CENTRAL BANK OF KENYA
Remarks by
PROF. NJUGUNA NDUNG’U
GOVERNOR
2ND LEADERS ROUNDTABLE MEETING OF THE AFRICAN
MOBILE PHONE FINANCIAL SERVICES INITIATIVE (AMPI)
Great Rift Valley Lodge and Golf Resort, Naivasha
Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Hon. Henry Rotich, Cabinet Secretary, The National Treasury
Mr. Jean Baptiste COMPAORE, Governor, Central Bank of
West African States (BCEAO) and Vice Chairman, AMPI;
Dr. Alfred Hannig, Executive Director, Alliance for Financial
Inclusion;
Mr. Stefan Nalletamby, Director, Financial Sector
Development, African Development Bank;
Fellow Governors and AMPI Network Members:
I am honoured to welcome you to Naivasha, Kenya, to
participate in the 2nd Leaders Roundtable Meeting of the
African Mobile Phone Financial Services Policy Initiative
(AMPI). For those who have not been to Naivasha, you will be
mesmerised by the quiet, scenic and serene surrounding that
this out of town destination offers. Please be sure to enjoy
your short stay here as you embrace the beauty and diversity
of Kenya.
My profound appreciation goes to you, Hon. Henry Rotich,
the Cabinet Secretary of The National Treasury, for making
time to attend this event amidst your tight schedule. The
support that the National Treasury has granted us, by
providing an enabling environment for the financial sector
to thrive, is also greatly acknowledged. This support is

entrenched in the Financial Sector goals of Vision 2030, the
Government’s economic development blueprint; which seeks
to solidify access, efficiency, transparency and stability of the
financial services sector. Hon. Cabinet Secretary, I assure you
of our continued collaboration as we move Kenya’s financial
sector to the next level, especially through enhanced
financial inclusion among other initiatives.
I also take this opportunity to extend my sincere gratitude to
my staff at the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and the
Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) for putting together
this event and providing a platform for all of us to share our
experiences regarding our efforts towards digital financial
inclusion in Africa, being the theme of this meeting. And to
all of you, for gracing this occasion, I applaud your
commitment and enthusiasm.
Ladies and Gentlemen: It has been one year since AMPI was
officially launched on 15th February 2013 by 18 AFI
members in Zanzibar, Tanzania. AMPI is a framework that
will develop and share effective solutions in advancing
Mobile Phone Financial Services (MFS) across the African
continent. It was during this inaugural AMPI meeting that
you bestowed to the CBK and the Central Bank of West

African States (BCEAO) the role of chair and vice chair of
AMPI, respectively. I am delighted to report that we have had
remarkable progress on AMPI goals and activities set out
during the launch. It is however, through the support granted
to CBK and BCEAO by each one of you in different capacities
that has seen this achieved. To this end, I commend all of
you for your continued support and commitment to driving
not only AMPI but also financial inclusion in Africa.
Ladies and Gentlemen: One of the goals set out was the
establishment of the AMPI Help Desk to operationalise and
coordinate the work of AMPI with the support of the AFI
management unit. A virtual Help Desk structure has since
been established with a set-up of six (6) regional Help Desks
situated in the key sub-regions of Africa (Eastern Africa,
Central Africa, Southern Africa, West African Economic and
Monetary Union (WAEMU) and West African Monetary Zone
(WAMZ)). A number of ongoing and upcoming activities have
been initiated and planned under the AMPI Help Desk
structure. These will be discussed in the course of this
meeting.
Ladies and Gentlemen: In the quest to keep the AMPI flag
flying high, we also held two critical meetings. One was a

public-private sector roundtable in Nairobi in July 2013 to
reflect on the challenges and opportunities for MFS across
Africa. Also discussed were ways to forge partnerships to
improve mutual learning, increase efficiency and scale up
MFS to create inclusive financial systems and cash-lite
economies. We also held a regional cooperation meeting for
AMPI members (and broadly AFI African members) during
the annual AFI Global Policy Forum (GPF) in September
2013 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In this meeting we
highlighted AMPI’s progress and that of its members towards
achieving its objectives in enhancing financial inclusion
using MFS solutions within the African continent. The Forum
also provided an environment to forge relationships, expand
ideas and foster the growth of MFS not only in Africa but
also globally.
In conclusion, Ladies and Gentlemen, given the strides we
have made thus far, our energy is renewed and our zeal
intensified to move AMPI to the next level. This will be
achieved through vigorous efforts towards digital financial
inclusion which will involve coming up with a vibrant
strategic plan and a joint vision that has support from all of
us present here today. This is a task that we will be
achieving by the end of this meeting. This meeting will also

provide a platform to discuss the changing roles of
development partners in the dynamic MFS eco-system, take
stock on what has worked and what needs improvement in
expanding MFS in Africa. I look forward to a very engaging,
informative and fruitful meeting which you will all enjoy.
With those remarks, ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure
to invite the Cabinet Secretary of The National Treasury,
Hon. Henry Rotich, to deliver the keynote address.
Thank You.