BALANCING FINTECH OPPORTUNITIES AND RISKS: IMPLEMENTING
THE BALI FINTECH AGENDA
Welcome Remarks
by
Moses D Pelaelo
Governor
June 24, 2019
It is with great pleasure and honour to warmly welcome you all to this
small but vibrant city of Gaborone; the capital of Botswana, ranked
the 48th largest country in the world (approximately the size of France,
Kenya, Madagascar or Texas) but with a population of just over 2.3
million people - Our Pride, Your Destination. Allow me to extend a
special welcome to the delegates, moderators and other resource
persons to this important and timely two-day high-level conference on
Balancing Fintech Opportunities and Risks: Implementing the Bali
Fintech Agenda.
While encouraging you to work very hard over the next one and half
days, those from outside Botswana please do not forget that, once
back home, you will be invariably asked about the City of Gaborone's
landscape of shopping malls and other social amenities. I have no
doubt that it will be an incomplete story and a big disappointment if
all you can say is that the Conference was successful.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish to start, first, by
acknowledging the presence of the Honourable Minister of Finance
and Economic Development, Mr Kenneth Matambo, who has kindly
agreed to perform the official opening of this Conference. In many
respects, Honourable Minister Matambo leads the infusion and
integration of modern technology in the provision of financial and
government services. He has also lived through and witnessed the
evolution from brick and mortar as well as paper to virtual and digital
channels, both as a professional in various positions in the Public
Service of this country and as a consumer of services. It is, therefore,
fitting that he will perform the official opening of this Conference and
give insights and inspiration on prospects for Fintech and its potential
impact on the development agenda of our region.
Second, we are also pleased to have amongst us the First Alternate
Executive Director for Africa Group I Constituency at the International
Monetary Fund, Ms Ita Mannathoko who, incidentally, is a Botswana
citizen; Deputy Director, Monetary and Capital Markets Department at
the IMF, Mr Aditya Narain; Division Chief in the African Department
of the IMF who is also the Mission Chief for Botswana, Mr Papa
N'Diaye, together with all the staff of the Fund and the World Bank
Group here present. Let me say to you, individually and collectively,
that your participation in this Conference is highly appreciated. We
look forward to your wise counsel, guidance and infusion of expertise
during the Conference.
Third, I wish to welcome and appreciate the efforts of those that will
moderate and lead the discussions during the Conference. I expect
that their preparatory work, effective leadership of sessions, and
animated dialogue on the relevant issues will stimulate and contribute
to beneficial sharing of expertise and perspectives on both the benefits
and challenges of harnessing Fintech.
To all delegates, local and from outside Botswana, I have no doubt
that the diversity in this room will surely enrich and add to the value
and benefit of the Conference in terms of both inputs into the
deliberations and implementable takeaways for policy and regulation,
as well as ideas for innovation, with respect to business development
and service provision.
Indeed, the idea of the Conference is to propagate and entrench,
globally, the broad themes of the Bali Fintech Agenda, which you will
get to hear about over the next one and half days. For this reason,
similar conferences, led by the International Monetary Fund, are being
held in other regions. The cross-participation by policymakers,
regulators and private sector practitioners in these conferences also
enriches networking and the sharing of ideas; thus a common view,
globally, about the prospects for Fintech and, where there are
potential systemic and global challenges, inculcate forward-looking
preparations for both localised and coordinated, cross-border
mitigation approaches.
In this regard, I wish to note that, as a practical approach, the SADC
region has established a Fintech regional monitoring group comprising
representatives from the respective central banks. This is intended to
build institutional knowledge of Fintech developments on an ongoing
basis and, therefore, continually provide the SADC Committee of
Central Bank Governors with a comprehensive picture of existing and
emerging technologies, the application and market penetration of
these technologies, as well as the attendant risks. We, therefore, look
forward to hearing your thoughts on the broad range of areas that are
relevant for balancing Fintech opportunities and risks.
I acknowledge and fully appreciate, in this respect, that the effort by
the International Monetary Fund to lead the integration of Fintech into
the global development and policy agenda provides for a useful,
knowledgeable and accessible partner to support the domestication of
this agenda. Having said that, I take it you will agree with me that,
while policy and regulation can guide and safeguard, at the end of the
day, the more impactful and beneficial aspect of Fintech should be on
private business activity and associated adoption by customers, such
that there are clear benefits in terms of productivity social and welfare
enhancement. Even then, conferences, such as this one, are valuable
for policy makers to reflect on prospective opportunities and
vulnerabilities and to deliberate on responsive growth strategies.
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, for this purpose, there
is no better qualified person than the distinguished Minister of Finance
and Economic Development, Honourable Matambo to break the
ground for this Conference and lead us in navigating the linkages
between Fintech evolution, economic growth dynamics and benefit
risk equation.
Please joining me in welcoming, most warmly, Honourable Minister
Kenneth Matambo to officially open the Conference.
Thank you for your kind attention. Minister Matambo Sir!