDP. Malaysia is not spared from this growing threat. As indicated in the National Risk Assessment 2020, fraud – which includes cybercrimes – is among the country’s top high-risk crimes, with a higher number of cases and losses suffered compared to the previous assessment conducted in 2017. More than 20,000 cybercrimes were reported in 2021 alone, involving losses of RM560 million. Between 2017 to July 2021, Malaysians suffered losses of about RM2.23 billion on account of cybercrimes. As more people switch to mobile phones for online transactions, we are also seeing an increase in online banking fraud incidents involving mobile malware. Although fraud losses remain low as a share of the total value of online banking transactions, they point to ever present and evolving threats as society adapts to new norms of living and doing business. Indeed, criminals are exploiting the rapid dispersion of technology in this recent period. This is not a trend that will reverse. Therefore, strengthening the financial system’s defence against emerging threats and vulnerabilities must remain a top priority.