It is my pleasure to welcome you to this year's dialogue session between Bank Negara Malaysia and the insurance and takaful industries to discuss the challenges and opportunities the changing environment presents. A year ago, the focus of the discussions was on the strategic issues facing the industry as we transitioned towards a more competitive market environment. The emphasis was on the expectations on the industry to deliver a fair proposition to consumers, its relevance in the changing environment and its readiness in terms of capacity, and to support and sustain a successful strategy for growth. While the theme for this dialogue is to focus on how the industry should position itself to meet the new challenges, it will specifically address the transition towards a risk-based and a more self-regulated market conduct regime, and the development of a dual financial system for the insurance and takaful industry. This year, the dialogue has been jointly organised by the industry with the Bank. The industry's active involvement will be important in making this important event a success. This dialogue will provide an opportunity for deliberations on the strategic issues confronting the industry in the changing environment from the different perspectives between the industry and Bank Negara Malaysia . At this juncture, let me take this opportunity to share with you some of the recent economic and financial developments and the major policy initiatives by Bank Negara Malaysia .
Fifth, I would like to encourage the Albanian and international media to uphold the good tradition of accurate and real-time transmission of economic and financial developments in Albania, including the activity of the Bank of Albania and the financial sector, which occupy a significant place. Last but not least, I would like the Albanian public to continue to be discreet and have full confidence in the financial architecture we have built. We commend its added prudence, which is reflected in its propensity to increase savings. Therefore, household balance sheets remain positive, an indicator that sends positive signals for a potentially growing consumption in the near and distant future. I take this opportunity to reiterate that optimism shapes our present and our future. The time has come for the consumers’ sentiment to start its take off. This would create the desired chain reaction for accelerating money velocity and circulation of goods in the economy, making the economy recover to its pre-crisis parameters. On my behalf and on behalf of the Bank of Albania, I would like to thank the Bank of Italy and the Bank of France for the assistance and partnership during the twinning project. At the completion of this project, the Bank of Albania has upgraded the organisational and operational framework of its main departments and has approached to its European counterparties. 6  BIS central bankers’ speeches