For nearly 20% of companies the premium was more than 150bp. Today, in almost no case is it more than 150bp. (slide 5)  But according to the models used by banks to assess creditworthiness, based on company balance sheet characteristics, default probabilities have barely changed. 3  In global debt markets, investors seem to be willing to take the same risk for less compensation. Appetite for risk taking has increased. Now, coming closer to home, consider this:  2  That confidence is also apparent in measures of interest rate volatility implied by options and in the pricing of credit default swaps. These model assessments are submitted to Credit Benchmark, to whom I am grateful for permission to use the data (www.creditbenchmark.com) 3  4  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  4  As I noted back in February, the premium on a basket of sterling-denominated investment grade bonds is close to zero.4 (slide 6)  While the average sterling-denominated investment-grade corporate bond has got riskier in recent years, with a longer duration and lower credit rating, this basket has a fixed composition. And the compression of the yield premium has been even more pronounced at the riskier (‘high yield’) end of the market. The focus of explanations of these developments, globally and in the UK, is often on QE.
Mohd Razif bin Abd Kadir: Promoting the takaful industry in Malaysia Speech by Mr Mohd Razif bin Abd Kadir, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia, at the Launch of ING Public Takaful Ehsan, Kuala Lumpur, 5 April 2011. *  *  *  It is my pleasure to be here with you this morning for the official launch of ING Public Takaful Ehsan. Indeed, this momentous occasion, which also celebrates an alliance between ING Management Holdings (M) Sdn Bhd, Public Bank Bhd and Public Islamic Bank Berhad, signifies yet another milestone in our continuous endeavour to provide sufficient financial safety net for the general population and at the same time, promote the development of a progressive takaful industry, that is agile, dynamic and able to adapt to the increasingly challenging environment. In 2009, Bank Negara Malaysia unveiled the plan to issue 2 new family takaful licences as part of the initiative to increase the penetration rate of insurance and takaful as well as to further liberalise the financial sector. Despite the prevailing tough global economic conditions and uncertainties in the international financial environment back then, an overwhelmingly strong number of applications were subsequently received, which led to the issuance of 4 family takaful licences instead of 2 as originally planned. This speaks volume of the interest and confidence of leading market players in the growth prospects of the takaful industry in Malaysia. For more than 2 decades, the takaful industry has been blessed with tremendous growth and strong performance.